Why knee pain might not be coming from the knee

If you have ever had knee pain then you know it can be troublesome to deal with. I myself have had multiple knee surgeries to repair meniscus as well as ACL tears. I'll be the first to tell you they are not fun...at all. But why do we get knee pain or tear ligaments in the first place? Through my journey through chiropractic and gait analysis as well as learning the biomechanics of all the joints in the body I have a better understanding of why I tore those ligaments in the first place and how chiropractic can help with knee pain. 

The knee is one of the joints in the body that allows walking to occur. It swings front to back when we walk, run, or jump. This is such an important joint because it allows us to interact with our environment. When we get knee pain or even worse a tear, we don't feel like moving around much. The knee joint should be stable. Meaning it should have movement but not too much movement. What I mean by that is that there should not be movement like you have in your shoulder or your hips. If that happens then the ligaments have become lax and you are more prone to injury. 

The cause of so much laxity in the joint doesn't necessarily mean that it started in the knee. What I find most often is tightness in the hips as well as the SI joints that cause the knee to move more. Think of it like this, we are supposed to be able to move our hips in a wide range. It is a ball and socket joint, which is meant and designed to move in all planes of motion. When that ball and socket joint can't do what it was designed to do then other joints in your body have to make up for that lack of movement. Usually it is the knees and low back. When the knees and low back have more stress out on them, then pain begins to creep in. 

What we usually think is coming from the knee can actually be from lack of movement in the hips and SI joint. You do this for years and you start to get decreased joint space in the knees and you're looking at a knee replacement down the road. We want to prevent this from occurring. It all begins in the hips and SI joint. 

So getting movement out of the hip joints is a must. Stop sitting so much! But really sitting can cause your hips to get stiff and lose that normal movement. Getting out and walking a little bit even 5 minutes is going to be beneficial for you if you do it regularly. Also getting your SI joint aligned will benefit greatly from this. I always think if I would have had my SI joint checked every month while playing sports would my knee injuries have been different? Who knows it might not have but I think that it would have helped the severity of it. So next time you get knee pain get it checked by a good chiropractor that knows how to check the pelvis and its structures because it could save you in the long run.