22 Jun Knee Pain in Disney!

I was recently treating a patient with knee pain that was first noted after a trip to Disney World. She said that she had walked a lot and by the third day her knee started bothering her. She noted that she wasn’t wearing supportive sneakers and that might have contributed to the issue.

NeuroKinetic Therapy® (NKT) testing revealed quite a few dysfunctions! Her rectus abdominis was underactive and her multifidus was overactive. Her right tensor fascia latae (TFL) was overactive and her gluteus maximus was underactive. Her vastus intermedius (quad) was overactive and her biceps femoris (hamstring) was underactive. Her soleus was underactive, and her tibialis posterior was overactive.

Soft tissue treatment was performed on the overactive muscles and simple activation exercises were performed for the underactive muscles. Muscle strength improved significantly, and she noted that walking felt much better.

On her follow up visit, while she noted some improvement, she still complained of knee pain while walking. Interestingly, all the muscles that tested weak on the first visit remained strong since that treatment. I decided to look closer at her foot and sure enough I found an issue with her big toe!

The flexor hallucis longus (big toe flexor), while initially testing weak, turned out to be overactive while the popliteus muscle (knee stabilizer) was underactive. After treatment she noted less pain immediately and on her follow-up visit, she reported very slight pain with walking. When she returned a week later, the pain was gone!

I’ll be teaching NeuroKinetic Therapy Level 1 classes in Washington DC October 28 & 29, Atlanta 11/4 & 11/5, Cherry Hill, New Jersey 12/2 & 12/3, and Amsterdam 12/9 & 12/10.  To register or more information, check out https://neurokinetictherapy.com/upcoming-seminars/

Dr. Eric Nelson