I’ve been practicing chiropractic in Long Beach, Ca for almost 4 years now, and before that clinical residency. One thing I have seen a lot of is knee pain.
The interesting thing is many patients and folks in the community don’t realize chiropractors treat knees.
Knee pain relies extremely on the function of the core, hip and foot. Most of the problems arise from one of the three. So initially we do a Movement Screen to see how the body moves.
If a patient has pronation of the foot, or loss of dorsiflexion of the foot, or numerous other functional imbalances: we know, the knee pain will never get better without fixing these first.
If the patient has inhibited hip muscles, a spasmed it band, or femoral anteversion, again we must address these conditions along with addressing the knee.
Soft tissue work is crucial to knee pain. Probably the most useful tool, scar tissue and fibrous adhesion account for 70-80 % of all knee pain and I have kept quite a few patients from more invasive knee procedures such as cortisone injections or surgery. Some great soft tissue techniques are Active Release Technique, Trigenics, Muscle Activation Technique, Myofascial Release Technique, Graston Technique or Tool assisted soft tissue mobilization.
I am certified in several, and have trained with several “gurus” who have no name to there special treatment techniques, but are known the country over for treating the top pros in sports ranging from cycling to surfing. By mixing and melding these techniques, patients get
-muscle activation
-scar tissue release
-neurologic inhibition of tight muscles
Schedule myofascial release consult
Treatment systems that only focus on one aspect are always limited as they only address one component of the musculoskeletal system.
A close second in usefulness is chiropractic adjustments to the hip, foot and fibular head. Without proper joint translation of the entire motor chain then soft tissue will be damaged from lack of full range of motion.
Kinesiotaping done properly is also crucial. I see some hilarious taping renditions at local marathons! Make sure you get taped by a specialist that really knows anatomy.
Finally, don’t put knee pain off. That does lead to more drastic measures, always….
