Do your knees seem to be older than the rest of your body? Are they stiff when you get out of bed? Do they hurt when you walk up and down steps, play sports, run, squat, or lunge? 

If so, we might be able to help you avoid a costly scan or trip to a doctor/therapist! 

We have Dr. Zaki Afzal back with us for Part Five of our FIX YOUR BODY series to tell you how to assess knee pain safely so you know why you are having issues. 

Assuming your knee pain is movement-related, he has a few corrective exercises that you can do on your own that should help get you pain-free in no time!

Before we dive in, we want to quickly discuss when you SHOULD NOT do these assessments and exercises and some stats and facts that may help you better understand your knee pain! 

How Common Is Knee Pain?

Knee pain is the second most common cause of persistent pain, and one-third of all Americans report experiencing knee pain at some time or another.

Two of the most common reasons for knee pain are being overweight and improper form/technique during activity. 

If either of these is the root cause of your knee issues, there is a solid chance your knee pain is reversible, and something we can help you with — for free!!

Types Of Knee Pain 

The biggest difference in day-to-day knee pain versus pain that may be activity or workout related is that discomfort in those that are active is generally felt on the front side of the knee and sometimes only occurs when lifting or post-lift. 

Often, when people feel knee pain in the gym, they automatically think they need to take a week off training or go get an x-ray or MRI. Not so fast!!

There is a good chance that none of that is necessary! Remember what we’ve said throughout this series …. 

If your pain originates from a movement-related issue … movement is most likely the answer to finding relief!

Of course, you have to do the right corrective movements — which is exactly what we are helping you with today and why we’re doing this entire series! 

Speaking of, we’ve already gone over neck, shoulder, back, and hip pain! If you missed those episodes — you can find links to each at the bottom of this article!

Before we get started, we do want to make sure you know that these assessments and corrective exercises should only be done if you have knee pain that is movement or possibly joint-related. 

If your knee pain is ongoing, severe, due to an injury or medical condition, or is accompanied by any other symptoms —  you should see a doctor or physical therapist like Dr. Afzal for a one-on-one assessment.  

FIX YOUR BODY EPISODE 5: KNEE PAIN 

Below you will find three common movement related reasons for knee pain, assessments you can perform on yourself to see if this is your issue, and then a quick corrective exercise that typically provides INSTANT relief! 

Again, before trying any of these, you must ensure your knee pain isn’t something more serious. 

If you are confident your knee pain is movement-related, here are some possible root causes, assessments, and simple fixes!! 

If at any time you are unsure how to perform anything below, click on the video box above for a step-by-step video demonstration! 

COMMON ISSUE #1: POOR KNEE FLEXIBILITY 

As mentioned, most active people will feel knee pain in the front of the knee.

The “medical” term for this is Patellofemoral Pain. To break down this type of pain in really simple terms  …

• The patella is your knee cap.
• The femoral refers to your femur (the big bone in your thigh.) 
• Patellofemoral is just the relationship your knee cap has with your femur – which is the straightening and bending of your knee.

Most active people with knee pain will have pain after they workout around this area or slightly underneath. 

The first instinct when most people feel this pain is to stretch the quad. But that isn’t going to help because most of the time, this issue it’s not from the inability to bend the knee; it’s the inability to fully straighten the knee.  

You can check this really easily! 

Knee Flexibility Assessment

You want to see if you can get your “painful knee” as straight as your non painful side. The goal with this assessment is to check for symmetry side-to-side!  

• Sit on a table or hard surface with your knees straight out in front of you. 
• Evaluate if both backs of your knees hit the surface about the same. 
• Now evaluate if they hyperextend about the same. 
• Hold your knee down and see how high you can lift your foot up off the surface. Repeat on the other side. 

If you are lacking on either side, that knee may need more mobility to properly tackle day-to-day movements and activities in the gym.

There is a straightforward way to correct this! 

Corrective Exercise – Knee Extension Mobilization

This is an easy way to get your knee moving! All you need to perform this exercise is a foam roller or anything firm you can prop your foot on to slightly elevate it.

