UNRELENTING KNEE PAIN 4/23/16

Knee pain is very common and can be difficult to treat if the physical therapist is not sure what to look for during the evaluation process. I have found that people with knee pain have some common problems. They have weakness in the hip on the same side of the knee pain along with quad weakness. You also have to be aware of the specific muscle tightness’s that can occur. The rectus femoris, hamstrings and IT band can often times be tight and they need to be appropriately addressed. So far this is pretty easy to figure out, but the evaluation needs to go much deeper. This is why a manual physical therapist is often needed when someone has been unsuccessfully treated for knee pain in the past.

What I would do is start at the lumbar spine and sacrum and work up to the lower thoracic spine looking for any vertebrae that are moving abnormally. When the spine is not moving the way it should, muscles in the body become inhibited and other muscles have an increased tone and will not work appropriately creating an imbalance. If the spine is not addressed, these muscle groups may never function the way they should and the knee pain may never go away. The spinal somatic dysfunctions can be easily corrected by a manual physical therapist. Hip capsular mobility may need to be addressed and then appropriate strengthening exercises and stretches can be given to restore the body’s normal balance, and the pain usually goes away in a short period of time.

Most of the time the spine will never be addressed in the typical insurance based physical therapy setting due to time constraints, therapists not having the appropriate knowledge of the spine, or not even being sure if they are allowed to work on the spine when someone comes in for knee pain. This is why the pain lingers and may never go away. Wright Physiotherapy is a better choice and is why I do not use an insurance based treatment model. Because I am a cash based physical therapist I will treat and fix what needs to be fixed. You will get better quicker and in 2-4 visits the pain will be much improved or gone. If you or anyone you know has knee pain, set up and appointment and I can address it.