Two Tricks for Knee Pain Even You Can do at Home

Somewhat to my surprise the two articles on sore backs seem to be quite popular, whereas my riveting article on caffeinated underwear received little or no attention at all.   Based on my experience with the general public I assumed it was far more interested in underwear than lower backs, but, the people have spoken!

Today, therefore, I will continue my body part series.  Today's featured body part is the knee.  Before I go any farther let me clarify a couple things.  First, if you have suffered an acute knee injury, such as a falling on a slippery driveway your neighbor's child never got around to shoveling, or being hit repeatedly by a baseball bat in the side of leg you should seek immediate medical attention.  The tips I am sharing are for knee discomfort of the "CRAP!  Why is my knee sore today!?" variety.  So before you read on, please get a feel for in to which category you might fall.

One of the most common complaints I hear is "As I am getting older my knees feels 'loose' or 'unstable.'"  My first recommendation is try standing on one foot for about 30 seconds, 2 to three times, three times a week.  If that is too easy, get a foam pad, balance disk or BOSU and stand on it on one foot.  Being on one leg requires the muscles of the leg to stabilize the ankle and the knee and the more they have to do it, the more they remember how to do it.  After a few weeks, you should start to feel a difference!

Another complaint I hear is "I have this pain at the lower portion and to the outside of my knee-cap."  Often this pain is caused by a too tight IT band.  The Iliotibial (IT) band is a thick band of fibers that begins at the pelvis and runs down the outside of the thigh where it attaches at the tibia, or shin bone.  Although it is not technically a muscle, the IT band still does get tight especially for people who tend to run a lot.  My recommendation is to buy a foam roller and use it on the IT Band like the incredibly buff cartoon character in this example:

It will result in, just so you understand, a new kind of wholly unpleasant variety of pain.   BUT!  If you are consistent and do it correctly over time the pain will diminish in both your IT Band and your knee, so it is probably worth it.

Let me know how these two ideas work for you or if you have other knee related questions please comment below or e mail me at: tom@canyonptandf.com.  See you next week for our next featured body part and don't forget to visit www.canyonptandf.com to drive up web traffic and our Google rating!