Relieve knee pain with
just your hands

by Catherine M. Scott
(Michigan)

A simple two-handed maneuver could give you 20 minutes of relief from your knee pain. A new concept in physical therapy exercise was developed by Brian Mulligan in the 1980’s. It has been rediscovered and modified. All you need is two hands and a chair.

Here are the directions for the right leg. Sit down and place your right hand on the side of your thigh and your left hand on the inside of your leg just below the knee and apply gentle pressure toward the center of your leg.

Now move your leg several times as though you were kicking. Stand up and take a few steps or bend at your knees. If this works your pain will be relieved.

If it does not help relieve the pain, then reverse your hand position and put your left hand on the inside of your right thigh above the knee and your right hand on the outside of your lower leg just below the knee.

Now kick several times. Stand up and bend at your knees or walk a few steps and see if your knee pain improves.

If not, you have only wasted a few minutes of your time and the maneuver will not help you. Your knee problem is probably not due to medial/lateral knee pain (runner’s knee) or patellofemoral syndrome.

If you do get relief with either maneuver, then a new brace on the market may help you. It is lightweight, comfortable, and helps to rehabilitate your muscles just by wearing it during weight bearing activity. Check out www.inthegroovebrace.com for further information.