Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The 5 Pillars of Knee Pain Recovery - Part 3 (Exercise)
The 5 Pillars of Knee Pain Recovery - Part 3 (Exercise): "In order to recover fully from a knee injury you must make sure the exercises you do for your knees reflect how you will use them in your daily life. Understanding the difference between muscular strength and tendon strength is a good starting point to build pain free knees and a resilient knee joint. Your exercises must start to build quot;prac"
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Knee Recovery After Surgery & The Importance Of Water
Hey Guys,
I just got done reading a book that has same very important information regarding the importance of water intake for the body.
The name of the book is: Your Not Sick You're Thirsty! by F. Batmanghelidj, MD
Now most people know how important it is to drink water. However, it became all that more apparent after reading this book. The doctor who wrote the book attributes a huge number of issues that we deal with on a daily basis and are treated with prescriptions are the result of chronic dehydration. Many of these signs of chronic dehydration are misinterpreted as pain in the body due to an overly acidic state the body is left in as a result of being dehydrated.
By regularly re-hydrating ourselves you give your body the fluid it needs to flush these toxins out and allow the body the ability to begin to heal itself much easier. A good analogy you could use in nature would be a stream that begins to dry up. You will get pockets of water that will begin to grow algae and then mosquitoes will begin to breed and multiply. The stagnant water may even begin to smell bad. After a rain, the stream gets flushed out and washes the algae and mosquitoes away and there will be a new fresh smell in the stream. The body works the very same way which is why it is so crucial to drink lots of water.
So how do you figure out how much water to drink?
Well Dr. B suggests that you use your urine as an indicator. If you are properly hydrated your urine should be clear. Anything darker than clear means you need to drink more water. Now there are some exceptions. Taking vitamins or consume beets or beet juice will naturally alter the color of your urine so you may take that into consideration.
The book points out that is does take a few days for the body to get up to speed in absorbing the increase in water. The analogy which was given was a very dry sponge. You can get it wet however, it will take a little bit before the sponge will be able to absorb the maximum amount of water. Take this into consideration if you decide drink a little more water.
One of the things that I have run into especially when it gets hot is after a while my body just gets sick of drinking water. Dr. B. attributes this to the depletion of minerals in the body from flushing them out. He suggests adding a little sea salt to your diet. I have been doing that this week and I have to admit things have significantly changed for me. I am not feeling as hungry as I usually do, my energy level has been much higher, and I have been sleeping better. All from increasing my intake of water.
So what does this have to do with knee pain, you ask?
A perfectly logical question.....
After knee surgery the body is trying to clean out all of the toxins left in the body from the drugs needed for the surgery as well as an acidic state the body is left in as a result of the sympathetic nervous system being on high alert. This is the part of what the nervous system does in a fight, flight, or freeze state when it feels danger. It makes your adrenal glands work overtime and you end up feeling overly anxious with the inability to sleep well.
With the increased intake of water the body is going to be able to "flush" itself of the impurities more easily. This will promote the body's ability to healing itself more quickly creating a state that is better suited for your body to recover.
Drinking more water allows for a more restful nights sleep. Getting better sleep will allow your body to do the work it needs to do to get your knee back where to how it felt before the injury.....
Of course we are all made up of 80% water so this seems to make logical sense...
Bill
PS - I would suggest reading the book for it gives a different perspective of how the body works.
I just got done reading a book that has same very important information regarding the importance of water intake for the body.
The name of the book is: Your Not Sick You're Thirsty! by F. Batmanghelidj, MD
Now most people know how important it is to drink water. However, it became all that more apparent after reading this book. The doctor who wrote the book attributes a huge number of issues that we deal with on a daily basis and are treated with prescriptions are the result of chronic dehydration. Many of these signs of chronic dehydration are misinterpreted as pain in the body due to an overly acidic state the body is left in as a result of being dehydrated.
