Watch the video first and then check out the links below:

Click on the link immediately below for the Muscle Anatomy Chart to see there are NO MUSCLES AROUND THE FRONT OF YOUR KNEES!

Click here to see the “Muscle Anatomy Chart.”

Now click on this link which takes you the New York Times Video with the mis-information I was talking about in my video above that can actually make your knees worse!

Click here to see the New York Times video for “Stabilizing The Knee.”

Here is my link shamelessly promoting my e-book and video showing you how to CORRECTLY STRENGTHEN YOUR KNEE JOINTS!

Get my e-book & video combo – -> Click Here!

None of what I am going to share with you today is to be taken as medical advice. This approach is what I used to get myself out of knee pain that I learned over the past nine years.

These are truths as I know them. Use what you like and disregard the rest. If you have any concerns as to what you are to do, please consult your licensed health care professional.

Think about how most knee injuries happen. A short twist, turn, misstep, stopping too fast, or a quick jerk to the side suddenly sends a shooting burning pain in your knee.

Your body is tense and thus not flexible enough to adapt to this sudden movement.

Then it is very difficult to think about stretching, especially when your knee is painful, tight and swollen.

In trying to heal after an injury like this, none of the conventional stretching can actually get to the place your knee needs to be stretched in order to address the discomfort at its source.

Most of the stretching taught today will teach you to stretch your hamstrings, your calves, your quadriceps – which are the muscles in the front upper part of your leg.

I believe this stretching is important however I also believe this is only half of the equation.

Stretching needs to be both actively and passively.

So what does that mean…

Passive stretching would be addressing all of the muscles in the legs like I have already described before.  Your hamstrings, calves, quads, etc.

I have found the best places to stretch like this is when I am watching a movie and have plenty of time to sit on the floor and let my body let go of the tension in my legs with no pressing time constraints.

Active stretching is just as important for your recovery from knee pain.  The main reason for this is at the time you injured your knees or when they hurt you are generally using them actively (walking, running, etc)

So an “active” stretching program is key to getting your body capable of mirroring the types of movements your body would be going through on a daily basis.  Training your body in this manner is important to relax the tension from the current injury and prevent further injuries down the road.

The main focus here once again is in the tendons and the ligaments.

How can you get to those places that are so difficult to get to?

The place that I’m talking about is in the knee joint itself. It is of the utmost importance that the stretches you perform to address the pain, tension, discomfort, tightness, and stiffness in your knee benefit the knee twofold.

Meaning the active stretching that you’re doing both stretches AND strengthens the knee joint.

I can’t emphasize this one enough. The active stretching program you incorporate into your knee pain recovery program must both stretch and strengthen the knee joint at the same time.

This is so important to incorporate this in your knee pain recovery program from your knee injury.

If you are not doing the correct stretching both active and passive you are increasing the tension in your body, making it more difficult for you to get over what you are trying to get rid of, namely your knee pain.

You are essentially working against your body, compounding the problem for yourself in the long-run.

So in summary a stretching program you undertake to address your knee pain must involve both active and passive stretching in order for you to achieve a complete and total recovery from a knee injury.

…your info is Extremely! helpful… I am 64 and my right knee has hurt for about 10 years… they say, advanced arthritus… but, although I hike and bike a lot… it hurts more when I sit in the car for awhile. I don’t take meds as they suggested.

I also have scoliosis… and a “Rolfer” says… my whole body is out.

An osteopath my doctor sent me to says my right leg is 1/2″ shorter… as I lay down or stand… however… when measured, it is not really shorter; my hip is ‘torked’ or something.

He says, unlock your knees! He says I am so flexible that my knees just sway around and I lock them when I stand.  He also says wear a brace and dont walk on rough ground!  (I live in the country!0

I have been to everyone!  Now, I am drinking way more water… I think it may be getting better!  Some days, for some strange reason, no pain at all!

Any ideas?

I KNOW I will get better! I am not going for a new knee… as are several of my friends… and which my MD suggests.

Thanks for being there! You give us HOPE!
Bye

Linda

Dear Linda

Thanks so much for your e-mail and there a couple of components here that can be happening resulting in your knee pain.