• Sit on a hard surface with legs extended and relaxed.
• Put the foam roller under the ankle of the “bad” knee. 
• Cup your hands around your knee and push downwards toward the table/ground.
• Push until you feel a good stretch in the back of the knee.
• Hold for about 2 seconds and ease off.
• Repeat this movement for 10-15 reps. 
• Immediately see how your knee feels! Perform the knee assessment again, go for a walk, go up/down some steps, do a squat movement, etc. One round should give you significant knee pain relief.

Tips:

• Do not place the foam roller under your heel. 
• You want to get a good stretch, but do not push too hard to where you feel pain or discomfort. Ease your way into more pressure. 
• As you progress and build more flexibility, try flexing your quad when pressing down on your knee.  

COMMON ISSUE #2:  TIGHT/RESTRICTED ADDUCTOR

If you feel achiness in the knees when lunging or in a deep squat position, you want to make sure your inner knee muscles are open and have a full range of motion. 

You may be shocked at what muscle in your leg could be limiting this from happening and potentially causing knee pain.

It’s your groin muscle!! 

During the bottom of a lunge or squat, one of the main muscles that help you get up is the groin muscle (better known as the adductor muscle) – which attaches to the inside of the knee! 

You want to ensure this muscle isn’t restricted, and the assessment for this is very simple. 

Adductor/Groin Assessment 

Nothing fancy here .. just perform a few deep lunges or squats and see what they feel like! Super simple, but don’t skip this step! 

You need to see if you feel any pain or restrictions. If they feel off, pay attention to how far you can go down, when and where you feel pain, etc.

This will be your “baseline” so that when you re-test – you will be able to better determine if the corrective exercise is working! 

Corrective Exercise – Inner Knee Soft Tissue Release 

This is very similar to the side glute tissue release we did in our hip pain video in the sense that once you hit “the spot,” — you will know!!

• Flip over onto your stomach.
• Prop yourself up on your side with the foam roller placed lengthwise under the inner part of your knee (to see the exact placement, click here.)
• Move around until you feel the spot that needs to be released. You will know when you hit it!! 
• Once you have found it, hold and then lift your foot up and rotate it up and down, so you are rolling back/forth on the adductor muscle. Work your way across the length of the muscle, stopping at about halfway up the thigh.
• Hit each spot for about 5-10 rotations, for 2 sets, with about 30 seconds rest between. 
• Switch legs and repeat. 

Re-test your lunge and squat. If you had pain before, you should notice instant relief. Or, if you didn’t have pain, you should notice that you are stronger coming out of the bottom of the lunge or squat. 

This is another example of where you feel pain may not directly represent where the pain stems from. 

Exactly why we are giving you multiple options to try out! Let’s move on to the next! 

COMMON ISSUE #3:  LIFTING FORM
You might not have bad lifting form; you just might not have an ideal form for preventing knee pain or not aggravating the existing pain. 

The few things you can do are – – limit range of motion, perform isometric holds, strengthen your quads, and make slight modifications to things like squats and lunges. 

Modify Lower Body Exercises

In our episode on low back pain, we discussed how allowing your knees to go over your toes is not inherently a bad thing. 

But if you have knee pain and still want to squat, it could be beneficial to not allow your knees to track over your toes simply because it can take a little bit of stress off the knee. Instead, sit back in your squat. Box squats are a great alternative. 

Same with lunges! There is nothing wrong with allowing your knee to slightly track over your toes if you don’t have knee pain. But if you do have knee pain, you may want to try shifting your weight more onto your hips to see if that relieves some pressure. 

Another good modification for lower body exercises is not going as deep as you normally would without knee pain. Have a marker you are going down to — then slowly move that mark lower and lower each training session. 

Remember, these modifications are temporary! You don’t want or need to use them forever!

The intention is to make small adjustments that take a little pressure off your knees while you are working through your knee issues, so that you can still exercise. 

You do eventually want to get back to the full exercise! 

Limit Range Of Motion and Use Isometric Holds

Limiting your range of motion and incorporating holds is a simple and very effective way to calm down an irritated knee.

An isometric hold is simply when you hold a position and the muscle is firing, but nothing else moves. Think .. wall sits, static lunges, or holding a leg extension in the contracted position.

These are really great low-level exercises because you are in complete control of how hard you squeeze, how long you hold, etc. You can push harder or softer, depending on how it feels. 

The idea is to start here. Eventually, after doing isometric exercises for a while, try adding in some limited range of motion until you work up to full knee extension!

If you feel any pain when attempting more range of motion, just scale it back! 

