KNEE PAIN

A common cause of ongoing knee pain is caused due to muscle imbalances between the medial and lateral aspects of the upper thigh. By simply viewing the below diagram of the upper thigh and knee joint you will see how the following muscles heavily impact on the stability of the knee and correct tracking of the patella.

Anterior Thigh Anatomy

Rectus femoris:
Quite often this muscles is tight therefore shortened in length. The muscles shortens in length adding excessive pressure on the tendon and its insertion. The shorter a muscle is, the greater is pull! Due to this the following problems often occur.

Patella tendonitis
Tracking problems with the patella.

Gluteus Maximus, Gluteus Medius, Illiotibial band and Vastus lateralis
Vs
Vastus Medialis Oblique (VMO)
In my experience the most common cause of ongoing knee pain is due to the tension held in the muscles that attach to the lateral aspect of the knee Vs the lack of muscles conditioning on the main muscles that attaches and supports/ stabalises the medial aspect of the knee.

The Problems with Knees

Excessive tension on the lateral attachment to the knee pulls the patella out of alignment causes the patella to track incorrectly. Further to this the medial muscles are not strong/ conditioned enough to counter support the tension present at the lateral insertion of the knee. As such, the patella (knee cap) simply does not slide smoothly. Think about Ten Pin Bowling - your knee is 'gutter balling'!

In most instances purely realising the tension in these tight muscles will immediately eliminate knee pain. In more advances cases where the Vastus Medialis is extremely underdeveloped, combining specific strength training with hands on treatment will rid the knee of pain and dysfunction.