Looking after your knees

[Fungus]

If you go back to old medical/psychiatric textbooks, you can even find spots where they say that masturbation is a moral/virtue problem that can cause various physical maladies.

If you go back even further, another ancient idea is also to protecting oneself against poisioning by administering small amounts of the same, to develop immunity.

By that logic - small amounts of masturbation (say <5 times a day) should develop immunity against moral problems and many physical maladies!

 

[_Simon_]

Okay haha. From my experience, I have heard absolutely horrific advice from martial artists over the years when asked exercise or injury advice. There are so many old school practices that are just practiced because it was the way their instructor taught them. Excessive bunny hops prior to students being physically conditioned to do them, being told to "stretch" if they're injured (if a tendon is partially torn, stretching is one of the worst things you can do and will tear it further)... etc etc. So I rarely ask for exercise or injury advice from martial artists unless I know they are knowledgeable on the subject.

But anyway. My right knee started playing up and getting more painful a couple of years ago. I actually feel it was due to excessive repetitions of all our kihon/kicks, so a combination of overuse, imbalance, excess tension and possibly wear and tear but unsure.


Being the avid psycho researcher haha, I looked into a few avenues, and three main things which I feel helped immensely:

1) Correcting imbalances by strengthening and prioritising other important muscle groups: glutes, hamstrings both at hip extension and knee flexion function, calves, and tibialis anterior which is often neglected. Often knee pain is a result of things occurring at the hips or the feet or both. Strengthening things through the chain and aiming for more balance gives the knee more support. We are often way too quad dominant, especially in martial arts, so strengthening other muscle groups allows the quads/knees to not overcompensate and take on too much of the load.

2) strengthening the musculature around the kneecap (particularly the VMO muscle) which was still necessary. Here I will differ from a previous post hehe , exercises like the ones from kneesovertoesguy were incredibly helpful (and insane amounts of people have gotten crazy results), BUT you have to build up progressively to the deep deep knee bend stuff. Take a very long term approach and don't skip steps. Becoming stronger in those end range positions (which we are weakest in the end ROM) really helps develop resilience when we happen to go into those positions naturally. Starting small like peterson stepdowns (which is the motion we do walking down stairs anyway) and building from there. I can now do full range reverse nordic curls (no band assistance) which would have been impossible years ago.

3) other advice I was given was to introduce movement variability, as in try something new, a different exercise that challenges things differently. I took up running and what I call "free play" haha, a mix of trail running and parkour where I'm exploring the terrain in a fun, playful way. Often jumping, going side to side, balancing on things, it's a lot of fun. And also when running striking mid-foot/ball of foot, NOT heel striking has really made a difference.

Other things like stretching and massage are important, but moreso mobility which develops strength through the range of motion rather than just passive flexibility.

My knee is the best it's ever been. Still gets a little sore every now and then, but not often. So being very mindful how I practice martial arts and getting my stances and kicks correct is always a focus.

But it's important to figure out what would be causing your knee pain. Often it can be not due to the knee itself but something else down the chain that needs addressing. Hope this made sense haha.

 

[Gyakuto]

If you go back even further, another ancient idea is also to protecting oneself against poisioning by administering small amounts of the same, to develop immunity.

This is known as ‘hormesis’ and the effect clouds the placebo effect etc in clinical trials, but trialists often ignore it.

By that logic - small amounts of masturbation (say <5 times a day) should develop immunity against moral problems and many physical maladies!

That’s a laughable homeopathic dose, Fungus. It would need to be increased considerably.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

This is known as ‘hormesis’ and the effect clouds the placebo effect etc in clinical trials, but trialists often ignore it.

That’s a laughable homeopathic dose, Fungus. It would need to be increased considerably.

Look up Dr William Haas. He injected himself with tiny amounts of venom from a number of different elapid snakes and then refused treatment for a king cobra bite he received. He survived it, and many other bites from venomous snakes over the years. He was also arrested once for attempted suicide as a result of his experiments. He ran the serpentarium in Silver springs Florida.

