Hear me out here! In our whole body, all our joints have to different variables – stability and movement. And they are usually inversely proportionate. So as we have more movement in a joint, we generally have less stability. And the same for the opposite. A simple example are these 2 joints:
- The Shoulder Joint – it can move behind, in front, to the side. it can twist inwards and outwards. It has great movement! But that means stability is not as great.
- The Knee Joint – only bends and straightens. that it, it cant do move in any other directions so that means the movement is limited. However, the stability is quite remarkable!
I hope that makes sense! Because i’ll use that principal to delve into more things. So with the knee, because movement is quite limited, stability is quite great so in essence, injuries should be less prevalent. Compared to the shoulder for example. But its actually the opposite – knee pain is extremely prevalent in current society.
Its most commonly due to differences or deficiencies in the joints above and below – the ankle and the hip. Because the hip and the ankle, if they have deficiencies, then they will put more pressure on the knee. BOOM! did you guess that one!
I always aliken it to husband and wife – when the husband and wife have their household jobs split and everyone knows that they need to do, then everything is nice and smooth. But when the husband (for example) slackens off, then the wife has to do her jobs but also her husband’s jobs. That puts a lot of pressure on her. There will come a point in time, where she cant cope anymore. This is the same for the hip and the knee or the ankle and the knee.
So moral of the story, we as a physio team at Agape Physiotherapy, ALWAYS and I mean always, assess the hip and the ankle to see if there any contributors coming from these joints.
These contributors could be:
- Muscle Strength
- Joint Movement/Stiffness
- Motor Patterning (the way the muscles work together)
From there, we can address any issues that have arisen and completely get rid of them to allow you to go back to loving life again! PAIN-FREE!
