Knees hurt: what is the reason?

In qigong, great attention is paid to the position of the knees. Mastering literally any exercise, you will hear instructions on how your knees should feel. Why?

Because this is one of the very delicate joints, and it has a characteristic feature: it should not take on the load. Its goal is to freely pass it through itself, to absorb it.

If during the movement the knee is in the correct position, then this is exactly what happens: the joint performs its shock-absorbing functions, easily bends / unbends, does not crunch, does not hurt, literally radiates health. If there is a violation in the position of the joint, then one or another part of it has an extra load, and it gradually begins to collapse.

What determines the position of the knee? It itself is “not guilty”: it is not in its will to stand up somehow wrong. But if there are violations in the structures below or above – in the foot and ankle or in the structure of the pelvis – then the knee will adapt to these curvatures and function incorrectly.

Reason below

If a person has any kind of flat feet, then this will change the position of the ankle, and hence the knee. For example, with longitudinal flat feet, the arch of the foot is flattened, the knees seem to go towards each other, the legs become “X”. Then, when walking, the main load will fall on the inner surface of the knee joint and it will wear out. It all starts with aching pains, against the background of this disorder, arthritis and arthrosis develop.

Another option: the person had an ankle injury – sprain, torn ligaments, etc. Then the knee of the injured leg will also adapt to the changed shape of the ankle. Visually, such violations are invisible, but with age, the knee will signal a problem with pain.

What to do in such situations?

Rolls for the foot and ankle

Contrary to popular belief, flat feet, as well as the effects of ankle injuries, can be corrected regardless of age. The foot practices we teach to students at my school show that even the elderly can shape the arch of the foot and return it to normal cushioning qualities.

To retrain your foot for a new movement pattern, try a simple exercise: rolling.

• Stand up straight, feet hip-width apart. The main support falls on the outside of the foot, 30% on the base of the big toe and heel.
• Begin to slowly shift your body weight back and forth across your foot. Roll gently from heel to toe and back again. When moving forward, the bones of the metatarsus seem to diverge slightly, the foot becomes softer and freer.
• Roll gently, smoothly and slowly, focusing on relaxing the ankles, knees, and hips.
• If standing with support on the outer edge of the foot is very uncomfortable (and this can be the case with flat feet), in the initial stages you can put a folded napkin under its arch. Fold it as many times as necessary so that it is high enough to provide full support in the arch area. As the foot retrains and moves into a new position, the napkin will no longer be needed.

Do this exercise every day for 2-3 minutes. If you have a scratchy mat, train yourself to brush your teeth on it, then foot toning will become a sustainable daily habit. After brushing your teeth, do a few rolls on it.

Over time, the position of the foot will change, the entire musculoskeletal system will begin to adapt to it: the posture will become more proud, the movements will be free. After all, the position of the lower back, thoracic region and even the neck depends on the state of the foot.

To make the process go faster and more efficiently, it is very useful to master gymnastics that will help adapt changes – develop posture and spinal health, for example, qigong for the spine Sing Shen Juang. As part of this gymnastics, we work with the position of the foot, knees and pelvis, as well as with all the active points of the spine, due to which the posture becomes almost perfect.

Cause in the pelvis

Another reason why the position of the knee joints is disturbed and they begin to hurt is the hypertonicity of the adductor muscles of the thigh and groin.

The muscles that bring the knees together – the inner thigh muscles – are very often overstretched. This is partly due to traditional psychological reasons: we girls have to keep our legs and knees together – remember, we were all taught this as a child? Plus, various posture disorders can be the cause of hypertonicity.

What can be done to relax these muscles and restore knee health? Any stretching exercises related to the legs and groin area will do. There are many good exercises that are included in the twine stretching complexes.

Not everyone is shown to stretch in this way, however, if you use these exercises in a gentle mode, without the goal of sitting on the twine, they can be very, very useful for normalizing the position of the knees.

If your knees hurt, this, of course, is a reason to examine these joints and follow the recommendations prescribed by your doctor. And also a signal that you definitely need to take care of other joints of the legs.