This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in March of 2021. For the original video go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rw9y_OwnDI
Bob: Okay, we're going to talk about five very simple but effective ways that you can knock your knee pain down.
Brad: Knock it right down to the floor.
Bob: Right. So we're going to start with one of the things is the one muscle that tends to get very weak with knee pain is the quadriceps. So to strengthen, this is very simple, you can do it in your bed. You can just take your pillow. Wake up every morning, take it from your head. Fold it. Put it underneath your knee.
Brad: Very good. There you go.
Bob: And you're going to push down on the knee and squeeze the knee towards the bed and it's going to activate the quadriceps.
Brad: Yep. Think you're squishing that pillow.
Bob: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Brad: Isometric, eh?
Bob: Yep. And you could do like three sets of 10.
Brad: Sure. Start out with one set. It shouldn't hurt your knee. It's a reasonably conservative exercise.
Bob: This is something that's not going to make the pain better right away. It's going to take a couple of weeks because the strength has to get there before it does.
Brad: Right. Yep.
Bob: All right. The next one, Brad, this could help right away. And I know you're going to protest about this, but you should use a cane.
Brad: Yeah.
Bob: I'd say just try it in your own house, to walk with.
Brad: For support. Yes. I knew that.
Bob: Right.
Brad: So if it's your left knee that hurts, you're going to put the cane in the right hand and just walk and the cane is going to accept some of the weight so the knee does not have to.
Bob: I have recommended this for 10,000 years, Brad, and I have found out that of all the things I recommend the first day, this tends to help the most.
Brad: Yeah.
Bob: And we just had a situation where I went to San Diego with my family, and my daughter, Jamie, was having pain with her knee. so I went and bought her a cane. And she wasn't going to use it.
Brad: She wasn't grateful at first.
Bob: But, oh, she loved it later.
Brad: After she used it?
Bob: Yep.
Brad: So, you know, make sure the cane's adjusted right. When you stand tall, let your arm hang down. The handle should come up to the crease of the wrist. And they all have adjustments, unless it's a wooden cane then you have to get the saw out.
Bob: Right.
Brad: Anyways. Yeah, they're a wonderful tool. Again, it's oftentimes temporary.
Bob: Yeah. I mean you could just cast it aside when you're done with it.
Brad: There you go.
Bob: Next one, you want to get the blood flowing in there, you want to get the synovial fluid working, which is kind of nature's oil lubricant. So what you want to do is, every so often when you're sitting in a chair, just bend and straighten the knee. You could do it for a couple of minutes.
Brad: I can't tell you how many patients I've had that had knee pain, I would say, "If you've been sitting for a while, before you get up and walk, because that's painful do about 10 kick-outs and get that synovial fluid moving and get that joint a little bit warmed up, and it can make those first few steps much more comfortable."
Bob: And then after you've done that, I want you to go ahead and grab the knee like this and actually bend it into flexion.
Brad: Give it a big hug.
Bob: Yep. There we go. Hug your knee. Yeah, there we go.
Brad: But, yeah. Sometimes you grab down low or you grab the shin can make a difference on that squeeze.
Bob: Because some of you out there are going to be lacking flexion. And some of you are going to be lacking extension, which is straightening. So if you have an ottoman or stool
that you can put in front of you, the final tip is actually to work on straightening the knee. Now you can straighten the knee with the foot turned in, turned out, or straight up and down. Whichever one feels the best. And you do a little pressure on, pressure off. Pressure on, pressure off.
Brad: So as I'm showing you, you don't have to have a stool and ottoman. If you can scoot to the edge of your chair, a firm chair's best, and then you can do it like this as well and try the rotation and see which works best. About 10 times.
Bob: Yeah, find the one that feels the best and that's the one you keep doing.
Brad: Right.
Bob: In every hour or so. I mean, along with the bend and straighten and the bend.
You do them all together
Brad: And you'll find, once you get that thing stretched out and you get a little more range of motion, the pain drops down, mobility's easier. It's a good stretch.
Bob: We wouldn't lie to you.
Brad: Oh, are we done already?
Bob: Yeah, we're already done five very simple and fast.
Brad: Wow. That was five minutes. A minute to stretch.
Bob: There you go. Enjoy the stretching.
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