Don’t Write Off Leg Extensions 

Speaking of leg extensions, you may have heard they are a bad exercise if you have knee pain, but this isn’t entirely true.

In fact, Dr. Zaki says almost every patient he works with in knee rehab does some sort of knee extension because having strong quads can help avoid knee injuries in the future!! 

Before you totally write of an exercise, remember that nothing is inherently bad for a particular part of your body. It’s all about the context that it is performed in. 

If leg extensions hurt your knees, chances are you are just attempting to lift too heavy. Try scaling back before totally removing the exercise. 

This sort of reminds us of the running myth. I’m sure you’ve heard that running is bad for your knees … but again, it’s all about context!

If you already have bad knees, pounding the pavement for hours might not be a  great idea.  But Dr. Afza says studies have actually shown that recreational runners have stronger and more healthy-looking knee cartilage in imaging than those that sit on the couch! This kinda busts the myth that running “gives wear and tear on the knees.”

BUT …

What if none of these exercises work?!

What if you STILL have knee pain?!

As mentioned, you would want to see a doctor to rule out an injury, something mechanical, or anything more serious.

But there is another reason your knees could be bothering you. It is actually the most common reason people have knee pain.

If you are carrying around extra weight, there is a good chance your knees hurt because you are overweight. 

In that case, you may probably want some help getting rid of the excess fat in the fastest and easiest way possible.  The best way to do that is to diet and exercise based on your goals and body type!

A great place to get answers is our free body type quiz! 

It is only 6 questions, you get your results instantly, and we also give you the top three things you should be doing to reach your goals faster and easier based on your genetics! 

Take it for free — HERE!!

WE HOPE THIS ARTICLE AND VIDEO HELPED YOU FIGURE OUT WHY YOUR KNEES HURT AND HOW TO FIX THEM!! 

You need to consider the root of your pain! You should not attempt any of these exercises if your pain is extreme or not related to joints and muscles.

Please talk to your doctor, or if you are in the Las Vegas area, feel free to click here to contact Dr. Afzal. He would love to help you! 

If you are interested in the rest of our FIX YOUR BODY series with Dr. Afzal, here are the links to the episodes we’ve filmed to date! 

Episode 1 on neck pain — you can WATCH HERE.

Episode 2 on shoulder pain — check that one out HERE. 

Episode 3 on Back Pain – watch HERE

Episode 4 on Hip Pain – watch HERE

Come back next week! We are wrapping things up with ankle pain! 

Source – https://www.classicrehabilitation.com/blog/knee-pain-statistics-and-causes/

The post Fix Your Body Episode 5: Knee Pain appeared first on V Shred.

If you are dealing with pain in your hips, this quick read and video may be all you need to find some relief without having to make costly trips to a doctor or therapist. 

Many associate hip pain with age or an injury. But just like your back, hip pain doesn’t discriminate. 

Hip discomfort is something that anyone can experience — from a young high school athlete, a stay-at-home mom, someone that sits at a desk all day, and certainly a gym-goer!

If you don’t have any hip pain now, you probably will at some point, so you may want to bookmark this page for later! 

The exact cause of ANY body pain can often be difficult to pinpoint, but when it comes to the hips, the general location of your discomfort can usually be very telling about the underlying cause.  Important …. because knowing what is causing your pain is essential if you want to find relief! 

Our in-house expert physical therapist Dr. Zaki Afzal says when people are more active, they usually experience pain in the front of the hips. Whereas pain felt in the back or sides of the hips is generally seen more in the elderly or sedentary. 

Since we are focused on helping relieve hip issues that tend to come from being more active, this article and video will focus mainly on reasons you could have pain in the FRONT of the hips and some simple ways to find relief .. fast!!!

No matter where you feel hip pain, if it is due to an injury or accompanied by anything more serious such as (but not limited to) …. 

• A joint that appears deformed
• The inability to move your leg or hip
• Intense pain
• Sudden swelling
• Numbness/tingling
• The inability to put weight on the affected leg

DO NOT try any of these corrective exercises!! See a professional for a one on one assessment! 

If you missed our other FIX YOUR BODY articles and videos, this is actually part four of a six-part series we are doing on how you can fix your body at home!

We have already discussed the neck, shoulders, and lower back. After we talk about the hips today, we will wrap up the series discussing knee and ankle pain!

