Get Moving For Life Blog

They want to stay active, but knee pain limits their ability to walk, hike, bike, play golf or doother activities they enjoy including work.

Often the quadriceps (front of the thigh) are tight and weak compared to the hamstrings (back of the thighs). As well, with our clients we generally find an imbalance between the outer and inner quadriceps. Both of these problems misalign the petella and knee joint which results in wear and tear of the cartilage (joint cushion) in specific areas. Without this cushion the bones push into each other resulting in joint pain, weakness and instability.

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that progresses over many years. Since, bones go where muscles pull it is necessary to re balance the strength and length of the muscles surrounding the knee, hip and ankle to get back to being active.

Stretching properly, on a daily basis combined with appropriate strength training exercises will gradually improve your ability to stand and walk for long periods time while reducing the frequency, intensity and duration of knee pain.

Here some basic guidelines:

Kinesiologists understand that the body is interconnected. What is going on the ankle and hip affect the knee. There are several phases to a knee rehabilitation program. To have your posture and movement patterns assessed contact Lifemoves today.

Communication, as within any Client-Kinesiologist relationship, was very important in achieving success. This client chose me mainly because I practice Yoga on a semi-regular basis and understand the basic principles, limitations and flow of Yoga within the context of soft-tissue rehabilitation.

While an excellent Yoga instructor will give participants modifications for their limitations, it is still very difficult to follow an individualized program in a class format. Our solution was for me to first teach the client the movements I wanted them to achieve and I also explained the principles of how to elongate and rebalance using the Stretch to Win method.

During each session they then demonstrated a series of poses that they thought would achieve our desired outcome. From there we developed an exercise/pose order that would flow while accomplishing our goal.

I find it rewarding to assist clients who are curious about movement, have the desire to get each movement correct, who want to learn more about their body and who diligently follow the instructions I give them. We discovered an excellent Yoga Anatomy book with illustrations showing which muscles are being strengthened and stretched during each pose. At home, the client researched and marked the poses they thought would be appropriate; during the next session we discussed the merits of each one.

By correcting each pose the client started to develop a deeper relationship with how to move properly to alleviate their back and neck pain. We succeed in reducing the intensity and frequency of their headaches, neck and mid-back pain because we ensured that we communicated clearly; the program also balanced the way they were psychologically motivated with their physiological rehabilitation needs.

Many people suffer with neck, upper-back and shoulder pain because of poor posture. Chronic tight chest, rolls the shoulder forward and up which also the head forward. There is a reflex that keeps us looking foward, so when the head-pokes forward we also get tightness just below the skull.

In our rehabilitations sessions we focused on the cause of their soft-tissue pain, rather than chasing the pain. Choose postures to open up the front of the body, bring collerbone back down and re-align the head over the shoulders. If, you sit a lot for work include stretches and postures to open the hip flexors.

Book a postural and movement assessment today by contacting Lifemoves. Discover how Fascial Stretch Therapy and Yoga will combine to give you relief from soft-tissue pain (neck, hip, knee, back) and get you moving more freely. We also have Active Rehabilitation sessions if you have an open ICBC claim.