10 Habits to Start Today to Avoid Knee Replacement Surgery

[00:00:00]Hey, 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?

[00:00:09]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 Midaugh and I'm a specialist physical therapist at El Paso Manual Physical Therapy, and this channel's dedicated to helping people stay healthy, active, and mobile while avoiding an 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 you 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 straighten out all the way, that might also bother you. But, if 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 don't You to force it more into more pain. You need to force it into some stretch. Stretch is okay, but not pain. And I would just hang out there for 30 seconds or so, up to a minute.

[00:02:06]And do this three or four times, first thing in the morning, throughout the day.

[00:02:10]I would do this religiously. I would get obsessed with making sure that my knee joint moves all the way in both directions. If you're talking about straightening it out, I'd 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.

[00:02:30]You need to maintain as much motion as you can because the inside of the joint where 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 butt muscles. The latest research in knee joint health is showing us that the butt muscles, specifically the gluteus medius, the gluteus maximus, and all the other butt 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 that you got very weak glutes, and you better go strengthen them ASAP.

[00:03:28]But as you get stronger in those glutes, it changes the position of the knee 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.

[00:03:56]Go to the description, you'll find it.

[00:03:58]But, the gist of it is you need to use your butt muscles every time you take a step. Whenever you step with your right foot, your right butt cheek should fire.

[00:04:06]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 dominant in the motion. So, if you like to walk, or if you've been told to go walk for exercise, you could be making your knee problem worse if you're using your quads, if you're quad dominant.

[00:04:26]But, if you're 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.

[00:04:34]It's going to be a good thing for you to keep up.

[00:04:37]>> Pardon the interruption, I want to tell you about our knee arthritis recovery program. This program is completely focused on fixing the root problem that's putting too much pressure through your knee joint and setting up osteoarthritis. There's three components to this program. The first is a curriculum. It's me walking you through the four phases of recovery. In the first one, that's when you're really stiff and painful, and you maybe can't get around very well, all the way to the last phase, where you're doing maintenance work, and you're feeling fantastic, able to get around, and potentially even exercise. That's a big section of the program. A second section of the program is weekly live group coaching, where me and my staff are on Zoom, talking to you, answering questions, so that you're never stuck.

[00:05:20]And then, the third component is a private community, where you can ask questions, and my team is getting to you throughout the week, as well as learn from others, and see their questions and their wins, so you can get encouragement along the way. Go check out the program.

[00:05:33]Back to the video.

[00:05:35]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 3 L, or 100 oz, you know, give or take on your gender and on size. Really, it's more to your size cuz 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 ask them, "What's your water intake like?" And the simple question that I ask them is, "Do you think you drink enough water?" And nine out of 10 people say, "No, not enough."

[00:06:06]And then when I ask them to increase their water intake, their first complaint or concern is, "Well, I'm going to have to go to the bathroom more." And my very next comment is, "Would you rather have a knee replacement surgery?"

[00:06:17]Cuz I mean, if your knees are feeling better, then it's not going to be that big of a deal to get to the bathroom as much, but it's just better for your health all around if you drink enough water. And if you're not a [clears throat] 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 of water and certain juices out there, certain 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 uh several times a day, you'll be okay. If we're talking 100 oz a day or 3 L a day, split it into thirds and chug a a liter of water within the first hour of you waking up. Do it again in the middle of the day and sometime in the evening before you go to bed. Yeah, you'll be going to the bathroom, but your knees will love you for it. Your cartilage has the best chance of healing, and the more time you stay hydrated, the better. And how this scientifically works inside cartilage, well, cartilage is 70% water.

[00:07:27]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.

[00:07:54]There's 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, what I'm talking about glucosamine, chondroitin, collagen, there's other ones out there.

[00:08:17]You know, they they got their price.

[00:08:18]They 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 a 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.

[00:08:41]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 gets gives you the best success for your knee joint.

[00:09:04]Number six is kind of a hidden gem. Get stronger toe muscles. And if 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.

[00:09:19]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 knee. So, here's your 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's going to collapse inward, which makes your whole shin bone 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, uh if you've got hammer toes, if you've got uh 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 fixed fixed 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 that you 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.

[00:10:38]Low resistance means not a lot of weight, not a lot of pressure, and high repetitions means you're doing thousands 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.

[00:10:59]If you can get into the habit of getting on an exercise bike, possibly using an elliptical, using a 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, thousands 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 the combination of your nutrition, your supplements, your your water, and fixing the strength above and below the knee joint, we're milk we're building some great habits here. Habit number eight is avoid sitting for more than 2 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, 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 to move your knee joints, so that you don't stiffen them up.

[00:12:33]What happens when you don't move is the fluid inside the knee joint becomes more viscous. What viscosity means is how thick it is. Like, think of like honey.

[00:12:42]Like, honey is a highly viscous substance.

[00:12:46]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 at 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 joint. So, the more you can practice some movement, even if it's not a lot of movement, the better off you'll be. So, avoid sitting for more than 2 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.

[00:13:26]Check it out in the description below.

[00:13:27]But, you're basic 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 10 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.

[00:14:43]It'll 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 when really they're 3 ft away from gold. I see people certain exercises here in the clinic and they're just firing the wrong muscles and I I tell them, "You're on the right track.

[00:15:02]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 a 2-degree shift to fix their whole knee situation.

[00:15:12]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. Comment 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-bye.