[pct-l] Knees

[jdrows at comcast.net (JD Schaefer)]

Jeff
In #2 below, when you say bend the second leg, does that mean the knee is up
or down on the ground?
Thx
JD


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeffrey J. Olson" <jjolson@uwyo.edu>
To: <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2004 2:53 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Knees


> One of the most important preventions of knee pain is stretching.  I know
> the presenting problem happened quickly, and now is chronic.
>
> While it may be tendon or meniscus, a cheap way to rule out the knee as
the
> source of trouble is to stretch and loosen the gluteous minimus, maximus
and
> hamstrings.
>
> I went to a sports doc at the University of Washington student health
> center.  I should have known he would head me in the right direction when
I
> saw three magic wands in his tongue depressor jar.
>
> He pushed and pulled, looked, and prodded for a half hour.  Finally he
said,
> "Jeff, your problem is tight buns."  I laughed and tell the story to this
> day.
>
> What he did was give me two exercises that cleared up my knee pain, which
> included swelling and hobbling after hard exercise.
>
> 1.  The first exercise is to lie flat on the floor and put your lets up
> against a wall.  The legs should be straight.  When I first started this,
I
> couldn't get my butt closer than six inches to the wall.  The point of the
> exercise is to just hold the position.  There might be a little pain, but
> shouldn't be much.  As the butt and back of the legs relax, you can scoot
in
> toward the wall.  Avoid the temptation of bending the knees to get closer
to
> the wall.  Do this four or five times a day for five minutes or so.  I did
> them for two weeks and my knee pain went away.
>
> 2.  The second exercise involves sitting on the floor, pulling one ankle
> underneath your opposite thigh up against the butt.  Bend the other leg
and
> and put your foot on the outside of the underneath leg.  You'll really
feel
> it in the muscles across the hip.  Hold the knee to as much a vertical
> position as possible.  Keep the back straight and butt cheeks flat on the
> floor.  If this is practically impossible sit on a pillow and raise
yourself
> up a couple three inches.  Hold the position for 30 seconds or longer, and
> then do the other leg.  I think he told me to do a set of three for each
> leg, four or five times a day.
>
> This cured my knee pain in two weeks.  I went back to him a year later
> complaining of foot pain - I thought it was plantar fascitis.  He asked
how
> long I'd done the exercises he'd given me and I said two weeks.  He said
> another week or two and the foot pain would have been cleared.
>
> Apparently my knees were doing a lot of the work the gluteus and
hamstrings
> were supposed to do, and weren't built for it.  Hence the chronic pain and
> swelling.
>
> I routinely do these exercises in the morning and after a day's hike.  I
can
> feel the pain and tenderness build if I don't.
>
> Jeff Olson
> Laramie WY
>
>
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