By regularly re-hydrating ourselves you give your body the fluid it needs to flush these toxins out and allow the body the ability to begin to heal itself much easier. A good analogy you could use in nature would be a stream that begins to dry up. You will get pockets of water that will begin to grow algae and then mosquitoes will begin to breed and multiply. The stagnant water may even begin to smell bad. After a rain, the stream gets flushed out and washes the algae and mosquitoes away and there will be a new fresh smell in the stream. The body works the very same way which is why it is so crucial to drink lots of water.
So how do you figure out how much water to drink?
Well Dr. B suggests that you use your urine as an indicator. If you are properly hydrated your urine should be clear. Anything darker than clear means you need to drink more water. Now there are some exceptions. Taking vitamins or consume beets or beet juice will naturally alter the color of your urine so you may take that into consideration.
The book points out that is does take a few days for the body to get up to speed in absorbing the increase in water. The analogy which was given was a very dry sponge. You can get it wet however, it will take a little bit before the sponge will be able to absorb the maximum amount of water. Take this into consideration if you decide drink a little more water.
One of the things that I have run into especially when it gets hot is after a while my body just gets sick of drinking water. Dr. B. attributes this to the depletion of minerals in the body from flushing them out. He suggests adding a little sea salt to your diet. I have been doing that this week and I have to admit things have significantly changed for me. I am not feeling as hungry as I usually do, my energy level has been much higher, and I have been sleeping better. All from increasing my intake of water.
So what does this have to do with knee pain, you ask?
A perfectly logical question.....
After knee surgery the body is trying to clean out all of the toxins left in the body from the drugs needed for the surgery as well as an acidic state the body is left in as a result of the sympathetic nervous system being on high alert. This is the part of what the nervous system does in a fight, flight, or freeze state when it feels danger. It makes your adrenal glands work overtime and you end up feeling overly anxious with the inability to sleep well.
With the increased intake of water the body is going to be able to "flush" itself of the impurities more easily. This will promote the body's ability to healing itself more quickly creating a state that is better suited for your body to recover.
Drinking more water allows for a more restful nights sleep. Getting better sleep will allow your body to do the work it needs to do to get your knee back where to how it felt before the injury.....
Of course we are all made up of 80% water so this seems to make logical sense...
Bill
PS - I would suggest reading the book for it gives a different perspective of how the body works.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Recovering Right After Knee Surgery
Hi Again,
One of the things that you will deal with right after your knee surgery is the pain, discomfort, and swelling in the knee itself. There is not one position that will "work" for any long period of time and you will find that moving from position to position is the only thing that sort of keeps the pain bearable.
The doctor will most likely tell you to keep the leg elevated (which means that the knee is supposed to be higher than your heart) and have ice on it. You will definitely want to keep this up as much as possible as well as do your exercises given by the physical therapist.
You will also most likely be given some sort of prescription for pain. This is where is got sort of tricky for me. I don't do well at all with prescription drugs of any sort and for the most part they make me sick causing nausea and vomiting. I don't do so well with over the counter drugs as well like tylenol, nuprin, advil or bayer aspirin so I did not have many options available to me or so I thought. Of course, if this is your case, you already feel miserable enough the way it is so adding additional trips to the bathroom is not very desirable.
The following are great alternatives that I used to get me through this period of time after the surgery. They are all homeopathics which means they work in conjunction with your body to help heal the knee faster.
This is for putting on topically, meaning putting directly on your knee externally:
Traumeel - Found in just about every health food store, this comes in both a cream and a gel and can be put on liberally to help the pain and discomfort in the knee.
Arnica - Is a close second to Traumeel, found in health food stores, and also comes in both creams and gels.
The following I used to help with the overall pain I was feeling in my body as well as the knee.
Traumeel - Also comes in liquid and sublingual tablet form and found in the same kind of health food stores.
Arnica - Comes in liquid and sublingual tablet form as well. There will be different strengths so generally go with the one that says 6X however anyone will still work fine. Ask one of the staff at the health food store if you aren't sure.
**The liquid/tablet can be taken up to every 5 minutes according to the pain you are feeling. The great part about the homeopathics is that they did not make me sick or cause nausea.