 

[Gyakuto]

Look up Dr William Haas. He injected himself with tiny amounts of venom from a number of different elapid snakes and then refused treatment for a king cobra bite he received. He survived it, and many other bites from venomous snakes over the years. He was also arrested once for attempted suicide as a result of his experiments. He ran the serpentarium in Silver springs Florida.

To be bitten by one snake is unfortunate, but by many is foolhardy!

 

[HighKick]

It seems that whenever I speak to older martial artists, their achilles heel is always the condition of their knees.

Many times it's related to training. Sometimes, just wear and tear.

I'm still sort of young, at 36. Have been practicing since my early 20's. But I've always noticed that my knees begin to get sore with any kind of turning or shifting whether on my balls, or heels. I also sit cross-legged a lot, and have my whole life, which sometimes makes this soreness more pronounced.

I know you guys aren't doctors, disclaimers, yadda-yadda, but I find real world experience to be extremely valuable. If you could go back 10, 20, 30 years, and improve the situation with your knees and prevent any problems down the road, what would you do?

And for those of you who are far more knowledgeable than me about exercise -- which should be most of you -- are there any exercises I should be doing to strengthen the muscles around / supporting my knees besides squats?

In terms of technique, I am aware that the feet and knees should pivot together. I believe that's what I'm doing...

Just figured I'd try to get ahead of this problem before it becomes serious. As of now, it's very much intermittent, goes away on its own, and not a big concern. But the fact that it's followed me throughout my training and throughout the practice of various arts indicates that it's something that I should probably pay attention to.

I struggle with answering this kind of question every time it comes up, so I will answer a question with a question.
Do or did your knees hurt doing any other kind of exercise or work, etc...?
I know the answer is complex and there is no single answer. For some it is a genetic issue that may be compounded by extra exercise/motion. For some (hand raised) it starts when they are younger and based on how hard they were on their knees. Remember cartilage does not grow after a certain age. Several things like diet, weight, forceful exercise, gate, hips, and feet will contribute to knee issues.
Just like muscle soreness, ligament/tendon soreness will increase and decrease. So, starting a new exercise and jumping in full steam is ripe for knee pain, especially where twisting and technique are so dependent on each other.
Because it has followed you throughout your training, I would also question your training regimen. If it is start/stop, start/stop you are likely never getting over the sensation/soreness hump. Believe me when I say 'sensation', you can and will get adjusted to the feeling and will literally train your brain that it is okay to make the new movements and ROM.
If you are training consistently and the pain comes and goes Without additional stress or ROM, I would look hard at my diet and make sure I am feeding my muscles and soft tissue adequately and staying hydrated. Like I said, there is no single answer. Figure out what helps and test it, then test it again. And quit any start/stop exercise.
All the best.

 

[Fungus]

To be bitten by one snake is unfortunate, but by many is foolhardy!

Kreese earned his vaccination against repeating the mistake after only one bite in Cobra kai seaons 6

Lesson was that "to reach your a goal, you first have to eliminate what stands in the way". To steal a knife from a cobra guarding it, you can't simply beat the cobra by speed, you need to figure out howto kill the cobra first, then take the knife.

 

[Fungus]

That’s a laughable homeopathic dose, Fungus. It would need to be increased considerably.

I heard that in combination with Kātsu training, you get multiplied effect even at the lower doses.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

To be bitten by one snake is unfortunate, but by many is foolhardy!

I think venom collection for antivenin is very important work. Certain venom toxicology studies have provided fruit in creating some valuable medications. That was a big part of his research. I found his work fascinating. He was essentially immune to many species of venomous snakes. That’s important and useful if you handle dozens a day for work. He injected tiny doses of diluted venom daily from a number of different species which he worked with. He proved polyvalent immunity is possible with snake venom. Antivenin is generally made with horse serum, requires large amounts, has questionable efficacy depending on species of snake, has a fairly short expiration period, and is incredibly expensive.