In today’s blog, we will discuss our approach to how we would evaluate and treat a former college basketball player who still stays active playing basketball and lifting weights. He recently has been getting some on-again off-again knee pain when playing basketball.
We do want to mention that every case of knee pain is vastly different. Everyone has a different body, different goals, different movement patterns, different strength & mobility levels, and different stresses that they have put on their body. So with all of that being said, what we discuss in this post or show in the video here might not be the best for your knee pain!
The knee is often a misunderstood joint. Many good sports therapists, doctors, and trainers only look at the knee when it comes to knee pain. While there are many factors that need to be evaluated at the knee when it comes to knee pain, it is also just as important to check the surrounding muscles and joints that are both far from and near the knee. This is because when it comes to movement, the position of the knee is heavily influenced by the strength and posture of the low back, hips, ankles, and feet.
Evaluating & Assessing Knee Pain
The best chiropractors will do an in depth evaluation with each patient no matter where the patient is having pain. This helps guide us in our treatment because no two knee injuries are the exact same! In this case, we evaluated back, hip, knee, ankle, and foot strength and mobility to try to determine what the main causes of pain were for this patient!
Our exam directed our focus to trying to decrease tightness in the thigh muscles and trying to increase mobility in the knee. To do this, we incorporated our hands-on manual therapy techniques like spinal manipulation (chiropractic adjustments) and soft-tissue therapy along with exercises design to help increase core stability, hip strength, and knee mobility!
As always, we gave him a couple exercises to do at home! This helps reinforce the care we are giving in the office and helps maintain the mobility improvement we are gaining during our therapy session!
Doesn't Knee Pain Require Rest?
Just because you are having pain with activity does not mean that you need to take time off and rest from your activities! Many well intended providers often take activities away from their patients. While sometimes this advice is needed, conservative care options including hands on therapy and rehab exercises can accelerate tissue healing timelines and get you back to doing what you love much quicker than just “resting it.”
If you know someone in the Saint Johns area (Durbin Crossing, Aberdeen, Rivertown, Julington Creek Plantation) who has a basketball injury or any sports injury that could benefit from our thorough approach and comprehensive care, please share this post with them or send them our way!
We are conveniently located in between CR 210 and Race Track Road, near where St. Johns Parkway and Longleaf Pine intersect! Right across the street from Patriot Oaks Academy in the 32259 zip code!
