Saving My Knees: How I Proved My Doctors Wrong and Beat Chronic Knee Pain by Richard Bedard Read Free Book Online Page B

probably meant inflammation, which in turn kept my joints weak. How did I stand any chance of healing without being able to conquer this endless burning?
    My exasperation led me to formulate a thought experiment for doctors. Here it is:
    You’re a physician practicing medicine on another planet. A patient shows up. “Doc,” he says, “I have knee pain. My daily activity consists of standing next to four different kinds of pods: green, red, blue, yellow. When I stand next to the green pod, my knees feel fine. I also have no problems with the red and blue pods. But when I stand next to the yellow pods, my knees burn and hurt.”
    What’s logical to advise? I bet most doctors taking part in this thought experiment would say, “Avoid standing near the yellow pods.”
    What happens though when you substitute “sitting for long periods at work” for “yellow pods”? My guess is that these same doctors would start to backpedal, suddenly unsure of their footing. If you order a white-collar worker to “assume the position,” he sits down. And if he can’t, what then do you have? I had become a contradiction in terms.
    It certainly didn’t help that bad knees heal slowly, if at all. Any doctor who agreed that prolonged sitting was bad for me would wind up in an unenviable spot. He would have to support paid medical leave or some other measure that could disrupt my employer’s workplace. He would have to sign off on paperwork and speculate how long my recovery would take. Even if he believes bad knees can get better, is he willing to stick his neck out and say mine will, and when?
    Instead the doctors tried to skirt the seriousness of my problem with sitting. They recommended small things, like stretching out my legs from time to time or periodically walking around the newsroom. But walking for a minute each hour wasn’t enough to counteract the effects of sitting during the other fifty-nine.
    The orthopedists couldn’t help me further. In the binary world of surgeons, where patients are either candidates for the knife or not, I was a “no cut.” This gave me scant comfort. It seemed certain that eventually I’d need an operation because my joints were continuing to fall apart.
    They did suggest physical therapy. Today, knowing what I know, I couldn’t agree more. Good physical therapists are worth their weight in gold. Unfortunately, I soon discovered that the standard treatment for grumbling, aching knees rests on some dangerous thinking. My physical therapist’s advice left me hurting worse than ever.
    Later it became clear to me that, despite what they may want you to think, many physical therapists share a dark secret. They are no more optimistic about improving the health of your knee joint than are doctors.

5   Physical Therapists
     
    My main physical therapist was a fellow I’ll call Tim Chang. I briefly consulted with another early on, whose approach was quite similar to Tim’s. My treatment seemed to be the standard fare for bad knees suffering from patellofemoral pain syndrome.
    I met Tim soon after my first visit to an orthopedist. He was handsome and fresh-faced, apparently in his mid-twenties. His vigor and cheerfulness seemed appropriate to his profession. Whenever he demonstrated leg exercises, his muscular thighs bulged through his gray slacks. Here was someone who prided himself on keeping fit, I thought.
    In me, he acquired a patient who was scared, frustrated, and desperately searching for a way forward. My strengths included tremendous discipline and willpower: sticking to an exercise regimen wouldn’t be an issue. I also was still trying to understand my condition and soaking up new information like a sponge.
    While I sat and listened, Tim started out by manipulating an anatomical model of a knee joint to show how the bones normally interfaced and moved. He clarified why sitting bothered me. It’s a simple mechanical issue. Bending my legs to a ninety-degree angle increased pressure