Hey everybody, Kris Stokes from Custom Fitness Personal Training Studio, your Amarillo personal trainer. Today we are talking about where your knee pain is coming from. This is Part Three of our series. We’ve gone over posture, we’ve gone over improper muscle balance, and now today we do want to talk about a situation that does happen for a lot of people which is deterioration. Knee pain we hope is coming from something fixable like posture alignment, muscle imbalances, things like that but sometimes it’s deterioration. Sometimes we just used and abused our knees or maybe it’s hereditary and it just starts to disintegrate and deteriorate over time.
What You Can Do To Fix Knee Pain
What we’ve got to do is know what’s happening and what we should be doing, on top of that. A lot of people come in and say, “Well, I’ve been to the doctor and my knees are in really bad shape and they’d say no more running and no more impact and I just don’t know what to do.” Well, the good news is that you can still strength train, we can still get muscle building around those issues if the doctor said that there is absolutely a deterioration issue in there. You can do that through physical therapy and you can do that through training to build up the muscles to support the knee joint. Is it going to fix the problem? No, but it may help to alleviate some of the pain associated with it.
The other thing that training’s are going to do during that type of situation, is to hopefully prolong the knee for surgery to help minimize the amount of pain and compensation going on. Therefore, you can wait to have that surgery until a more opportune time for you. A lot of times, people are trying to time that throughout the year so that it makes more sense or that you’ll put it off in a few years. Sometimes that can be done depending on what the knee issue is. There’s so many intricate parts to the knee that it can be a multitude of things happening within there, from cartilage, to tendons, to ligaments, and things like that.
Figure Out What The Problem Is
What we’ve got to do is to figure out what the problem is and then train around that to be able to strengthen and balance the body through that process. You say, “Well, if the doctor already told me I’m going to have to have surgery why would I want to train, why would I want to strengthen that area if I’m just going to have to have surgery? It’s going to get weak again because I won’t be able to work out for so long.“
Well, the thing is that as your knee your hurts and you start to compensate it at the other leg, right? If you’re compensating the other leg, you start to wear out that joint. So the less compensation that you can do, the better. What happens a lot of times, is people have one knee fixed or replaced and then later on they find out that they’ve got to have the other knee done. Typically, it’s because of decompensation done prior to the surgery and during recovery. So what we want to do is, we want to strengthen the rest of the body. It’s not going to compensate, but rather it’s helping the body to be more whole as you’re walking and moving.
If you can do that, you’re not only going to help in that area, but you’re also going to help the body to heal faster post-surgery so that you can get back to living a normal healthy life. There’s a lot of benefit to you training before and after a surgery. Obviously, you want to do your physical therapy, that’s huge, and if you can do therapy beforehand and make it better, please do. A lot of people don’t realize that they can use a physical therapist before they go through surgery but you can. If you’re having knee issues, a lot of times you can go to the doctor and talk to them about that and they can send you for that.
Physical Therapists Are Your Friends!
We have several physical therapists that we work closely with that we’re happy to refer out to. Also, we have several of those people who allow us to be a part of that by helping their patients to get their workouts in that they’re requesting during the week. We add those to their training protocols. Once they finish their therapy, then we’re able to take and build programs that are kind of post-therapy type relations. We start them where they are at with therapy and we build them forward to be stronger and better.
Those are kind of some things to think through. If you are having some knee pain that is chronic and is always there, it’s probably a good idea to have it checked out to make sure that it’s nothing major. If it is, go through the motions and figure out what options there are. This doesn’t mean that you have to do it immediately, but figure out what the protocol would be and what direction you’ll be heading in. Then definitely work on some strength training, some better alignment, some better posture; those kinds of things to help prolong that situation as long as possible.
So, if you are wanting the accountability and help with creating an action plan to see results, or are wanting to someone to help create a workout plan to push you to your greatest potential, then that’s what we’re here for. We work with our clients not just on fitness, but also nutrition. What we do is we will ensure that you are supported throughout every aspect of your health and wellness journey, and that includes making those eating changes. We have an entire team of dedicated professionals to help you with your health and fitness goals. To get your consultation set up, give us a call at 806-322-3188 or email us at info@customfitness.biz At Custom Fitness, we are YOUR personal trainers in Amarillo, Texas.
Have a great day!