Chiropractic Elk Grove

We not have all experienced knee problems but to those of us who have know how excruciating that type of pain can be.  When asked to give a number on a pain scale out of ten, ten being the worst pain I have ever felt, my ten is the knee pain I felt after a skiiing accident where I fell and tore the medial collateral ligament on my right knee.  I was already not taking pain medication as a choice in my life so I never filled my perscription for codeine or whatever it was for.  I went to bed and elevated it on a pillow.  Somehow I did fall asleep but woke up in the middle of the night to tremendous pain that made me curl into a ball holding my knee, crying and rocking to make it feel better.  This happened ten years ago.  I still remember.  Now, women, give me a break, I haven’t had the priviledge to have given birth to children yet, so I am assuming if I do ever get the chance at such an endevor, I will change the definition of my “ten.” 

I am writing this to those who understand what I am talking about and to the rest of you that I care about and wouldn’t want you to feel this kind of pain. 

First,  I want women to take note that one reason women might be prone to knee issues is because of the muscle weakness in their hamstrings.  So we can pick special exercises at the gym to address those muscles.  Ask the personal trainer which ones and how best to do them.  Make sure you stretch them afterwards.  Remember the muscle is the primary stabilizer and ligaments are secondary.  So it should make sense that the muscle loses its tone to a point that it can no longer stabilize the joint efficiently - joint goes. 

Children are prone to knee injuries because of sports they play or how they play them.  Sports that require quick starting, stopping, changing directions, pivoting, twisting or decelerating movements all can result in torn ligaments or be a contributing factor to a knee injury.  Injury can also be a result of direct impact. 

Knee pain can also come from subluxations or rotated hips that displace more weight on one leg, therefore knee, than the other.  Before you look to surgery to “fix” the knee problem try chiropractic first!  Get a chiropractic opinion.  The chiropractor should be able to check for hip rotation, subluxations or even excessive foot pronation (this is walking on the inside portion of the foot, where the arch should be).  The arch is very important to the support of the body.  They are part of the feet, the foundational structure to us, while standing up right. 

Take a proactive approach to keeping your knees from getting injured.  Go see a chiropractor.  Remember knee injuries might not just show up with an single incident but may be due to repeated microtrauma over time. 

Hoping you don’t ever feel my “ten out of ten,”

Dr. Munoz