Do you sometimes have stiffness behind the knee after you get up from sitting? Or maybe there's no pattern that you can figure out, yet, but you just get attacked at random moments by stiffness and discomfort in the back your knee, you feel kind of outraged because you are doing all kinds of things to figure out why you have imbalances and trying to unwind and understand them …
Okay, that is ME. It happens to me. I haven't figured out the key to why and when this happens, except that sometimes a flexed-knee position (like sitting in a chair, or even squatting) will set it up. I don't even know exactly "which muscle" is involved. I don't imagine it is just one muscle, and probably the reaction is set off by a pattern not even localized at the knee joint, but from a miscalculation in the hip and/or ankle and foot. I understand more every day (in fits and starts), but I do not have it all figured out.
Okay, that is ME. It happens to me. I haven't figured out the key to why and when this happens, except that sometimes a flexed-knee position (like sitting in a chair, or even squatting) will set it up. I don't even know exactly "which muscle" is involved. I don't imagine it is just one muscle, and probably the reaction is set off by a pattern not even localized at the knee joint, but from a miscalculation in the hip and/or ankle and foot. I understand more every day (in fits and starts), but I do not have it all figured out.
| However: I have found a trick that helps me! I'm calling it a trick, because one stretch by itself will not solve the whole-body problem, and isn't in itself a key answer that will unravel whole dysfunctional patterns, but - aren't tricks great when they have an immediate result! This is what's been working for me: one of Katy Bowman's 50 basic exercises from Restorative Exercise™, the "Prone Inner Thigh Stretch." I hope it's helpful for you, too. |  |
Here are instructions from Katy's blog: "Lie down with your belly flat on the floor. Reach one leg out to the side without bending the knees! Relax your head and neck on your hands. Try to bring your leg up until it is at 90°. . . If you have a hip replacement, only stretch the leg that has not been replaced."
(It's a great post about knee pain, osteoarthritis, and more: "Knee Bone Connected To The PF Bone".)
So simple: Lie prone ("on your stomach") on the floor with your pelvis flat on the floor and both legs straight, and reach one straight leg out to the side.
DETAILS AND MODIFICATIONS:
NOT quite so simple of course, because: 1) To not hurt your back, you need to keep your ribs from thrusting forward and your pelvis from anteriorly tilting. 2) Rushed into without caution, this position could set off a painful reaction for vulnerable hips or knees. 3) It's important to be working on not letting your knee turn down toward the floor, while you 4) work toward getting your pelvis flat on the floor (i.e. both ASIS's and pubic bone on the ground).
(It's a great post about knee pain, osteoarthritis, and more: "Knee Bone Connected To The PF Bone".)
So simple: Lie prone ("on your stomach") on the floor with your pelvis flat on the floor and both legs straight, and reach one straight leg out to the side.
DETAILS AND MODIFICATIONS:
NOT quite so simple of course, because: 1) To not hurt your back, you need to keep your ribs from thrusting forward and your pelvis from anteriorly tilting. 2) Rushed into without caution, this position could set off a painful reaction for vulnerable hips or knees. 3) It's important to be working on not letting your knee turn down toward the floor, while you 4) work toward getting your pelvis flat on the floor (i.e. both ASIS's and pubic bone on the ground).
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