Chronic knee pain is painful and debilitating, because it becomes extremely difficult to play sports and/or stay active, no matter your age. It can be the result of many things, but let’s explore a few of them, since it can help determine the best way to treat and eliminate knee pain in general.
This may surprise you, but in many cases, the cause of chronic knee pain can be from an old ankle injury that never healed properly. When most people get a sprained ankle, they rely on ice and prolonged rest, hoping the ankle will eventually heal itself. But, what actually happens is this…
The ankle stays weak, unstable and has poor mobility. As a result, many people start walking and moving differently. You may not see or feel a big difference, but little changes can add up, especially considering most people take 5,000-10,000 steps a day.
As a result of the weak ankle, many people end up walking in unnatural ways and start developing chronic knee pain. In many cases, people don’t even realize the connection. If this makes sense to your specific situation, then the first thing you need to do is properly rehabilitate that bad ankle. It will get you walking and moving naturally and normally again and that will take the stress off your knees.
Another possibility is that if you wear ankle braces, you have to be aware that they can easily cause knee pain. The reason is simple… ankle braces force your ankles to become immobile (that’s bad!)… The reason this is so bad is because your ankles were meant to be a mobile joint (go ahead and wiggle them around).
In contrast, the knee is a stable joint. It’s not meant to move more than a few degrees (try to move your knee a little, if you can). So, if you immobilize the ankles with braces and then try to move quickly at an angle, your body will be forced to get the mobility from the next joint up the kinetic chain, which is the knee.
So, it becomes very easy to have a tear in one of the knee ligaments (ACL or MCL) or at the very least, the development of chronic knee pain ( >> click here to watch a short video about how ankle braces can cause knee pain).
If that applies to you, then the first and most important thing to do is to deal with the root problem and heal your ankle. But, if you never had an ankle injury, don’t worry because there are plenty of other possible reasons and I will talk about them below…
INNER KNEE PAIN
When trying to determine the cause and solution for pain in the body, it’s also really important to know exactly where it hurts… so, let’s cover inner knee pain. Pain on the inner part of the knee is usually due to a tight hip and specific muscle imbalances in the leg.
The knee is what I call a “dumb joint”, because it does what other muscles and joints tell it to do. Remember how the ankle is a mobile joint and the knee is supposed to be stable? Well, the next joint up are the hips and they are also mobile. That means if there is a problem in the hips or ankles, it will throw the knee out of whack, which will lead to knee pain.
Since, we have already talked about the ankles, let’s talk about the hips… As you probably already realize, modern human beings sit WAY too much.
As a result, certain parts of our hips get stretched and weak, while other areas get too tight and strong. These muscle imbalances throw everything off and created postural distortions that can cause all sorts of problems, including knee and low back pain.
For example, the Glute Medius (one of the butt muscles) typically gets very tight. That muscle attaches to the IT Band (a very tough ligament) that runs all the way down the side of the leg and wraps under the knee. So, if the glute medius is too tight, then it will pull on the IT Band, which will pull the knee out of whack, leading to inner knee pain. In this case, if you are trying to ice and treat the knee locally, you will be wasting your time and it will never be effective.
So, how do you stop and eliminate inner knee pain once and for all?
Well, the best thing you can do is a safe and natural knee rehab program to fully heal the entire knee complex and all the muscle imbalances that are putting stress on the knee. The idea is to follow a comprehensive and holistic approach to get you moving safely and pain free again.
A part of that process would include fixing the muscle imbalances in the hips, so that you take the stress off the IT Band and therefore the knee. And by the way, it is amazing how quick and effective it can be. Many people have found that our knee rehab program got them out of knee pain relatively quickly ( few days or weeks), even if they have had chronic knee pain for many years.
In addition to fixing muscle imbalances and joint issues, it is also critical to strengthen the ligaments in and around the knee to help stabilize and protect it naturally. This is another very important part of any good knee rehab program.
THE KNEE PROGRAM
So, if you have chronic knee pain, inner knee pain, a new or old knee injury, or any other issues with your knee, I hope you’ll give my Knee Rehab Program a try… I designed it to quickly and fully eliminate knee pain and fix all the potential muscle imbalances and joint issues that might be putting stress on the knee.
And just to make sure we left no stone unturned, there are also a number of techniques that deal directly with the knee, so that anybody with knee pain should see significant results that are life changing. And that’s what this is all about. To get you out of pain, so you can get back to doing all the things you love, pain free! I hope you’ll give it a try…