BY DR. ARNAN SISSON

December 11th, 2023

Just this past week, I had about four or five folks call me for free phone consultations, who were having some problems with their knees and worrying about possible knee replacements, getting injections, or having to start on pain medications to get through their day-to-day routines. So, I figured for this week’s column I’d talk about some important “life hacks” I think can help folks avoid many of those painful and costly scenarios.

One of the first things I commonly see, which is usually always a culprit of knee pain, is the type of shoes you’re wearing. Shoes can play a big part in making knee pain worse or starting the problem to begin with. The main thing I tell women experiencing knee pain is to avoid wearing high heels. Now, while you can still wear them, perhaps to a special event here and there, try to really limit how often, because wearing heels frequently forces the foot into a sort of planted position, which stretches and shortens the muscles in the ankle. Not only does it put stress on the ankle, but it also puts stress on the knees and back. So, if you’re having knee troubles and wear heels pretty often, I suggest trying to go without them for a month and see if that improves your symptoms. For a former client of mine, taking a long break from heels was just the trick she needed to relieve her knee pain completely. And when choosing suitable shoes, I’d also recommend watching out for those that are tight around the toes. You should really try to get shoes that give you plenty of room and that have plenty of cushion without having an exaggerated heel. You definitely don’t want shoes that will squish your toes together because that can affect the knee joint as well.

The second tip to figuring out the cause of your knee pain is to carefully check your sitting position. Folks are not made to sit as much as they’re sitting nowadays. Dozens of my clients have office jobs and are sitting all day, which is actually one of the worst things you can do for your body. Unfortunately, it’s unavoidable; you have to make a living. However, there are ways you can get around it without having to live with that pain daily. So, while you’re sitting in your office chair, try to straighten your legs out in front of you for maybe 5-10 minutes every hour. You may also want to try changing out of that bent position every 30 minutes or so because staying in that position stretches those particular ligaments, muscles, and tendons for a long period of time, which leads to stress in the knee.

Lastly, inactivity is your worst enemy. Not moving around throughout the day or on weekends significantly makes the muscles stiff, which in turn makes that knee pain much worse. Try finding an activity that resonates with you such as yoga, walking, weight-lifting, or swimming. In any case, you want to find some activity that you can consistently do throughout the week and weekend, and that’s a good life hack you can use to not only make the knee better but every other joint in the body feel better.

That’s it for today, everybody! Remember, movement is medicine!

P.S. I’ve seen a scary trend recently here in the clinic. Folks that are in their early forties and in some cases even late thirties are worried about having to need a knee replacement! I’m here to confidently say, that in every single one of those particular cases, those folks didn’t need and luckily never went under the knife. Not only that, but their “arthritic” or “degenerative” knees became pain-free in a matter of 2-3 weeks.

If this sounds familiar, look at these three “life hacks” in the above video to get you one step further from the surgeon!

If you’d like more information feel free to click on this link to download one of my free e-books on knee pain >> http://sissonpt.com/knee-report