1.) If you are drinking more water and your knee pain is getting better then that is a function of your body’s PH level being too low which means it is too acidic. This acid sits in your joints and begins to irritate the nerve endings in your joints and your brain translates this as knee pain when your body is actually just dehydrated…

2.) Regarding your “loose” knees is usually a function of the tendons and ligaments being week in and around your knees. The only ways to strengthen the knee joint is to fatigue the muscles in the legs so you begin to strengthen the tendons and ligaments in your knees. You see muscles fatigue after 7 seconds and then you are only working with the tendons and ligaments. When you are strengthening your body unless you are taking this into consideration you are leaving your joints out of the equation…

I cover all of this and more in my e-Book: “Stop Your Knee Pain Now!”

I hope this was helpful

Best regards,

Bill

(The Knee Pain Guru)

Anyhow, the essence of the article Dr. Collis was writing about was regarding how important it is for the tendons and ligaments in the knees that an athlete properly slow down after running.

Dr. Collis states: “Consider an automobile collision. This is clearly an extreme example of ineffective deceleration. Believe it or not, the case of the automobile is similar to what is occurring within the bodies of most athletes. Instead of utilizing the involved muscles to properly slow down, these athletes are relying on their joints and tendons to decelerate. Not only does this method provide an inability to properly stop and reaccelerate, the trauma inflicted on the joints, ligaments, and tendons may eventually lead to injury. It is not a surprise that ACL knee injuries are at an all time high and that females have a 600% greater chance to tear their ACL.”

I do also believe this also applies to those that are not athletes as well and the same type of injuries are able to happen to those people who do not have the strength and flexibility in the tendons and ligaments in their knees thus resulting in knee pain.

Strengthening the knees and even more specifically strengthening the tendons and ligaments in and around the knees is not so straight forward.

Muscles fatigue after 7 seconds then you are strictly working with the tendons and ligaments.  So it is important to do an exercise for more than 7 seconds to begin to strengthen the tendons and ligaments surrounding the knees.  What is even more important is to understand is the fact that in order to do these exercises longer than 7 seconds we need to know how to breathe.

The combination of these two points is what really is going to build strong flexible tendons and ligaments in our knees that will make them resilient to injury.

Go ahead and leave your comments below.

Bill

(The Knee Pain Guru)

“Why You Must Protect Your Knees.” featured in REDBOOK

There are points about this article that are very good and there are other points that are given in this article that I don’t believe are explaining the entire picture on the subject of knee pain…

One point that is brought up about addressing knee pain is to strengthen the “muscles” around the knee. If you have ever looked at an anatomy chart like the one posted below. The muscles are in “red” or the darker colors. However, when you get down in and around the knees, especially in the front of the knee. There really are no “muscles” to be seen.  On the muscle chart everything is “white.” The reason it is white is because there are no muscles there! What really needs to be strengthened are the tendons which connect the muscle to the bones in your knee. Tendon strength is what makes knees strong and flexible without pain like they were when you were younger.

So a deeper question would be, “How do you strengthen the tendons around the knee to both get rid of the knee pain while at the same time make the knees more flexible to prevent future knee pain issues?”

The answer is in breathing!

After exerting a muscle for 7 seconds, the muscle fatigues and all you are left to work with is your tendons. The idea is to do an exercise for your knees longer than 7 seconds. The catch happens is when we do the exercise for more than 7 seconds and don’t breathe. We pass out and have a whole host of other issues besides the knee pain!

It is important to understand how to breath first, which is, in through your nose and out through your mouth. The more difficult the exercise the faster you breathe. This is something you can practice just sitting down and getting up from a chair. You will begin to realize how much tension you hold in just that simple movement with or without knee pain. How much we hold our breath is directly related to how much tension we have in our bodies which can result in knee pain. A broader perspective of knee pain is that the knees are not necessarily what is wrong. They are just the weakest link in the series of tension from you head to your feet.

Now to get back to the knee pain exercises. When you do an exercise to strengthen the “muscles” (in actuality the tendons) of your knees. You must hold the exercise in position for at least 7 seconds while maintaining the “circular breathing” – In through your nose and out through your mouth. You will find out how strong your legs really are, or in this case are not. This is how you are really going to make a difference with your knee pain.

I have been working on an e-book and video that are going to go into specific exercises that will show how to both stretch and strengthen your knees while at the same time relax the stress/tension in your body resulting in your knee pain.

I hope to have some of the exercises up soon to share with you so you can begin to both feel and see in the difference in how your knee pain feels.

If there are further questions you may have regarding your specific type of knee pain. Please feel free to contact me directly at Bill@TheKneePainGuru.com

Best regards,

Bill

(The Knee Pain Guru)

P.S. – If you have not downloaded my FREE Knee Pain Report please click the link.