How to Relieve Medial Knee Pain, Low Back & SI Pain, Groin Pain + More

How to Relieve Medial Knee Pain, Low Back & SI Pain, Groin Pain + More
It’s tempting to single out the adductors as the main target for this stretch, and I did that in the video for simplification, but they’re not the only players here, and for issues like medial knee pain they aren’t even the main player. This isn’t an overly complicated technique, but I do want to make sure you get the most out of it. So… Let’s look at some anatomy first: Looking at the above image you can see how connected ALL the thigh muscles are, and it’s not difficult to see how they could affect anything in the pelvic region. For low back pain specifically, we will be targeting the adductors with this technique, specifically the pieces of fascia way up high in the adductors where they meet the pelvis. Releasing the fascia in this entire region can seriously relieve SI and ischeal tuberosity or sits bones pain, low back and hip pain, as well as everything downstream like knee pain and even plantar fasciitis, if your PF shows up more in the arch of the foot than heel. Now let’s move on to addressing key issues. If you have medial (inside) knee pain: Keep in mind that there is usually a PATTERN present with ANY pain and it’s rarely isolated to a single muscle group. There are quite a few causes of medial knee pain, but one of the most common contributors in EVERY pattern I’ve seen is congested fascia at the junction where several low inner thigh muscles connect. There are many reasons this area can get tight or knotted up, and for any solution to be truly lasting we would need to discover the root cause and address THAT, not just this one area. Since I can’t work on you myself to discover what that root cause is, this is my best attempt to help you get relief as quickly as possible. For all you curious cats, one of the patterns for medial knee pain can involve an imbalance in the thigh fascia from left to right (one side dominant/tighter), which can cause a pelvic tilt and compensatory tightening of the myo-fascia in areas such as the gluteus medius or TFL; and sometimes it can involve scar tissue in the same side ankle from a previous sprain or rolled ankle (even if it happened decades ago!), which can lead to gait changes and another set of compensatory problems. As you can see, it can sometimes appear complicated (until you figure it out, and then it all makes sense). But for now…let’s focus on this one technique and see what happens. For my fellow anatomy nerds, if you have medial knee pain you’ll want to target the VMO, adductor magnus, sartorius and gracilis junction. This is what I show you how to do in the first part of the video. If you have low back pain of ANY kind: Looking at the picture to the right, if you imagine those adductors (the pink muscles) shortening…what kind of effect do you think it will have on the pelvis? Most of the time low back pain happens due to an imbalance from left to right SOMEWHERE in the thighs, which then causes a pelvic shift, tilt or rotation. It could be the adductors, quadripceps (especially the hip flexor part of the quads) or IT Band, or a combination of these; the hamstrings are rarely the cause of low back pain, rather they tend to get recruited along with the glutes and TFL to stabilize your pelvis once the imbalance is detected by your brain. The fascial line of the inner thigh can play a huge role in EVERY kind of low back pain, from regular old low back pain in the QL (or quadtratus lumborum) area to sciatica and SI pain, ischeal tuberosity or sits bone pain, hip pain, pubic pain etc. With low back pain there can be a variety of factors, and this is just one. Releasing this fascial line can be hugely beneficial and bring a lot of relief, but it is NOT necessarily a full solution (for some of you it may be). For those of you who don’t get complete relief from this technique, I suggest also using the quad and hip flexor release, and possibly IT Band as well. BEFORE you go to town on this one, I recommend TESTING both legs to see which one is more tender and start with that leg. In order to get full relief for low back pain, your goal MUST be to restore balance in the legs so your pelvis isn’t tilted, shifted or rotated in any way. If one of your legs is tighter and you release both legs equally, you will be LOOSER overall but still imbalanced left to right, which is the cause of your pain. ALWAYS SPEND MORE TIME ON THE TIGHT SIDE. For low back pain, you will want to target the ENTIRE LINE of fascia in that inner thigh. More than likely the most tender spot will be WAY UP HIGH near your pubic bone, so make sure you target that area. For the HIGH SPOT, we are targeting the fascia in these muscles and/or where they connect: adductor longus, gracilis, pectineus and obdurator externus, to name a few. You can even manage to grab the attachment for the psoas here and affect it through this stretch. For GROIN pain and/or pulled groin muscles: Right off the bat on this one I’ll say if you have a PULLED groin muscle, you will be better off first going after your high quad and hip flexor fascia. In my experience this is one of the main causes of a pulled groin muscle. SOMETIMES it can be coming from downstream in the adductors, and that’s certainly worth investigating also, which is why I’m including groin pulls in this blog post. If you are currently in an acute stage with a groin pull however, I recommend AGAINST trying to release anything at the SITE of pain (remember: where the pain is is RARELY the problem!), and instead work everything around it: quads and hip flexors and LOW adductors, maybe even hamstrings. For groin PAIN, this technique can be quite beneficial. I would start with the low adductor region and anything else that feels tender there (VMO and sartorius being a great starting place), and then work your way up to that super high adductor fascia. TIPS to get the most out of this technique: REMEMBER you are attempting to “PIN” and “shear” that fascia, so don’t just roll around on the ball. For the BEST RESULT, your mission is to pin a piece of that inner thigh to the ball even as you roll it slightly, while MOST of your movement happens from your leg rotating and/or bending and straightening. Hunt for the BEST SPOT (you know you’ve found because it will SUCK the most!) Once you find it, stay there and work that one spot for a good 30 seconds to a minute, and then move on to another spot. You may find 3 or more good spots in one small region. Believe it or not a CENTIMETER can make a huge difference! So definitely experiment with where you place the ball AND your weight. If this bothers your knee, move away from your knee and start there. Then see if you can get closer to the knee. Sometimes, if you’re REALLY tight here it’ll pull on the patella (kneecap) when you put your weight on the ball, but usually it just takes releasing some of the tissue for it to chill out. MOVE SLOWLY (definitely do not move as fast as I was moving in the video, I was just wanting to show you what to do without taking forever). Give this a good 3-5 minutes, and then get up and walk. If you’re using this to address knee or low back pain, see how they feel now. If you have low back pain and you started on one leg and your back pain goes to ZERO, skip the other leg for now. If your back pain stays the same, try the other leg, and/or try another technique such as the quad release. As always I hope you find this useful! I LOVE hearing from you, so please comment with your questions and/or success stories after trying this technique, and if you got something out of this then please “LIKE” and share it! If you liked this post please “like” and share it! Subscribe here and on YouTube for new posts every Monday. For personalized help with head to toe pain issues, click here to schedule a private Skype consultation with Elisha Celeste. SUBSCRIBE below and get $15 off your first session. Original article and pictures take http://mobilitymastery.com/how-to-relieve-medial-knee-pain-low-back-si-pain-groin-pain-more/ site