4 steps to get rid of knee pain
Step 1 to get rid of knee pain is to find out how to get rid of knee pain at home.
Step 2 to get rid of your knee pain is to move your body every day. Find out which exercises, motions, cardio to do without knee pain.
Steps 3 & 4 to get rid of knee pain are to eat anti-inflammatory foods and improve sleep
When I was still working in the traditional clinic I had a patient, Jan*. Jan was coming to me because she had just had a meniscectomy for her knee from tearing her meniscus.
She didn’t really know what she had done to tear her meniscus. She regularly worked out, walk and did some running, it could have been during any one of those things. But, she doesn’t remember a specific thing when she was like “shoot, that freakin’ hurt.” She had knee problems on and off for years. It would come and go and really wasn’t too bad. Until one day.
She knelt down on the floor to get the dog toy out from under the dresser. Her knee made a loud pop and it was really painful. It swelled up over the next few days and she was limping around.
She held off from running for a few days and went to the doctor.
They got an Xray and MRI. The doctor told her she had an old meniscus tear that she aggravated by kneeling on the ground. He recommended a meniscectomy. A knee scope to clean up the tear in the knee. It’s an easy peasy surgery and she’d be back to running the following week.
She had the meniscectomy she was on crutches for a few days, and limping around after that. She went to the doctor after surgery and she couldn’t imagine going for a run. She had tried jogging a little and her knee had a sharp pain.
The doctor sent her to PT, and she ended up on my schedule.
After the first few days her knee was loosened up, and still hurt. 6 weeks later her knee d wasn’t swollen anymore, she had full motion and she was pretty strong. The doctor did a cortisone injection. Didn’t work.
She still couldn’t run. It still hurt so much. Eventually I had to discharge her from PT because her insurance wasn’t going to pay for it anymore. She had full strength, full motion and she was functional for her day to day, insurance doesn’t care about sport and recreation so they stopped paying.
I couldn’t help Jan.
Fast forward a few years and I have a client, Kelly, coming to me because she was the same as Jan and was discharged from PT because there wasn’t anything more they could do for her.
Kelly gets into the Move Better Method and goes through the program. The beginning addresses nutrition and cutting out sugar. Guess what happened after just a few weeks of cutting out sugar? She’s able to run a mile. Then 2.
If only I had been able to address all points of problem for Jan she could have been running.
So how did Kelly start feeling better?
In the Move Better Method we focus on 4 main steps:
Control Flare-ups
Control Inflammation
Move Daily
Improve Sleep
What Kelly (and Jan) didn’t know was how it wasn’t just exercise and pain pills that help their knees feel better and stay happy.
Pain from inflammation needs attention.
Control your flare ups
First we find the best way that works for you to control flare ups.
That could be: ice, heat, hot epsom salt baths, chiropractic care, massages, using a massage gun or foam roller, etc.
Once you know what works for you to control your pain without having to go to the doctor and go through those steps then you start being in control.
Control your inflammation
I don’t mean taking NSAIDS, prescription pills or cortisone injections.
The best way to control inflammation is to get rid of the inflammation you have and prevent it from coming back, and the best way to do that is by eating in an anti-inflammatory way. For all my clients I recommend eliminating and controlling refined and added sugars, and significantly reducing saturated fats and fatty acids, replacing them with unsaturated fats.
Move your body daily
When you’re in pain this can be hard. And it doesn’t mean it has to be a whole body workout. Find a way to get movement everyday in a purposeful way beyond your daily activities. This could include stretching, strengthening, walking, swimming, biking, etc.
Improve your sleep
Sleep plays a major role in pain relief and inflammation control. When your sleep isn’t good, and your sleep/wake cycle is off your hormones are off, especially, cortisol. With cortisol raging through your body uncontrollably, your pain is also going to be out of control. Getting better sleep helps your body heal, and helps your body control the levels of inflammation.
This is how we did it for Kelly. I wish I could have done that for Jan years ago, but it just wasn’t possible in the traditional clinic.
If you’re looking for knee pain relief check out this free guide I created just for you
