Unlock & Decompress Knee Pain; Gone In 60 Seconds
- chelsie462
- Jul 10
- 10 min read
This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in July 2024. For the original video, go to https://youtu.be/jz0L0q-CnOE
Brad: This knee pain, man.
Mike: Today, we're going to show you three tricks that physical therapists use to help treat your knee pain.
Brad: Right, and as therapists, it's really enjoyable in the clinic to do a nice technique that relieves the pain, the person smiles, and everyone else in the clinic is happy as well. You really feel like a champ.
Mike: You're not grumbling anymore. Your knee pain must be gone already.
Brad: Yep. See, it works.
Mike: So we're going to go over three techniques that we have tried and tested in our clinics over numerous years, and often see success with them. Now you don't have to do all three of them every day. Try them all out, see which one feels best for you, and stick to that one.
Brad: Now, I personally had great success with these in the clinic, particularly with people with arthritic total knee replacement, meniscus problems, and they really have done very well. And like I said, people get relief quickly. It's a good feeling. Everyone's happy. Alright, a brief explanation of why number one works. This first technique is the joint itself, if we can decompress it or actually get a gap between the articulating or the surfaces that contact each other, that can be relaxing, reduce pain, particularly if there are arthritic problems in there.
Brad: And at the same time, we're just going to allow the leg to swing back and forth like a pendulum. So hold on, we're going to show you how it works for real. Okay, for this first decompression technique, you'll need to sit in a chair that's got a firm base and also that your foot is not on the floor. When you relax, it needs to be up a little bit. Now Mike is up on our mat. You can see his feet are clearly swinging back and forth. I actually put some cushions underneath me and a pillow, and it's still touching a little bit. So I'm going to take my hands and go underneath my knee, right up to what they call the fossa or the crux of your knee. I'm going to pull up gently, and just like Sam was showing on the skeleton, we want it to swing back and forth, relaxing every muscle in your leg so it acts like a pendulum, decompressing or distracting that joint, just like we mentioned. And then you just get it swinging. You can see my hands here are allowing it or kind of forcing it to swing. I'm not kicking it, I'm relaxed and getting it going.
Brad: Now, Mike's got something that's going to help some people even more to get more distraction. Go ahead, explain how you're doing that, Mike.
Mike: So I just have a cuff weight on, so it's a little more weight. Putting it around your ankle distally will help distract the tibia bone from the femur bone. Again, I'm in a relaxed position. Make sure your hips are relaxed as well. My hips were engaged. You could see how tight they are. This is going to actually compact the knee joint, especially if you swing too much. So be very relaxed with this. Now I'm on a firm mat here, so I don't really have to put anything behind my knee because that's going right in that fossa area there. But you can use your hands up here as well. But yeah, just let it swing, distract, and it should feel good if you're having some pain.
Brad: That's right. Now this is what we have, if you don't have an ankle weight, you can actually put a heavier shoe, or, like up where we live in the north, put one of your winter boots on, and that will be enough weight. Typically, one or two pounds is enough. As far as time, if you're doing it and it's feeling good, I would do this for about 30 seconds to a minute because I would actually hold the patient's knee like this, and then my hands would get tired, and I'd say that's a good time.
Brad: I would do that two or three times. If you're doing it to yourself like this, just go as long as you feel comfortable, and you can repeat it throughout the day as much as you'd like. Alright, the second technique, you're simply going to take a towel, roll it up. It doesn't have to get too thick; it's all going to depend on your body size and how your knee is working as far as the mechanics of it. So you'll take a towel and you're going to put it right under your knee. Now you can do this in a seated position. I'll show you that. And then there's also going to be one standing next to your bed. But you put that towel right up in the crux of your knee. Again, that's the popliteal fossa. Nice term, isn't it? And then we're going to actually grab below the knee on the shin. I'm going to scoot out on the edge of my chair so I can lean back, and I'm going to pull, and that actually acts as a lever or a fulcrum, and it distracts the knee.
Brad: When you do this, you feel good. Like right now, I can feel it, and it does feel good on me. I don't have a knee problem right now. But all these techniques, if they hurt, you don't do them. This is not a no-pain, no-gain technique on all three of them. Should feel good while you do it, and after you're done, get up, walk around, also should be a good response and feel better. If it makes it worse while you're doing it or afterwards, you put a red line through it, and you do not do that technique. It's not for your knee. Mike, can you show him how to do it using your bed and the towel like that?
Mike: So this is a little more aggressive than the way Brad was doing it. Maybe you just have some mild knee pain. As long as it doesn't hurt to actually kneel on your knee, this should be fine. Obviously, in your bed it's softer, so don't be as aggressive as this mat table. So just place your knee up on the towel, same position. And as soon as I start leaning forward, that is mimicking Brad, pulling his knee towards his chest like that. Same concept, but you can get a little more aggressive and lean into it that way.
Mike: Again, hold it for seconds or repetitions, whatever feels comfortable for you. If you really want to get aggressive, this may be for you.
