Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › Foot/Ankle › Inflammation after MOBing Knee

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    • 03/20/2014 at 1:57 pm #70854
      AvatarKim Morgan
      Participant

      I have incredibly junky knees, and it’s been quite a challenge to get them moving properly, but I think I’m starting to make some serious headway. It’s not uncommon for me to spend an hour or so just working above/below the knee w/ voodoo floss, wrapping my ankles with distraction, and forcing my feet into neutral at the bottom of a squat. 

      By the end of one of these sessions, I feel like my knees are tracking properly, my ankles are a moving well, and I’m even seeing some arch at the bottom of my squat. Great!
      But then I go off and get ready for bed, and within an hour I find that the area behind my knee is inflamed and painful when brought to full flexion. I sleep 8-9 hours, and the swelling is a little better, but it’s still uncomfortable to achieve full flexion. This means no Lotus or kneeling for morning meditation, which is half the reason I MOB the night before. 
      Am I overworking my joints? Do I need to take a slower pace? I feel like I find improvement after working on them, but then my body seems to freak out and shut the system down.
      Any Suggestions?
      It should be mentioned that I find some crackley-poppy nonsense going on when I get my shins to really face forward and track out. It almost feels like I’m resetting the tibia into the joint and breaking up adhesions that keep it from full range. Which would be good cause for inflammation I suppose. 
    • 03/21/2014 at 5:59 pm #74359
      AvatarSimon Garland
      Participant

      Hi Sam,
      I am a physical therapist and I have had more than a few patients lately with your problem. We have had better luck with less mob work with the bands when your symptoms have occured.. Unfortunately if you have an ugly arthritic knee, the bands will not change the joint surfaces. The return of knee pain and swelling or stiffness is not an optimal response to the use of the bands..You could have your knee examined by your orthopedic specialist to see if any other treament may be needed. Try to train around you pain and do activities that don’t bring on those symptoms. Making a joint hurt is never a good idea! Hope it gets better.

      Tim Daley PT

    • 03/22/2014 at 12:19 am #74363
      AvatarKim Morgan
      Participant

      Thanks man, that sounds like pretty good advise. I’ll be backing off it for a while and reintroducing slowly. Hopefully I can regain full function with time. 

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