Mr. Knee Pain Guru,
I had knee surgery about 1.5 years ago with high expectations of being able to be 100% pain free. It is now 2008 and all the steroid shots, glucosamine, and anti inflammatory they have been prescribing is just not working. I am in the construction /engineering industry which is imperative I be in good physical condition since walking up and down stairs, and conducting field inspections is an every day thing for me. The pain is getting worse! I have lost confidence in my current doctor as I feel he does not know what else he can do for my pain. Other than surgery, are their any other options for managing my pain? Please help.
Sincerely,
OB
Texas
Dear OB,
I hear your concern and have felt your pain. I went down a very similar path 9 years ago with my own knee surgery.
In order to be able to help you or give you some sort of direction as to what to do or where to go I need to ask you quite a few questions as to the nature of your knee pain and your knee surgery.
What was the surgery for? (Torn cartilidge, ACL tear, knee replacement?)
When do you feel pain? (Walking, sitting, standing, working, all the above?)
Is the pain sharp, dull, short, burning?
Is it in the front or back of the knee? On the right side or left side? Above or below the knee cap?
Does it hurt when you twist or turn?
Do you feel the knee pain all the time?
Do you feel the knee pain when you sleep?
and the questions continue on and on….
These help to give a better understanding of the tension pattern that the knee is holding causing the pain you feel in the knee. The more information we have about what you are feeling regarding your knee pain the better we are able to give suggestions and direction as to how to proceed. Without this information all we can do is speculate as to what is happening and what could be done.
By doing the ground work before hand and asking effective questions as to what is happening with your knees, there is so much that can be done to improve your existing knee pain situation.
To Your Pain FREE Knees,
Bill Parravano
Bill@TheKneePainGuru.com
(The Knee Pain Guru)
Hey Everyone,
I just got off the phone with OB. He has a lot going on with his knee pain. It is getting to such an extent that it is radiating up the back of his leg and affecting his lower back. He feels it not only in his knees and lower back, he also feels the pain tension and stress in his upper back, neck and shoulders. This quite often is the case when the body has experienced a trauma like a knee injury and/or surgery.
OB has had a couple of steroid shots to address the knee pain and each time he was unable to walk for 4 days afterward due to the pain, tension and swelling in his knees. OB said his current doctor can’t understand why OB still feels knee pain. He says he feels “off balanced” and his body does not feel “right” and as of lately the knee pain has been radiating up the back of his leg into his hip causing discomfort and pain there as well.
OB was a college baseball catcher and wants to get back to playing without pain in his body again. OB said he has all the faith in the medical community and is going to get a second opinion with another orthopedic doctor to see what other options he has.
I wish him the best of luck in his search…
The perspective that I am coming from regarding the knee pain is looking outside of the conventional western medicine medical paradigm. In order to understand what is going on with the knee. One must look at the reaction the body has from the perception of the “threat” it experienced. The threat being the knee injury, surgery, or shot. The body has an innate wisdom to it and it does not know difference in the perceived threat. The nervous system responds accordingly and the body tenses up to to protect itself from being injured further. This is a functional tension pattern for the injury however it is not a functional tension pattern for someone like OB to go back into their life and functional normally without the pain, tension, and discomfort in their knees or other parts of their body.
It ends up being and endless loop of pain/tension and then more pain/more tension until the body is so tight and stiff that something finally begins to “wear away” like cartilidge and/or bone which can lead to a surgery. In the interim drugs are taken to mask the pain.
This is just a recipe for “damage control” until something really goes wrong.
However, there are options. Plenty of them. It is just the point of finding the right combination that works for your knee pain.
- Exercises that specifically stretch and strengthen the body’s tendon strength
- Understanding and importance of practicing correct breathing methods
- Incorporating the proper amount of water in your diet
- Taking vitamin, mineral, and herbal supplements that support your body’s ability to heal itself
- Freeing the stress and tension stuck in your nervous system so you can sleep and digest your food so the body can heal itself
- The use of homeopathy to address acute and chronic knee pain the body is feeling
- Proper thought patterns that promote the body’s own healing mechanisms
These are just some of the things that can be implemented to start the road to recovery from knee pain.
All the best,
Bill
P.S. – You can find all the knee exercise I use to teach other to get over your knee pain here —> “Stop Your Knee Pain Now!”
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