The other day I wrote a longer than normal blog post about the muscles that cause back pain, especially low back pain. Not long ago Tiger Woods was suffering from knee pain. This should have been a tip-off that his back would soon be causing him problems too. The interesting thing is the exact same muscles that cause low back, hip, and sciatic pain also causes knee pain. In fact, I’ve found that at least 75% of the people I see have aches and pains that are treated exactly alike. But, let’s talk about knee pain for now…
Just yesterday I worked with two different people who were both suffering from knee pain. One of them, a young man who is only 41 YO (“young” is relative term ) was told that he would eventually need to go in for a double knee replacement! In fact, he had been told he had Fibromyalgia and there was little that could be done to help him other than taking some strong pain-killers. That didn’t sit well with him as he knows the side-effects of those drugs. He was not a golfer, but he did play a lot of sports when he was in High School and College and he was told he was paying the price now. Pain made him lose so many days at work that he lost his job and he’s now doing menial things that barely supports him.
The other client is a woman who is a serious golfer, and at first she didn’t complain of her knees, she was seeing me for her hip pain.
With both of them, I explained all the connections I mentioned in my last blog post, and sure enough, they both had low back pain, hip pain, sciatica, and knee pain…the only difference was where they were having the worst pain at this point. In fact, the man told me that he had NEVER been able to straighten his leg while sitting in a chair. He was told his hamstrings needed to be stretched every day, but when he would stretch them they would tear and he’s be in more pain, so he stopped.
As you know, I teach people how to self-treat because it’s actually more important than having me (or any other therapist) treat for the pain – what do you do at 2AM, or on Sunday morning, if you have to see someone to get relief from pain? Self-treating is a key to eliminating pain as soon as it starts to make you feel uncomfortable. So, I taught each of them how to self-treat, and I’m so happy about the results!
The woman was 100% out of pain, and she was shocked when she discovered all the spasms that were causing her problems. But it was teaching the man that made my heart sing. In an hour (!!!) his knee pain was GONE! He was bending his knees, doing deep knee squats, and sitting with his legs straight out without any pain. I got a big hug for that one!
I sure wish someone knew how I could meet with Tiger Woods. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to see this amazing golfer back on the top of his game again! But, in the meantime, I’m so happy to be helping the people who do come to me either in person, or virtually through my books and DVDs.
If you have knee pain, please don’t treat just your knee joint, the odds are great that’s NOT where it’s coming from. If you have my book, Treat Yourself to Pain-Free Living, and read the chapter about the low back (page 123) pain. That chapter will explain how to do the Julstro Protocol that treats ALL of the muscles that are causing your knee pain.
It is possible to be pain-free, you don’t need to suffer from chronic pain. Most pain is caused by tight muscles, but muscles are the piece that is usually overlooked when searching for the source of pain. If muscles are causing the pain, only treating the muscles will eliminate the pain. Can the pain return? Yes. Can you stop it each time it returns? Yes. If you have any questions you can always either post here, or on my forum, or you can have a private consultation. I’m always happy to help.
Wishing you well,
Julie