10 Important Habits To Start When Trying To Avoid Knee Replacement Surgery

Did you know that knee replacement surgery is avoidable in most situations? Even if your doctor told you that your knee joint is bone on bone right here. People often get replacements because they just can’t take the pain in their knee joint anymore. They’ve lost motion, it constantly swells, they can’t stand and walk as long as they would like to. And simple things become very difficult, like being able to get up and down out of a chair, and climbing up a step or two, and forget going up and down a flight of stairs. It just kills people’s knees.

Well in this video today I’m going to cover with you 10 habits that you must start doing in order to allow your knee joint to heal naturally so that you can avoid getting a knee replacement surgery in the future. My name is Dr. David Middaugh, I’m a specialist physical therapist at El Paso Manual Physical Therapy. And this channel is dedicated to helping people stay healthy, active and mobile, while avoiding unnecessary knee surgery, injections or pain medications. Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel so that you don’t miss out on any of the helpful videos that we post every single week.

And before I give you the 10 habits, I want you to know that we’ve got videos that go in depth into many of these habits and they’re linked in the description below. So if you are going through this video and I didn’t explain things as thoroughly as you might have liked, I’ve actually probably got a video on it. So just go to the description and find the right video for you. And go check that one out so that you can implement this habit 100% and save your knee.

Habit number one, that you need to start doing right now, is free up your knee joint motion. You’ve got to begin to stretch daily into your pain free motion. So what I mean by that is when you bend your knee, you might run into pain if you fully bend it all the way like this, or if you go to string it out on the way that might also bother you. But if you can feel some stiffness or resistance at a certain point in the motion, but it doesn’t hurt, you need to hang out there for a bit.

You’ll need to force it more into more pain, you need to force it into some stretch stretches okay, but not pain. And I would just hang out there for 30 seconds or so up to a minute and do this three or four times. First thing in the morning throughout the day.

I would do this religiously. I would get obsessed with making sure that my knee joy moves all the way in both directions. If you’re talking about straightening it out, put it up somewhere on a stool or even on the floor if you’re sitting on the edge of the table and just push down on it like that as long as it doesn’t hurt. It just stretches you might feel a stretch. You need to maintain as much emotion as you can.

Because the inside of the joint or the cartilage is affected and you have arthritis. That gets worse over time with losses of motion so maintain your motion as best as possible. Get in the habit of doing that every day.

Habit number two you need to keep up is get more strength in your buttock muscles. The latest research in knee joint health is showing us that the buttock muscles specifically the gluteus medius gluteus maximus, and all the other muscles in there contribute to similar motions.

As they get stronger, the pressures inside the knee joint actually decrease. That’s excellent news for knee joints because the whole purpose of the cartilage lining on the ends of the bones inside the knee joint is to absorb pressure.

But if you have weak glutes, maybe your glutes aren’t even working right now. Like if you try to fire them, they don’t really do much. That’s a sign you’ve got very weak glutes and you better go strengthen them ASAP.

But as you get stronger in those glutes, it changes the position of the knees slightly and depressurizes the cartilage in there so that you can allow that cartilage to heal. That alone might make a world of a difference in your knee joint health. Be sure to check out the videos in the description below to get more exercises for your glutes.

The third habit you need to start doing is related to the second you’ve got to begin using your glute muscles, your butt muscles while you walk. I’ve got a video showing you exactly how to do it go to the description you’ll find it but the gist of it is you need to use your buttock muscles every time you take a step whenever you step with your right foot, your right butt cheek should fire.

Whenever you step with your left foot your left butt cheek should fire and that’s normal walking. And what you shouldn’t be doing is using your quad muscles. The muscles that are on the front of your thigh should not be dominating the motion. So if you like to walk or if you’ve been told go walk for exercise, you could be making your knee problem worse.

If you’re using your quads if your quad dominant, but if your glutes dominant, it’s actually a good thing. Then go walk to your heart’s content as long as your knee joint isn’t getting worse doing it is going to be a good thing for you to keep up.

