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Your Knee Bone's Connected to your Butt Bone
Although chronic back pain is the most common chronic pain problem worldwide, of course it's not the only one. In my practice I also help people struggling with foot pain, hip pain, shoulder pain, and many others!
In fact, today I want to share with you my perspective on KNEE PAIN, one of the most common problems I'm asked about.
Recently I received an email from Bruce in Kelowna. He was referred by a friend of his from Vernon who had gotten rid of his back pain with my help, using video consults during the Pandemic.
Bruce wanted to know if I could help him with his knee pain. He also wanted to know if we could do it with video consults or if I thought he was going to have to drive all the way to Calgary.
Bruce told me that he is my age (dangerously close to 60!) and lives an active lifestyle, skiing, playing hockey, and golfing. He said that he knew he was really in trouble when he started experiencing annoying knee pain when walking.
I've found that people are willing to set aside heavy squats at the gym or give up skiing moguls all day, rationalizing that those are activities for the young, but almost everyone asks for help when climbing stairs or walking around in the supermarket hurts their knee(s).
Unfortunately but unsurprisingly, Bruce's doctor gave him a painkiller prescription and told him to rest. A lot of patients visit our clinic after seeing their GP and being told to take painkillers and rest, or that it’s just something that they will have to live with in their retirement.
I hope you understand how ridiculous that advice is!
The "rest" part of the advice only works if you want to stay on the couch while life passes you by. The "drug" part is an attempt to "turn off the fire alarm" even though the fire is still burning! Denial at its finest.
Instead, let's look at the facts.
You see, although the knee is a wonderful example of complex biological design, it is essentially a hinge. A wonderful hinge, but a hinge just the same.
And because the knee joint is a hinge, its ability to function properly and painlessly is almost completely dependent upon the positioning of the pelvis/hip and foot/ankle, and their related soft tissues. The "knee bone" is quite literally connected to the "hip bone" AND the "ankle bone",... who knew?!
The truth is that when weightbearing joints have been malaligned for years, you have experienced accelerated wear and tear on those joints, for years, whether you know it or not:
- Chronic friction causes irritation.
- Chronic irritation and the inflammation that results eventually leads to scar tissue as the body tries to stop the irritation.
- If this condition persists for decades you eventually see joint degeneration, as the bones remodel in response to the abnormal stresses and the body attempts to splint/fuse the joint with calcium deposits.
- when the joint becomes degenerative beyond a certain extent they cut off your leg and give you an artificial knee.
Sounds like fun, right?!
I remember in the 90's a relative of mine had one knee replaced and it went as well as it could have. Soon after, her surgeon moved hundreds of miles away. A few years later when the other knee was dysfunctional enough, she followed that doctor, going 7-8 hours each way, to make sure she had a good result with her second knee replacement. As it turned out, the second surgery went very poorly and she has walked with a very pronounced limp and continued to deal with chronic pain ever since.
The good news is that if you keep your biomechanical house in order you shouldn't ever need a knee surgery, let alone a knee replacement. Those joints are designed to last a lifetime, so take care of them!
In an article like this there isn't enough time nor space to tell you everything you need to know to keep your knees happy and healthy.
However, here's what I told Bruce:
1. Most people who have chronic or recurring knee pain have a hip/pelvis alignment problem, a foot/ankle problem, or both.
2. These things are relatively easy to identify and are almost always correctable.
3. While it's certainly easier for me to do a comprehensive assessment in person, I have patients from all over who I only ever see online, who still get great results, without driving or flying to Calgary.
Are you like Bruce, starting to think you're too young to be feeling so old?!
With summer on the way, the last thing you want is to be limping or having to rest up for days when you would rather be enjoying the sun with your loved ones, right?
If you, or someone you care about, is struggling with knee pain, maybe it's time to take action. I've seen it time and time again, the painkillers can often "take the edge off", but that strategy is only delaying the inevitable. And hey, you can only watch so much Netflix before you've got even bigger problems than knee pain!
When you're ready to get off your butt bone and take care of your knee bone, send me an email at geoff@alignmentfirst.ca and we'll see if you are a good fit for the Alignment First Protocol.
Yours in health,
Geoff Dakin
"Most people who have chronic or recurring knee pain have a hip/pelvis alignment problem, a foot/ankle problem, or both." First-principles thinking involves breaking down a problem into its assumption-free, fundamental building blocks. In the chronic pain-elimination game, the following fundamental truths have served me well over the years: 1. The nervous system is paramount. 2. Malalignment of the skeleton adds stress to the neuromuscular system. 3. Postural malalignment can usually be reduced with the practice of appropriately prescribed corrective exercise.
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