One important thing to keep in mind when taking homeopathics is not to touch them. They work on different principles than prescription medicine, vitamins, or herbs so be very careful not to touch them with your fingers or drop them on the ground outside of the bottle.
If you are taking the sublingual tablets. Take the cap off, shake a few into the cap, and empty the contents of the cap in your mouth. This way you will avoid touching them. Do not chew them up and allow them to dissolve in your mouth.
I have suggested to many friends to try Traumeel and they came back and told me it did not work. After a few questions I found out that they were shaking them in their hands like they would a bottle of tylenol and then taking them. This renders the homeopathics useless which is why they were not working for my friends.
The liquid usually comes with a dropper in the lid, so just drip the desired amount into your mouth. Be careful not to touch the tip of the dropper to anything other than the inside of the bottle.
I found that using these options of Traumeel or Arnica both externally and internally during the recovery period after my surgery significantly reduced the amount of time it took me to heal from both the knee injury and knee surgery.
I hope you found this information helpful and please leave a reply to let me know how things are turning out for you.
Best Regards,
Bill
One of the things that you will deal with right after your knee surgery is the pain, discomfort, and swelling in the knee itself. There is not one position that will "work" for any long period of time and you will find that moving from position to position is the only thing that sort of keeps the pain bearable.
The doctor will most likely tell you to keep the leg elevated (which means that the knee is supposed to be higher than your heart) and have ice on it. You will definitely want to keep this up as much as possible as well as do your exercises given by the physical therapist.
You will also most likely be given some sort of prescription for pain. This is where is got sort of tricky for me. I don't do well at all with prescription drugs of any sort and for the most part they make me sick causing nausea and vomiting. I don't do so well with over the counter drugs as well like tylenol, nuprin, advil or bayer aspirin so I did not have many options available to me or so I thought. Of course, if this is your case, you already feel miserable enough the way it is so adding additional trips to the bathroom is not very desirable.
The following are great alternatives that I used to get me through this period of time after the surgery. They are all homeopathics which means they work in conjunction with your body to help heal the knee faster.
This is for putting on topically, meaning putting directly on your knee externally:
Traumeel - Found in just about every health food store, this comes in both a cream and a gel and can be put on liberally to help the pain and discomfort in the knee.
Arnica - Is a close second to Traumeel, found in health food stores, and also comes in both creams and gels.
The following I used to help with the overall pain I was feeling in my body as well as the knee.
Traumeel - Also comes in liquid and sublingual tablet form and found in the same kind of health food stores.
Arnica - Comes in liquid and sublingual tablet form as well. There will be different strengths so generally go with the one that says 6X however anyone will still work fine. Ask one of the staff at the health food store if you aren't sure.
**The liquid/tablet can be taken up to every 5 minutes according to the pain you are feeling. The great part about the homeopathics is that they did not make me sick or cause nausea.
One important thing to keep in mind when taking homeopathics is not to touch them. They work on different principles than prescription medicine, vitamins, or herbs so be very careful not to touch them with your fingers or drop them on the ground outside of the bottle.
If you are taking the sublingual tablets. Take the cap off, shake a few into the cap, and empty the contents of the cap in your mouth. This way you will avoid touching them. Do not chew them up and allow them to dissolve in your mouth.
I have suggested to many friends to try Traumeel and they came back and told me it did not work. After a few questions I found out that they were shaking them in their hands like they would a bottle of tylenol and then taking them. This renders the homeopathics useless which is why they were not working for my friends.
The liquid usually comes with a dropper in the lid, so just drip the desired amount into your mouth. Be careful not to touch the tip of the dropper to anything other than the inside of the bottle.
I found that using these options of Traumeel or Arnica both externally and internally during the recovery period after my surgery significantly reduced the amount of time it took me to heal from both the knee injury and knee surgery.
I hope you found this information helpful and please leave a reply to let me know how things are turning out for you.
Best Regards,
Bill
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Recovering From Knee Surgery
Hey Guys,
In December of 1999, I dislocated my left knee skiing and partially tore the ligament in my left knee. (ACL - Anterior Cruciate Ligament) This was the first of four times (yes, my learning curve is a little flat) that I partially tore this ligament until there was nothing left in May of 2000. I went to the orthopedic doctor who specialized in medicine for the University of Louisville Sports teams and found out that I had completely torn the ACL in my left knee.
