The knee starts to hurt. Rest is doing little to help it other than not aggravating it. There is no explanation for the knee pain other than when running down or up or for X amount of time is the usual statement I hear. Often the diagnosis is something along the lines of, “your quad (VMO in many cases) is not firing or your glut is not firing so you need to do these exercises to get them firing again and this will allow your patella to track straight again” or “your IT band is too tight so you need to stretch it out.” I am pro stretching and strengthening. But the bigger question that should always be asked is this. Why are, for example, the muscles of the right leg “firing” while the left is not? Serious question here. Why? Or why is one IT band “tight” while the other side functions without issue? The answer is this. A muscle will not “fire” when there is a lack of nerve supply to that muscle. Lack of nerve supply results in the muscle not doing its job which allows the biomechanics to break down thus causing hip, knee, foot, shoulder, etc. issues. Once the biomechanics breakdown, soft tissue will need to adapt and this will often cause scar tissue, hence the need for the some soft tissue work. Lack of nerve supply will also result in a loss of strength, hence the need to possibly do some strengthening of those muscles supporting the area in question.
To the bigger issue. Barring a blow to the knee or any other area in question that causes a tissue injury like a torn meniscus, there really is just one reason why biomechanics breakdown and that is nerve interference (aka SUBLUXATIONS) in the spine. It’s that simple. Biomechanical breakdown is PRECEDED by subluxations. Subluxations come first. No doubt about it. The brain needs to connect to the body through the spinal cord and out the nerves. If the bones in the spine are not moving correctly or at all (a subluxation) that causes the obstruction of nerve impulses from the brain to the body. It is an absolute. You can stretch, strengthen, rub, electric stimulation, ultrasound, put orthotics under your feet (a woefully over prescribed device if I have ever seen one) or do whatever but until the subluxation is cleared you will have poor biomechanics. Those modalities may allow for some tissue healing thus allowing it to “feel better” but once those modalities are stopped and the running or whatever returns to full speed the odds of it coming back are very high.
On a larger level though there is a real problem that is creeping up. Biomechanical breakdown is really an indicator of decreasing health…those nerves that come off the spinal cord and go through the vertebrae to your leg also feed to the organs. The organs and muscles share the same outlet off the spinal cord into the body through the vertebrae. There is no separation. If your leg is not receiving proper amount of nerve supply neither are your organs. I hope one will recognize that as not being a good thing. That is why one will often see a decrease in health when the knee is bothering them or more so for the athlete a decrease in performance and recovery leading up to the knee injury. Now not only are the muscles of the leg not getting enough nerve supply to give proper biomechanics but also your organs are not getting proper nerve supply causing an absolute decrease to your health. Since the nervous system controls and coordinates ALL functions of the body health will naturally suffer without proper nerve supply. So a hurt knee caused by biomechanical breakdown is a health issue. Whoa!!!
So when a patient shows up with the chief complaint of knee pain (or IT Band, hip pain, plantar fasciitis, etc.) the two things I can be relatively sure of: 1) they have subluxations and 2) therefore their health is being affected negatively. Correcting the subluxations through chiropractic adjustments will not only start the correction of the biomechanics and get one back to a lifestyle of running but also and for many more importantly return one’s health and prevent health problems in the future.
Thanks for reading!