All previous episodes will be linked at the end of this article if you are interested! To make sure you don’t miss any future episodes – just hit the subscribe button HERE! 

Now, let’s dive into all things HIPS!

FIX YOUR BODY AT HOME: HIP PAIN 

STEP ONE: Perform A Self Assessment

The first thing you need to do if you are certain that your hip discomfort is movement-related is assess what motions you are most limited in. 

Here are two assessments to quickly perform that will tell you if restrictions could be causing your pain. 

Check Internal/External Hip Rotation 

Hip rotation happens when your knee is not moving, and your foot is moving instead. External rotation of the hip occurs when your foot moves inwards, and your hip turns out. When your foot moves out, and your hip turns in, that is internal rotation. 

You want to check both, and it’s really simple to do! 

• Get in front of a mirror, or put your phone in selfie mode so you can better see how you are moving.
• Take a seat with your feet off the ground.
• Hold the quad/knee of the hip you want to check.
• Take your other hand and help yourself rotate that foot in and out.
• Switch sides and repeat.

You should be able to rotate about 45-degrees for external rotation and at least 35-degrees for internal rotation.

If you can’t, we have some exercises below that will help give you better hip rotation range of motion! 

First, perform one more quick assessment!

Check Hip Flexion

Hip flexion is just a fancy phrase for how far towards your chest you can bring your knee. You want to make sure you have a pretty good range of motion here because this motion comes up a lot in your life. Getting out of a chair, out of your car, sitting on the toilet, squatting, lunging, leg press, etc. 

It is really simple to check your hip flexion! 

• Lie on your back
• Pick up one knee, let it bend, bring it toward your chest.
• See how closed you can make the angle between your torso and thigh.
• Check the other side.
• You want this to generally be 100-degrees or higher.
• If you have a limitation, you may notice your hip going “outwards” — this is very telling of how your pelvic is moving.

But wait, aren’t we talking about the hips? Why is the pelvis important?

Dr. Afzal says to look at it this way —  “The pelvis is the train tracks, and the hip is the train. The train is only going to go where the tracks allow.” 

If following your self-assessment, you discover that you are restricted in either of these movements; this could be why your hips hurt! We have some corrective exercises below that should help! 

STEP TWO: PERFORM CORRECTIVE EXERCISES

You can do some fast and easy fixes at home if either of the above movement restrictions is where your hip pain originates. Some of them only take 30 seconds and can often bring instant relief and changes in mobility! 

But don’t forget what we said earlier. If your hip pain is due to an injury or accompanied by anything more serious, do not attempt any of these assessments or corrective exercises.

3 THINGS THAT CAN QUICKLY HELP EASE HIP PAIN 

1: OPEN UP YOUR LOWER GLUTE

If limited hip flexion is your issue, you may need to work to “open up” a particular area of the lower glute just below your hip bone.

Yes, the glutes! Remember that everything is connected! To do this, all you need is a small hard ball (like a lacrosse ball) and the floor!

Ball To Lower Glute Soft Tissue Release 

This exact spot of soft tissue that needs to be worked on can be a little tricky to locate, but you will know when you find it because it will be pretty tender!

You must target the right spot for this corrective exercise to work, so you may want to check out this video for a visual of exactly where it is located and some tips to help you find it! 

Once you locate the “sweet spot,” now you just need to open it up! Here is how to do that in about 30 seconds! 

• Grab a lacrosse ball, tennis ball, or mobility tool that is designed for bodywork. Anything small and firm.
  
• Lie on the ground, flip over onto your back, and put the ball directly on the tender spot. You can also sit up and prop yourself up on your side. How you position your body depends on how much pressure you want to apply to the tender spot and what feels most comfortable for you.
  
• When you hit this tender spot, stop and “sink” into it and do tiny shearing movements. This is NOT going to feel good in the moment, but you only need to spend about 30-60 seconds stimulating the area.
  
• If needed, switch sides and perform on the other glute. 
• Reassess your hip flexion. You should notice a huge improvement in how much closer you can get your knee to your torso! 

Once this area is no longer restricted, you should have more range of motion to squat, lunge, deadlift, or do anything that requires your knee to go to your chest.

