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Topical knee wrap designed to relieve knee pain, swelling and stiffness
University clinical studies proving efficacy.
Chondromalacia Treatment and Tendinitis.
Most advanced design available anywhere.
![[IMAGE]](knee_l.jpg)
Within a one-year period, one out of every three runners will have an injury. Out of every three of these injuries, one will involve the knee. Of all the injuries that occur in the knee, those affecting the kneecap are the most common. A variety of names have been given to this injury, most commonly chondromalacia or runner's knee Runner's knee pain usually comes on gradually. Unlike a skiing injury where symptoms occur abruptly, the runner's knee pain occurs gradually over a period of weeks or even months. The pain is difficult to localize. However, it is usually in the front of the knee around the kneecap.
Clues
A feeling as if the knee will give way, pain when getting in and out of a car, particularly if the left knee is affected. Visualize getting into a car. When sliding into the driver's seat, all of your weight is on your left leg. Getting out of the car, the left leg is placed on the street and the weight of the body is raised on the left leg and knee. The lower the seat, the more the stress on the knee. Those with runner's knee who use a clutch will also notice that the left knee is uncomfortable when depressing the clutch. Stiff or achy knee after prolonged sitting discomfort when squatting, kneeling or hopping (Doing squats or leg extensions in the gym may be the cause of the knee damage.) pain when walking downstairs; occasionally when walking upstairs pain with lateral thrusting movements such as those used in racquet sports or aerobics All of the factors which precipitate knee pain are those where the knee is bent and there is pressure placed on the foot or when doing leg extension exercises on machines with a bar across the front of the ankle.
Show and Tell
The runner can look at his knee and find a few things, which could suggest the existence of runner's knee (chondromalacia) as the cause of pain. 1. I look at the quad muscle just above the knee on the inside of the leg known as the VMO. Frequently with runner's knee, there is poor development or weakness of this portion of the quad muscle. 2. While sitting in a chair extending the leg, watch the patella move. Often with runner's knee pain, when the leg is almost fully extended, the kneecap will move toward the outside of the leg. Patella movement is the result of a tracking abnormality of the patella, which predisposes to runner's knee pain. Patella tracking to the inside causes the same syndrome in a few runners. 3. X-rays are rarely abnormal but can offer evidence that other knee problems are not causing the pain. X-rays of the patella may show that it is deviated to the outside.
Treatment
Accurate diagnosis of the runner's knee can be made quite readily. The general principles of treatment include strengthening the VMO, or inner portion of the quad muscle, while stretching the outer knee structures such as the iliotibial band ITB. VMO strengthening can be accomplished with (a) leg lifts, (b) leg extensions, or, more preferably, (c) short arc quad extensions. A leg extension regimen developed at Michigan State University is to contract the quad for 60 seconds, rest for 60 seconds and repeat three times. Although this regimen does not seem to be very vigorous, its proponents endorse the technique. Regardless of the strengthening technique used, it will be six to 12 weeks before significant improvement in VMO strength will occur. ITB stretching will be reviewed in a later issue. No discussion of the runner's knee pain would be complete without some mention of the hamstring muscles. In many runners with knee pain, the hamstring muscles are tight. Hamstring tightness will often worsen kneecap pain. Thus, hamstring stretching is an important adjunct to treatment. Orthotics and proper shoes will help excessive pronation. Finally, there are runners whose knee pain is recalcitrant and resistant to treatment. For you, a kneecap stabilizing brace is available. In a number of runners, the brace has made a big difference in pain and the capacity to run. In conclusion, runners with knee pain should ride the elevator, avoid scrubbing floors, drive cars with automatic transmissions and stretch their ITB's and hamstrings."
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By K M Khan, assistant professor.Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Z3
Tendinitis such as that of the Achilles, lateral elbow, and rotator cuff tendons is a common presentation to family practitioners and various medical specialists.
Most currently practicing general practitioners were taught, and many still believe, that patients who present with overuse tendinitis have a largely inflammatory condition and will benefit from anti-inflammatory medication.
Unfortunately this dogma is deeply entrenched.
Ten of 11 readily available sports medicine texts specifically recommend non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for treating painful conditions like Achilles and patellar tendinitis despite the lack of a biological rationale or clinical evidence for this approach.
Instead of adhering to the myths above, physicians should acknowledge that painful overuse tendon conditions have a non-inflammatory cause.
A critical review of the role of various anti-inflammatory medications in soft tissue conditions found limited evidence of short term pain relief and no evidence of their effectiveness in providing even medium term clinical resolution of clearly diagnosed tendon disorders.
Laboratory studies have not shown a therapeutic role for these medications. Steroid injections provide mixed results in relieving the pain of tendon problems.
If general practitioners, orthopedic surgeons, and other members of the healthcare professions treating tendon disorders made a quantum shift from previous flawed teaching about overuse tendinitis and adopted these data there would be immediate ramifications.
Some pockets of the sports medicine, orthopedics, and rheumatology specialties have adopted this paradigm, 2-4 10 but it must no longer remain within that cabal. It is time for medical educators to accept the irrefutable evidence that the term tendinitis must be abandoned to highlight a new perspective on tendon disorders. Adopting the tendinopathy paradigm is essential if general practitioners are to practice evidence based medicine.
British Medical Journal March 16, 2002; 324: 626-627
Goode Wraps Relieve Pain, Swelling and Stiffness by Relaxing Muscles
Philosophy and Application
DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT:
Using anti-inflammatory medication for these tendon problems is a prescription for disaster as they clearly do not treat the underlying cause and have the potential to cause significant complications.
Put simply, the philosophy is that the body is a self regulating bioenergetic and biomechanical phenomena which will continue to regulate itself for as long as it has the reserve energy necessary to sustain life, by the ongoing process of biological adaptation.
Bowen realized that the body would regulate itself and return to balance if the appropriate neurological and neuromuscular context was created so that it could. There was never the question of if it could, this was implicit -- the fact that the person had life was evidence enough that it could!
They are elasticized compression shorts or sports wraps. Each of these is impregnated with a unique blend of natural rare-earth semiconductors. Goode Wraps are available for the hip, groin, foot, ankle, knee, elbows, and wrist. In fact, the semiconductors can be added to almost any cloth like material.
What are they used for?
Primarily to control pain, swelling and stiffness. They are ideal for tired aching muscles or joints from sporting activity, exercise and repetitive stress injuries. The Goode Wraps help the muscles regain strength and prevent or lessen the sharp pain in joints from tendon stress.
In reality, pain in hip, and knee joints can be nothing more serious than referred pain from myofascial trigger points (tiny contraction knots) in the muscles of the hip and thigh. Even when a hip or knee joint has suffered a verifiable physical injury, trigger points in associated muscles always contribute a major part of the pain. Referred pain can be every bit as intense and debilitating as pain from a damaged joint.
Is there anything similar on the market?
Some researchers suspect that trigger points may actually be the root cause of true osteoarthritis and other kinds of joint deterioration. This is because muscles afflicted with trigger points become shortened and stiff. When this happens, even normal movement puts undue strain on muscle attachments at the joints, which can eventually result in damage to connective tissue and distortion of the joints themselves.
No Magnets, Chemicals or Drugs