Number four is drink lots of water. Now this seems like an easy one. But really how much water Are you drinking? The recommendation is about three liters or 100 ounces. You know give or take on your gender and your size relate more to your size because women tend to be smaller than men, so they’ll need less water. But a lot of people that I meet that have cartilage problems especially in their knees, I asked them What’s your water intake like?

And the simple question that I asked them is, do you think you drink enough water and nine out of 10 people say no, not enough. And then when I asked them to increase your water intake, their first complaint or concern is I want to go to the bathroom more. And my very next comment is, would you rather have any replacement surgery.

Because, I mean, if your knees are feeling better than, to be that big of a deal to get to the bathroom as much, but it’s just better for your health all around a drink enough water. And if you’re not a big water drinker, you just don’t like just flavorless water, you feel like you need, you know, tea or some flavored drink of some sort.

Well, I’ll put it to you this way. Pretty much every drink out there with the exception of water and certain juices out there. Certainly milks as well. If it’s carbonated. If it’s a tea, if it’s if it’s coffee, it is actually going to dehydrate you relatively versus hydrate you. So water is your safest bet.

If you just chug some water several times a day, you’ll be okay for talking to 100 ounces a day or three liters a day, split it into thirds and chug a liter of water within the first hour of waking up. Do it again the middle of the day, and sometime in the evening before you go to bed. Yeah, I’ll be going to the bathroom, but your knees will love you for it, your cartilage has the best chance at healing.

And the more time you stay hydrated, the better. And how this scientifically works inside cartilage, or cartilage is 70% water. So if you don’t have enough water in your system, your cartilage is chronically dehydrated, and you are killing its chances of healing so that you can avoid a knee replacement. So just up your water intake deal with the bathroom problem, and your knees will be much happier.

Number five is begin taking joint supplements. Now I’m kind of on the fence about this. But where I settle if I have to make a decision; it’s take the supplements. And here’s why they aren’t going to hurt you. There are rare situations where people actually have allergies to them, it hardly ever happens, you’re way more likely to have reactions to stuff like ibuprofen, and pain medications that are given to you from a doctor.

Of course, injections and surgeries have massive side effects. But joint supplements out there we’re talking about Glucosamine, Chondroitin collagen, there’s other ones out there, you know they got their price, they cost they cost, but it’s a drop in the bucket when we compare it to the cost and the loss of quality of life that comes with having a joint replacement or dealing with a knee-to-knee problem that just gets worse and worse over time.

So if you can take a few pills to supplement your overall health, that’s not a bad idea. And there’s other things out there like bone broth, you can explore to your heart’s content, see what works best for you. But realize that it’s not the only thing that’s going to fix your knee joint.

If that’s the only habit that you’re taking up. Your plan is flawed, you need to make sure you have enough water you need to make sure you exercise and make sure that you get enough motion through your knee joint. All of this combined and the rest of stuff I’m going to tell you get gives you the best access for your knee joint.

Number six is kind of a hidden gem, get stronger toe muscles. And we don’t think about toe muscles that much, but probably seven out of 10 people most of the people that I see with knee problems often have super weak toes and it affects them when they’re walking and when they’re anytime they’re up on their feet. Because the purpose of your toes is to stabilize your shin bone, which connects to your knees.

So here’s your foot down here there’s the toes, and this is your shin bone your tibia. If your toes aren’t strong enough, every time you go to step, your foot is going to collapse inward, which makes your whole shinbone twist a certain way and move in a certain direction which increases pressures at the knee joint. Not to mention arc problems arch problems in the bottom of the foot and other foot issues you might have.

In fact, let me just step aside for a second on this same discussion. If you’ve got foot pain and foot problems, if you’ve got hammertoes if you’ve got a plantar fasciitis, other common foot problems, chances are that’s contributing to your knee issue. And if you go get your knee replacement, it’s just a matter of time before a knee problem of some sort comes back or some related problem like hip pain or back pain, because you never fix it fix the foot problem. But if you can get your toes stronger, that’s the first best step in making sure that you’re setting your knee up to feel better and not running into a bunch of other problems.

Habit number seven they need to do is low resistance, but high repetition exercise. Now let me just say that slowly because you need to understand exactly what I’m saying. low resistance means not a lot of weight. Not a lot of pressure in high repetitions means you’re doing 1000s of reps.

