Posts Tagged ‘Back Pain’

Kneeding Stability? Knee Problems Can Be Thwarted With Proper Knee Care

Knee problems are a nuisance for athletes and non-athletes. With proper care including stability exercise and proper techniques when using your knees for other exercise can mean the difference between pain and immobility OR getting on with your life and having fun.
Exercises designed to impart proper stability include strengthening the vastus medialis oblique (VMO), this muscle if part of the quadriceps muscles on the inner part of the knee. It is very small, about the size of a finger or less. The VMO runs beside the patella or knee-cap as it is commonly known.
How does the VMO Work?
The VMO are more oblique than their counterparts in the vastus medialis. This stem from the adductor muscles, (a muscle inside your thigh responsible for keeping your legs in line with your body.) This joins with other quadriceps muscles at a tendon that then encircles your patella. The VMO tendon inserts itself through a small opening on your shin bone. (The tibia.) These tender small muscles are protected by the knee cap which rides in front of them on a loose movable sac like area.
Your VMO is a very active and main contributor for keeping your knee joint stable and in place. Without out your joint would slide out of place every time you moved your legs. In healthy people with a strong and well exercised VMO the fibres are healthy and pain free. In people with unhealthy muscle fibres in the contract phase, when the muscles tighten to improve stability through continuous movement they contract inconsistently and become fatigued quite easily. This is usually referred to as Patello-Femoral Knee Pain. (Chondromalacia Patella).
The main role is, therefore, for the VMO to keep the joint behind the patella in its proper position throughout all ranges of motion for the individual. Those with a malfunctioning VMO, or improperly used VMO can experience mal-tracking of the patella and joint. In addition to pain, swelling, and loss of motion; underlying damage can occur with bad long term results.
The inner groove for the VMO helps keep the knee from twisting out of place when using the inner and outer thigh muscles. The main trouble then comes from an improperly used or improperly exercised VMO. Physical therapists see many injuries each year from athletes and non-athletes because of weak and misused VMO.
How Do You Actively Strengthen the VMO?
Knees are a very vital part of the stricture of the human body. They are responsible for most the motion we do each day to live out our lives. We use them to sit, jump, stand, walk, run, squat, and various other motions. If the knees are not properly balanced and all the muscles in them properly exercised we will see all kinds of problems with the body, including foot and back pain.
Split Lunges, deep squats, and other exercises that engage this tiny muscle should be performed regularly in order to maintain a well functioning knee. Be sure to find a physician to physical therapist who can instruct you properly. Performing deep knee squats, and deep lunges where your knee touches the ground helps engage this muscle more thoroughly.
You can find a few exercises on the internet as well as tests to help you determine if an underdeveloped VMO if the real underlying cause for your knee pain. To test the strength of your VMO sit on the floor with your legs extended and place a rolled up towel behind them. Now place your fingers over the VMO and press your knee against the towel until your leg straightens. If you feel a tug and a slight bulge in this area, your VMO works.
Deep squats past 90 degrees will help activate and fire the VMO muscles. Make sure that your form is correct with your back straight and your head looking forwards. Also, split lunges will also activate the VMO. Make sure that your trainer/therapist is well informed on proper techniques. Properly performed exercises can help you alleviate your knee pain for good and help you have more stability in all your daily activities.

Can Nutrition be an Answer to Back and Knee Pain Management?

Have you heard, “You are what you eat”? That’s a simple but very true statement and one that we need to be considering. If we want to feel better, we need to do some detective work on what it is that is making us feel less than terrific, why do my knees hurt?

For example, weight being the most common. We know we need to lose some lbs., so what is the most logical and correct place to start? Right! EAT LESS!! Move away from the table. Drink more water. Cut out the pop and the snacks, the sugars and the carbs. And most of all the alcohol. Do this and you will begin to lose weight, it just makes sense.

Why should it be any different with other maladies that we are dealing with? Especially chronic knee pain, back, hips, elbows and shoulders. If it is logical for something as common as weight loss, why not knee pain? What should we cut out of our diet? First of all try sodas! We all drink too much of them, switch to water. Sugars, cut back. Look at what you eat a lot of and cut back.

Are there some good things we can take that may counter our knee and back pain?

Glucosamine, (with Chondroitin) is the most common natural product that thousands use and is somewhat effective for minor pain. Other naturals cures are something as simple as ginger or raw vinegar and honey.

.The easiest natural way to eat our way to better health and probably back and knee pain relief is fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables? Ugh, don’t tell me to eat my vegetables! Well, it used to be that the daily recommended portions of fruit was 3, then 3-5, and 5-7, now the experts are saying 9-13 servings everyday! The average American gets 1!

Why is that so important? Phytonutrients and antioxidants! Layman’s language, powerful fuel for the body to fight the sick cells that turn into the real bad stuff.

So how do I know which fruits are the best? How about, cranberries, blueberries, bilberries, raspberries to name a few. That would be tough to eat all of that everyday. Is there an easy way to get 13 servings of fruit every day?

How about drinking it? YES! DRINK IT! How much, a gallon? Try 4 ounces! No way, you say, how do I do that?

I would love to show you how simple that can be and how great the effects can be. Lets talk soon.

Knee Pain Free at Sixty

I thought I would be taking forty ibuprofen a week until my stomach couldn’t take it anymore and then I would have to switch to something else for the rest of my life. After having a job where I have walked for at least six hours, six days a week for twenty years my knees were done for. I had torn my patellar tendon, had surgery for that and of course they scraped that knee as long as they were in there. My kneecap on one knee is one third worn off being bone on bone. I had done floor exercises first thing in the morning to loosen my back before I could get going for more than twenty years, this was just that way it was. At least I hadn’t had knee replacement or back surgery yet, but that was a sure thing for the future.

I am sure most of you can identify with that and more, we have tried everything with little or no results. When we get together with friends to catch up, the topic turns to complaints of our health issues! We can’t help it because it hurts, we hurt, and we think about it all the time. Plus, we don’t want to be outdone by our friends pains, so we elaborate!

You aren’t alone! Almost half of all U.S. adults and nearly two-thirds of obese adults will develop painful osteoarthritis of the knee by age 85, a study based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill suggests. The study also found that a person’s lifetime risk rose as their body mass index or BMI increased, with the greatest risk found in those whose weight was normal at age 18 but were overweight or obese at 45 or older.

Knee pain is an extremely common complaint, and there are many causes. However, after many years of being told, “well, you will just have to live with it as long as you can stand it, then there is knee replacement”. NOT TRUE !! At least for me and it can very probably be the same for you. My knees feel like they did when I was twenty five!

For more free information on how you can very possibly find relief with just good nutrition, food, please check out my website and lets get you feeling better, walking better, working better, with a lot less and hopefully no knee pain!

Testimony from a friend: “I am a 60 year old woman and had both hips replaced at 50 and have been walking to put off knee replacement as long as possible. Doug mentioned what had helped him and I started taking this simple nutrition three weeks ago. I couldn’t bend my knee enough to lift it up onto a curb, I was taking pain meds everyday and wow! I haven’t had my big pain med since the day I started and today I can lift my leg and bend my knee ninety degrees without pain. This is amazing, It worked for me, and very quickly. I had nothing to lose and gained a great deal. I am so thankful.”