Brad: Well, just wait. Wait one second, Mike. I also want to emphasize leaning forward but also putting your butt down towards your heel.
Mike: Flex your knee more.
Brad: Yes.
Mike: So if I'm leaning forward like this, I am collapsing my knee. But if you keep your butt down, you're even bending your knee even more. So you're getting more distraction in there.
Brad: It's kind of hard to see on camera, but it does when that drops down. Distract only if it makes it feel better. Okay? It's very important.
Mike: Now, if you're younger and you have some knee issues and you want to get your range of motion back, maybe it's back of the knee pain. You can certainly do this in a tall kneeling position as well. But you have to be comfortable kneeling. Same concept, sit my butt towards my heels and this gets a nice opening in that knee joint there.
Brad: That's right. That is more aggressive again. You're going to do that if it feels good, and you're probably younger and pretty mobile.
Mike: This feels pretty good for me.
Brad: See? There you go. And he's younger and mobile. Alright, the third technique was actually created by Brian Mulligan. He's a therapist. He's been around for decades. And this is a nice technique if it works. It's very simple. And what we're going to do is, if your knee particularly does not flex all the way, we want to have a good range of motion that can easily be the cause of pain. Once you free it up, then things get better. So if your knee is tight flexing or extending, but particularly in flex, then this is a good technique. So the whole concept is that the knee does not want to flex further than this. But if you rotate one way or the other, the tibia, which I'm showing here, can be enough to break things free, so to speak, and get more range of motion without pain or actually feeling good.
Brad: So I'll show you how you can do that on yourself because it's a little harder than this. Okay, this is the knee in question. Now you need a chair that has a firm seat pan. Okay? Not a soft, cushy one that will not work so well. And then I'm going to go lean forward to that point where it's a little painful, and we want to see if we can get to that normal range of motion. Okay? So what I'm gonna do is actually grab below the knee, and we're going to get a hold of that tibia. Now we've got a lot of soft tissue that kind of moves, so it's not as easy as it was with Sam. So I'm going to grab it tight, hold it there. And then I'm going to first assess the range of motion. Say, "Oh, it hurts there." If I rotate things to the right, I'm actually going to turn my foot to the right, rotate, and go again. See if you get more range of motion without pain.
Brad: Let's say, "Eh, that doesn't seem to work so good." Then I'm going to turn my foot in, grab and rotate that tibia in. We get a little rotation, turn the foot, and then again.
Brad: Now, what'll happen oftentimes is one way it won't help, the other way it does, and you're going to work the way that feels better. Less pain, more range of motion is a green light to do it. Just five to 10 times. Probably 10 would not be the one I'd go to right away. Just up to five repetitions like I'm doing here. Let it go. Walk around on it. If it feels better, then as well as while you're doing it, green light. Do that three or four times a day. Again, assess which way feels better, then only do the way that feels better. And after doing this, you'll find that it loosens up in all phases and will have good results. Follow the rules, only do it if it feels good while you're doing it, and afterwards, you'll do very well. Now we have to come up with the outro for this.
Mike: We have something else to talk about, too. They could try.
Brad: Ah, that's a good point. Now, if you're finding that as you do one of these techniques and motion feels better, we can progress to a little bit of weight through it and helping the muscles get stronger, then one thing you can do is sit in a chair. A firm chair works better. This one's not so good. A chair like Mike's is better, but I can demonstrate. And you put something slippery on the floor. If you have carpet, I'm just using the book with a smooth, shiny cover. I'm going to put a foot on there. If you have socks on, you can go on a shiny floor, whatever makes the resistance low, and you can simply go back and forth like this and get things moving. Go back as far as you can. It should be pain-free, particularly if the Mulligan technique was working for you. That'll be helpful and really coordinated with that technique. And do this for a few minutes, and do it throughout the day. Mike, we have something a little more designed specifically for this.
Mike: So this is a Bob and Brad Knee Glide I am using right here. You can simply sit down and use it. You can also use it in bed. Just set it up to where your knee motion is, and you can bring it back more or closer. You can also change the pitch and angle on it. And this is just another way to mimic the same motion here.
Brad: That's right. And that is the big advantage of this is you can change the angle, which can be really helpful, particularly after a knee surgery. You can emphasize the quadriceps, or emphasize the hamstring strength, and it actually makes it a little easier to flex, we found, particularly again after surgery. So it's been working very well for us over the past, I don't know, Bob, five, 10 years, probably closer to 10 years we've been selling these, and people have been happy with them. Not that we're making a sales pitch or anything, but they're nice devices. There you go. We gave you a number of options and information on how to get that knee working better, pain-free, and keep you moving. And we have another video if they have other concerns.
Mike: Yes, watch our video "Knee Pain Gone In Seconds- Top 5 Fixes Known For Success!"- if you have knee problems still. There are just some different exercises and options in this one.
Brad: Options, options, and more options. You just never know. You always have to have plan B.
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