Got Knee Pain? Here Are Some Tips To Help

By Andre Heletsi, DPT

Missing Link Physical Therapy

. http://missinglinkpt.com/

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Got Knee Pain? Here Are Some Tips To Help

Today we are discussing ways to improve pain located on the outer part of the knee. This pain is sometimes called runner’s knee, iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS) or just a pain in the knee. Pain may be present when going down steps, walking down hills, standing after prolonged sitting or by straightening your knee from a bent position.

Here are a few remedies for this type of knee pain so that you can regain your mobility and decrease the amount of stress being placed on the knee. This type of knee pain is caused by hip muscle tightness and weakness in the majority of cases.

The first intervention required to decrease the knee pain is to loosen the hip muscles. How do we do this? Deep tissue massage to the hip muscles is the best way to start. Use a foam roller as illustrated below to massage the muscles

A. Foam rolling quadriceps and tensor fascia latae

B. Foam rolling hip muscles This is the preferred stretch for the hip muscles if pain is acute.

C. Foam roll stretch for hip muscles
By crossing the affected knee over
the other knee you will be stretching
the hip muscle in conjunction to the
massage. This may be too aggressive
if pain is acute. If so please perform
foam roll exercise in diagram B.

After massaging the muscles to get them warm, here are some stretching exercises that will help

D. Quadriceps stretch Hold for 45 seconds 3-4 times.

E. Hip stretch Hold for 45 seconds 3-4 times.

F. Hip stretch Hold for 45 seconds 3-4 times.

After regaining your mobilityyou should begin pain free strength training. By strengthening the hips you can decrease the risk of the muscles tightening up again. It is importantto understand that if you return to stressful acativity prior to being strong enough,the tightness in your hips and the knees, and the pain, will return. Plus, you must restore themobility and stability of the injured leg in order to avoid re-injury.