Bend Without the Ouch: Physical Therapy for Knee Pain
The knee is one of your body’s hardest-working joints. While it's a simple hinge in design, it plays a vital role in bending, extending, and powering movements, but it also it gives you the bounciness to jump, crouch, dodge, and run. It does all this while supporting most of your weight and helping you maintain your balance. Is it any wonder that knee pain and injuries account for nearly 4 million doctor visits every year? Knee pain is the worst! It can stop you in your tracks and make daily life difficult. But here at A Life in Balance Physical Therapy in Flemington NJ, we can help you get back up and going again by finding the source of your knee pain and holistically resolving the issues that caused it!
Join us as we explore how physical therapy can transform your life, exemplified by our patient Hal, whose journey from debilitating knee and back pain to recovery illustrates the power of holistic physical therapy.
Common Causes of Knee Pain
Knee pain can arise from a variety of different sources. Some of the most common causes of knee pain include sudden injury, overuse, or degenerative conditions such as arthritis. The location of the knee pain also matters because it can tell you what parts are damaged and need healing, whether that’s muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones, or cartilage—or a combination of those. For example, pain on the outer or inner side of the knee might indicate a meniscus injury (a crescent-shaped disc of cartilage that cushions and stabilizes the joint). This type of injury can often be accompanied by muscle pain due to compensation or altered movement patterns.
The tricky thing about knee pain is that it often rears its painful head because of overcompensations or under-compensations in other movements in the body that eventually lead to knee pain or injury. Case in point: We have been working with a super fun patient named Hal, who had a confounding case of knee pain that flared up while we were working with him on muscle spasms in his back! That allowed us to teach him about how the knees and the core are connected.
From Back to Knees: Hal's Journey Through Integrated Physical Therapy
Meet Hal, a patient who’s as quick with a joke as he is with a smile. While he may have dodged the camera ("I didn't want to break it," he quips), there’s nothing shy about his praise for the physical therapy he’s received. Hal first came to us after his orthopedist referred him for help with painful back spasms, and he’s been a joy to work with ever since. “My new orthopedist prescribed physical therapy for my back spasms as a prerequisite for my requested MRI with sedation,” explains Hals. “Under intense questioning about who I should see for physical therapy, the doctor finally shared their secret about ALIB."
During Hal’s first visit, we did a thorough evaluation to understand the underlying causes of his back pain. We then started working on a plan to stabilize and strengthen his core. And things were going really well for the back pain when suddenly, the knee pain hit: “After beginning with ALIB, and unrelated to my ALIB sessions, my osteoarthritis flared up in my left knee,” says Hal. “Now, I am receiving therapy for both my back and my knees.”
The key to holistic physical therapy for knees is to remember how the entire body is connected. This is exactly how we have approached helping Hal, as Dr. Paula explains, “We evaluated his whole body, including both the knee and the back, as well as how all different parts of the body interact together.”
Dr. Paula continues, “Knee pain is typically a secondary problem. The primary problem is frequently how the hips, knees, and/or lower back are moving. When there is too much shearing force at the knee because of movement issues in a different, more mobile joint, you can get pain in the knee, but the intervention needs to be addressed in another area.”
So, when it comes down to physical therapy for knee pain, exercises here at ALIB and at home will include things that directly strengthen the knee but may also involve working on core and hip strength and other areas of the body that affect how the knee functions.
“Strengthening and exercise are the best treatments for knee pain,” explains Dr. Paula. “The muscles in the thigh are essential for providing the knee with the support needed for daily movement."
The Impact of Physical Therapy Exercises
When asked what exercise is Hal’s favorite for addressing the causes of knee pain and back pain, he says, “Neutral trunk breathing with a chin tuck and funny face,” he says with a grimace, showing off his favorite face to make when he’s doing the exercise.
Hal works diligently on all his exercises and has learned the importance of being aware of how his body moves. “We have been addressing Hal's knee pain by addressing his body's compensations,” says Dr. Aurora, who also has been working with Hal. “Specifically, we have been working on activating the left quadricep muscle and teaching Hal how to improve his body awareness so he can better understand when his muscles are working effectively."
Of course, the knees and the core are connected, and Hal's PT for knee pain takes that into account: "We have been working on pairing this quadricep engagement with core stabilization in different positions, like sitting and laying down, and will transition this to functional movements like getting down and up from the floor, standing up and sitting down into a chair, and navigating stairs," explains Dr. Aurora.
All this hard work has earned Hal some wonderful improvements in his overall condition: “Hal's knee range of motion has improved, along with decreased swelling and improved activity tolerance,” says Dr. Aurora. “His ability to balance on his left leg alone has improved from 6 seconds to more than 20 seconds. A combination of active and passive knee range of motion exercises, along with lower extremity strengthening and core stabilization exercises, paired with soft tissue mobilization for overactive muscles, has helped Hal improve his knee pain and related functional limitations.”
Not only has it been exciting to watch Hal get the back pain relief he needed, but also to see him making such great progress on his PT for knee pain too. "Hal comes to every session with a good story, a good piece of advice, and many fun facts,” adds Dr. Aurora. “It has been a pleasure to get to know him and work with Hal."
November Functional Movement Challenge: The Brazilian "Sitting-Rising Test" (SRT)
Hal has also been working on this month's functional challenge, which Dr. Aurora mentioned already: getting up and down off the floor! This is actually called the sitting-rising test (SRT), developed by practitioners in Brazil. It's a great tool for evaluating your current physical abilities and figuring out where to work to improve them to prevent injuries! Give it a try and see where you are:
• Basic: Sit on the floor and then stand back up, but do not use your hands, knees, arms, or the sides of your legs!
• For those needing modifications: It’s fine to use some assistance but pay attention to what works and what doesn’t during the exercise.
• For our athletes: Perform the SRT without any support at all.
Engaging in this test is a powerful way to assess your physical health and work on crucial skills that enhance everyday mobility and longevity, so give it a try! If you have any questions about the SRT or want to know how to improve your performance with this important exercise, contact us!
Holistic PT for Knee Pain in Hunterdon County
We are glad to work with all of our patients and are so thrilled that Hal can see for himself how PT for knee pain and back pain has helped him.
"The improvement in my flexibility, ease of movement, reduction in pain, and frequency of spasms has been quite extraordinary," says Hal. "Quite simply, I can't imagine life without ALIB.”
If you are struggling with knee pain, back pain, or any other kind of pain or injury, don’t despair! Here at ALIB Physical Therapy in Flemington NJ, we can help you figure out where you might be under or overcompensating and resolve your knee pain from the inside out! Just schedule an appointment and join us for fun, challenging PT sessions, and take control of your health today!