I scheduled the surgery in June of 2000 and ended up having a patella (knee cap) tendon replacement. This is where they cut out part of my patella tendon and recreated a make shift ligament that I had torn in my left knee. The doctor anchors the tendon in place with pins attaching it to the bone in my upper leg (femur) and bone in my lower leg (tibia). During the surgery the doctor also took out two pieces of cartilage which were torn as well.
Talk about pain! As if dislocating my knee four times to begin with to tear this ligament was not enough. Then of course they want you to start physical therapy as soon after surgery as you can to avoid the leg shrinking away to nothing.
I did the follow up physical therapy for 3 months or so after the surgery and at that time the doctor gave me a "green light" to go ahead and resume normal activities. Which I was able to do after getting fitted for the titanium knee brace.
Before the injury I was heavily involved in the sport of Judo and wanted to do whatever I could to get back to training and competing again. However, the pain from the knee injury and follow up surgery left me with little motivation to get back into anything.
It is coming up on 9 years since all of this happened and my path has changed dramatically from what I was doing at the time of the first injury (At the time I owned a computer company). Since then I got involved in another martial art (Systema - The Russian Martial Art) and body work (Ortho-Bionomy) as a way to get over the pain, tension, and discomfort I felt in my knee as a result of my knee experience.
This means I have had nearly 9 years worth of figuring out how to get my left knee and body out of pain after the physical therapist and the doctor said my knee was "ok to resume normal activities." In later posts I am including exercises as well as videos to help you get over your knee difficulties.
I would like for this as well as subsequent posts to serve as a beacon of hope for you who are looking to have a "normal" life after knee surgery.
Thanks,
Bill
P.S. - I will be posting random topics that come to mind unless there are any specific questions you would like to ask.
In December of 1999, I dislocated my left knee skiing and partially tore the ligament in my left knee. (ACL - Anterior Cruciate Ligament) This was the first of four times (yes, my learning curve is a little flat) that I partially tore this ligament until there was nothing left in May of 2000. I went to the orthopedic doctor who specialized in medicine for the University of Louisville Sports teams and found out that I had completely torn the ACL in my left knee.
I scheduled the surgery in June of 2000 and ended up having a patella (knee cap) tendon replacement. This is where they cut out part of my patella tendon and recreated a make shift ligament that I had torn in my left knee. The doctor anchors the tendon in place with pins attaching it to the bone in my upper leg (femur) and bone in my lower leg (tibia). During the surgery the doctor also took out two pieces of cartilage which were torn as well.
Talk about pain! As if dislocating my knee four times to begin with to tear this ligament was not enough. Then of course they want you to start physical therapy as soon after surgery as you can to avoid the leg shrinking away to nothing.
I did the follow up physical therapy for 3 months or so after the surgery and at that time the doctor gave me a "green light" to go ahead and resume normal activities. Which I was able to do after getting fitted for the titanium knee brace.
Before the injury I was heavily involved in the sport of Judo and wanted to do whatever I could to get back to training and competing again. However, the pain from the knee injury and follow up surgery left me with little motivation to get back into anything.
It is coming up on 9 years since all of this happened and my path has changed dramatically from what I was doing at the time of the first injury (At the time I owned a computer company). Since then I got involved in another martial art (Systema - The Russian Martial Art) and body work (Ortho-Bionomy) as a way to get over the pain, tension, and discomfort I felt in my knee as a result of my knee experience.
This means I have had nearly 9 years worth of figuring out how to get my left knee and body out of pain after the physical therapist and the doctor said my knee was "ok to resume normal activities." In later posts I am including exercises as well as videos to help you get over your knee difficulties.
I would like for this as well as subsequent posts to serve as a beacon of hope for you who are looking to have a "normal" life after knee surgery.
Thanks,
Bill
P.S. - I will be posting random topics that come to mind unless there are any specific questions you would like to ask.
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