Chris and his knee arthritis

Chris was a 64 year-old estate agent who had been suffering with stiffness in his back but it was his right knee that really bothered him.  It occasionally locked and gave way but bending down to play with his grandson and kneeling whilst gardening caused him to have sharp pains.  When he reported this to his GP he was sent for X-Ray where arthritis was diagnosed.  However, it was moderate and an operation was not on the agenda.

On examination Chris’ back and pelvis were quite stiff.  His knee had mild restrictions in most ranges of movement but we noted that most of his arthritic pain was not from the main knee joint but derived from his knee-cap.  We found that it was tightly bound down to his leg bone by the Quadriceps muscle and created a creaking and grating sound on bending.  In turn this caused the underside of his knee-cap to become irritated and the attaching ligament to be put under strain.

Chris found our 5 sessions improved his comfort and stability of the knee in that it “gave-way” less.   The majority of his pain was muscular adaptation to the arthritis and by addressing this, Chris’ pain went.  We worked on his back and pelvis by loosening the joints which became stiff from his desk-work.  This is a feature of most patients who believe that aches and stiffness is something we should expect as we get older- it can be treated!

We occasionally see Chris for maintenance sessions and to monitor the development of his condition.  He understands what works best for his knee such as the ‘little and often’ approach and a stretching regime that increases with his symptoms.