This type of compression/shearing is very different from merely foam rolling the glutes. But just like ANY soft tissue work, it’s not a permanent fix. We suggest throwing this into your current mobility work/stretching routine and/or on lower body days! 

2: GET YOUR PELVIS MOVING 

Remember what we said earlier. Your pelvis plays a major role in hip movement. 

If your pelvis isn’t moving how you want, your hips won’t either.

In the previous exercise, you applied steady pressure to the affected tissue. This next corrective exercise is more of an “active” exercise that helps get your pelvis moving. 

It can not only help increase your range of motion — it can also help build strength and muscle!

Front Foot Elevated Split Squat

You will be in a lunge stance and performing a split squat but NOT in the way you would typically perform them.

You will be working through a split squat type movement to see how much you can move your pelvis while your foot is on a platform. 

With this variation, there is one slight (but significant) “shift” of your hips that makes all the difference in whether this is a corrective exercise or not.  

• Place your right front foot on a stable elevated surface of about 4-6 inches and step back with your left foot a little bit. You will sort of be in a split squat/lunge position.
• Shift about 75% of your weight to your front foot and 25% to your back foot.
• You should feel the inside edge of your foot. Be careful not to roll to the outside part of your foot.
• While in that split stance, rotate your pelvis inward toward your front leg. You should automatically feel a slight stretch in your glutes and feel your groin muscle turn on. If you don’t feel it, stay in this position until you do.
• Once you feel it, slowly rotate your hip out and back for several repetitions.
• When you have mastered this back/forth movement and feel the muscles mentioned above are activated, you can move on to the next step and add the actual squat movement. Do not proceed until you FEEL those muscles working.
• Perform a slow and controlled split squat. Ensure your pelvis is rotated toward that front leg and stays there throughout the entire movement. With your hips shifted inward, it should feel totally different and more difficult than a regular split squat.

Dr. Afzal suggests doing 2 sets of 5-6 reps daily. You can do them to start your morning, before any activity you enjoy, or as a warm-up on your lower body days.

Once you have completed the exercise, lie on your back again and check your hip flexion. You should be able to bring your knee much closer to your chest!

You should notice less pinching in the front of the hip, but also, during squatting motions, you should notice your hips are doing most of the work instead of your back getting involved too soon.  

3: MAKE CHANGES IN THE GYM 

We’ve gone over things you can do at home or even as a warm-up before your lift, but what about when you feel pain during the lift itself? 

If you only have pain when squatting, or you have tried the corrective exercises above and still have a pinching feeling when you squat — you probably need to adjust your squat stance.

We touched on this in our back pain episode, but how you begin your squat could also be the source of your hip pain, and there is an EASY fix! 

Adjust Your Squat Stance 

Before you squat down, the “set up” will determine how much motion you have in your hips. 

If you start in an over-extended position (too much back arch), you will automatically shut down the room in the front of the hip. As you squat down, you will run out of room much sooner.

But if you start in a stacked position with your pelvis tucked under, you give the front of your hips more room so you can go deeper without feeling a pinch! 

To show you what we mean, try this. It’s a great visualization!

• Lie down on the floor.
• Go into an arched back position. If you aren’t sure what we mean by that, you can see Vince demo it at the end of the video above.
• Try to bring your knee to your chest. With your back arched like this, you won’t be able to get very far.
• Now, leave your leg up, but put your spine in a stacked position. That will instantly unlock motion that you already had!
  

If you are arching your back and not starting your squat in a stacked position, the pain you feel likely isn’t because of a range of motion restriction. You probably have the range of motion needed, and it’s just your squat set-up that is holding you back and causing pinching pain! Take 5 seconds to fix this, and the pinching should be gone instantly! 

WE HOPE THIS ARTICLE AND VIDEO HELPED YOU 

FIGURE OUT WHY YOUR HIPS HURT AND HOW TO FIX THEM!! 

You need to consider the root of your pain! You should not attempt any of these exercises if your pain is extreme or not related to joints and muscles.

Please talk to your doctor, or if you are in the Las Vegas area, feel free to click here to contact Dr. Afzal. He would love to help you! 

Next week we are moving down the body. Make sure you check back; we will be talking about knee pain! 

In the meantime, if you have any questions about this hip pain article and video, you can leave them in the comment section below.

The post Fix Your Body At Home Episode 4: Hip Pain appeared first on V Shred.