Common clickbait on the internet includes articles about which exercise can help reduce knee pain. While there are some that may alleviate knee pain, it is important to understand why you have knee pain while others don’t. For those who read my blog, I constantly critique one-size-fits-all solutions that may be helpful, but without a proper analysis of your balance, flexibility, body style, and history, these solutions may feel good; however, do they truly help you keep your knees pain-free and healthy? A recent article in the NY Times again claimed that these physical therapists suggested exercises using kettlebells, Romanian dead lifts, Bulgarian squats, and other exercises help strengthen the knees. You can read the article below Knees Hurt? This Exercise Can Help. While it is true that more efficiency in the legs may help knee pain due to kneecap tracking and other reasons, You cannot out exercise poor adaptations such as tight fascia in the legs, asymmetry in the core and other problems that can create a long history of back pain, plantar fasciitis, knee pain and even shoulder problems which may be directly related to knee pain. Other things of concern such as gait timing, foot posture asymmetry also play a part in long standing knee pain. For years, orthopedics would do surgeries on the meniscus of the knee and usually poor longstanding outcomes which were shown by studies that evaluated 40 years of these procedures that did not work. Many of these same patients had multiple surgeries over time and then knee replacement years later. Typical physical therapy protocols were then thought to be no more effective than these surgeries because knee pain is more than just a knee problem. It is a postural and adaptation problem of the myofascia, which controls movement. Why see a chiropractic sports physician for knee pain? Understanding why your knee hurts should begin with a thorough evaluation of the feet, knees, hip, pelvis, and even the upper body. The pain is never as simple as Bursitis, Tendonitis, or kneecap tracking, etc. Seeing the problem requires we look at everything, take a good history, and it may even require putting you on a treadmill to fully understand poor gait habits. In other words, if you do not understand movement, you cannot understand knee pain. You also cannot out-exercise a mechanical problem that has to do with poor adaptations and flexibility limitations that make squatting, lunging and standing on one leg difficult or impossible. You may, on the other hand, experience more knee pain when the mechanisms behind gait work poorly. Chiropractic sports physicians understand the relationship between the fascial system, strength, power generation, core stability, and posture. They are primary care for the musculoskeletal system. Improve these systems, you can then improve your ability to squat, balance on one leg, and lunge. Building up function is like building a bridge. Understand the problem, build the foundation, and strengthen the structure. Chiropractic care also improves how we move and function. Understanding body mechanics requires a primary care approach. You cannot properly address this with different people of different specialties doing different things that are protocol-based. The care must be geared to the body mechanics that are unique to you. Keep it simple. Think chiropractic first. Need help or advice on what to do about painful knees? Book online or call either of our offices today.