Our client presented with an inflamed knee that looked like a football had been hidden under his skin (yes we regret never taking pictures of our clients, but we're too distracted getting stuck in to fix the problem). His issue was that he could not been his knee and this was hampering his ability to line up his golf putt. There was some knee pain, but nothing like the pre-surgery pain, so he was happy to live with the pain, we weren't so we devised a strategy to get him out of pain and then to get some flexibility back in the leg and joint.
When we don't move a joint for a long time the brain shortens the fascia in the area and it can take up to two years to return the fascia back to a working length. Many clients give up long before this time, so we educate our clients on how fascia works and how we can get them working it everyday to make change happen. Our treatment strategy was to:
- Reduce the swelling in the knee
- Teach the client to self-treat the fascia it the area everyday
- Effective mobilising and stretching of the joint (any only stretching won't work)
- Rebuilding the muscles to support the joint
Thankfully we had a very compliant and diligent client, he did his homework every day, we got him cycling (the chap is in his 70s) to build up the muscles, he started using his bike everyday to the shops and a year later popped in for a different area to be treated and told me he'd given up driving and sold his car (he was worried a little about his sight), bought an electric bike and was off all over the place on it. He came in to ask some advice about good cycling helmets.
The one thing I loved about this case, our bodies can adapt no matter how old we are. Given the right treatment and the right attitude, nothing is impossible. Now I can say we impacted his golf handicap, but from the size of the grin on his face, I could see that golf was his life and we'd restored some of that happiness. Plus he's now go cycling to add to the happiness.