The reason for this is because that is what’s proven in the research to allow cartilage to heal which is the main reason why people get knee replacements because of worn cartilage loss of cartilage or injured cartilage, if you can get into the habit of getting on an exercise bike, possibly using an elliptical using the rowing machine, or even just doing tailgate swings, which I’ve linked in the description below, that will make the world of a difference in your overall knee health.

Now simply doing these exercises once or twice is not going to be enough, it truly needs to be a habit, you need to keep your knees loose and mobile, and get the cartilage to move inside with low resistance lots and lots and lots of times 1000s of times, and that is what’s going to facilitate the cells inside the cartilage to begin to heal and get better lubricated.

That plus a combination of your nutrition, your supplements, your water, and fixing the strength above and below the knee joint. We’re building we’re building some great habits here.

Habit number eight is avoid sitting for more than two hours at a time. Now sometimes you have to do that if you’re on a road trip, if you’re traveling on an airplane or something like that, you just have to do it.  But if you can avoid it in your regular day, especially if you’re just at home or at work, get up and move every hour, at least if not, if you can move every 30 minutes, that’s best.

And it doesn’t have to be a lot if you have a job or you’re in a situation where you just can’t really move around a whole lot. Just get up right by where you’re sitting. And do some simple exercises, walk around your home, walk around your office, go out and get the mail go to the bathroom, go get some water, something remove your knee joints, so that you don’t stiffen them up.

What happens when you don’t move is the fluid inside the knee joint becomes more viscous when viscosity means is how thick it is like think of like honey, like honey is a highly viscous substance versus water, it’s got much lower viscosity than honey.

Well, the longer that you spend just sitting there sedentary because you have to work or you’re watching TV or a computer, whatever it is, your knee joint fluid becomes more viscous, which doesn’t allow the nutrients to get into all the cartilage in the knee joints. So the more you can practice a movement, even if it’s not a lot of movement, the better off you’ll be. So avoid sitting for more than two hours as best as you can.

Habit number nine that you need to keep up is loosen your kneecap. A lot of people don’t realize how mobile your kneecap should be. I’ve got a video that goes into detail about how to do this, check out the description below. But you’re basically you’re basically going to be grabbing your kneecap and shoving it around in a way that’s painless and actually feels good.

If you get in the habit of doing this daily at least once a day. If you’ve got knee cartilage issues, it makes a world of a difference in your overall knee health. As the days go on. As the weeks go on, it’s really quick and it takes just about a minute to do.

Habit number ten is be open to getting some professional help. You might need to go see a doctor to get an injection temporarily, you might consider going to see a physical therapist to make sure that you’re not missing anything that they obviously see that you should be doing in your plan to fix your knee problem.

Maybe it’s a good idea for you to start physical therapy regularly as well if you have access to it. And by the way, just a little quick plug. If you can’t get to a physical therapist, we have a program available for you called the 28 Day Knee Health And Wellness Boost Program. Check out the link in the description below. It is a paid program, but it is a comprehensive program. It runs you through many exercises over the course of 28 days, so that you can begin to improve your knee joint health. And it’s less than the cost of visiting the physical therapist for one visit, and you get help for a whole month for 28 days.

The 28-day program is an option for you as well. But be open to getting help because it will boost your time it will accelerate you to feeling better quicker. People often just throw in the towel and give up when they try a couple things and don’t get the success they’re looking for. And really, they’re three feet away from gold. I see people do certain exercises here in the clinic and they’re just firing the wrong muscles.

And I tell them you’re on the right track you’re doing the right moves, you’re just not thinking about the exercise correctly. And once they figure that out, it clicks and we made a two degree shift to fix their hole. Nice situation. Those are the kinds of things that an expert might be able to spot in your situation. So don’t be afraid to go get help. That’s a fantastic habit to take up.

Guys I hope this video was helpful for you give us a thumbs up if you liked it. And don’t forget to subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any of the helpful videos. We post every single week. Comments in the description below if you have any questions and we’ll get to them as soon as we can have a wonderful day. Bye