A Possible Knee Fix For Skiers and Others

Three Minutes Twice A Day 

Osteoarthritis Knee Joint Cartilage Repair

A PRP alternative? It’s free!

What I have done for the last two years is to bend my right leg in two different ways. When my leg is straight, I bend it sideways a very slight amount and then bend it the normal way, front to back (details following). Two other skiers that I know of, have followed the simple exercise with positive results. We have restored our knees to normal working condition. 

Left foot  blocks the right foot ankle

Here is how.

I sit on the edge of a chair (bed, stool, bathtub, anything chair height) with my legs out straight, resting my heels on the floor.

I first bend my healthy left leg slightly. Then I nest my right foot in the arch (instep) of my left foot. My right leg, the damaged one is straight. Per photo 1.

I'm now in a position to bend my right leg sideways, my right knee is forced towards my left knee. ( if your lateral condyle is the problem use the other side of your left foot to block and force your damaged knee to the right)

I use the inner thy muscles of my right leg to apply the force and to cause the bending. (I could also use my right hand to push my right knee to the left.)

Steps  

1. I apply and hold the bending pressure for a slow count to 5, then release the pressure (5 seconds).
2. I then hold my right knee up with both hands and flex my lower leg, swinging it front to back 5-10 times (10-15 seconds). (Figure below left)

Holding the right knee off the ground swing the
 lower leg several times to mix the plasma and
the synovial fluid.                                            

Repeat: step 1 and 2, about 4 - 6 times ( about 2 min.).

The amount of side pressure is very gentle.

(1 minute to find a suitable place). 

I can tell that this process works for me by feeling the fluid build-up at the base of the patella. I stop at this point.

 What Happens: 

There are two membranes surrounding the actual inner hinge portions of the knee.  Outside the membranes are the parts that hold the knee in place and make the knee work.  This includes the repair material, blood.  There are sufficient arteries, storage material, and veins for supplying the needed nutrient to repair and keep internal sliding surfaces healthy. 

In normal walking/running the cartilage compresses and expands about 0.05 mm (about 0.002 in). But if the cartilage is worn away a space created can be as much as 2 mm on the medial femoral condyle side ( middle bearing bone surface as opposed to the outer side one).

It is difficult to imagine the shape of the volume of space created, I look at it as a wedge, a few mm long. The numbers I use are approximate vary over a spectrum with joint size and loading.

The approximate extra volume of the wedge is 2/0.05 = 40 the opening change. Because this is a wedge this is divided in half, 40/2 = 20.  What I am showing is that when the knee is bent sideways it creates a vacuum and sucks in a volume of the liquid solution into the inner workings of the knee. The effective inflow is about 20 times normal. 

The solution is filtered blood or plasma.  Larger particles such as red blood cells are filtered out by the synovial membrane leaving a watery fluid full of nutrients and repair parts for rebuilding the cartilage.

The problem is that if this plasma can pass the filter in both directions, in and out of the enclosing membrane (step 1 above). Here is where it gets a little murky because it is not clear how the 2 fluids mix.

Hence the step 2:  The flexing of the knee to mix the plasma with the synovial fluid (bearing lubricant) by repeating steps 1 and 2 several times until the skin near the base of the patella starts to bulge out. The blended fluids seem to be retained. This is similar to a PRP treatment only I suspect that the platelets block the plasma in at the synovial membrane.

Other Problems

The other problems are there have been no formal clinical trials, no MRI information, no organization endorsements, doctors are conditioned against the possibility of cartilage regeneration, no arthritic organization interest. There is no protocol for cartilage growth.  No idea of how the plasma and synovial fluid mix, no idea of how well the membranes filter and  what the appropriate mix is, what the parameters are? etc. 

What I know

What I do know is that this process works for me and at least 2 others. I have told a lot of other people that I don’t know and haven’t heard from them.

In any formal investigation, the first step is a suggestion a `proof of principle’. I believe this is sufficient information and results for formal clinical investigation.

  

If You Try This

If by chance you try this you may feel something happening right away.  And if you do and want to continue I suggest that you start gently just walking.  If you are above your BMA limit I suggest that you lose weight. Easy or light bike riding will help keep the knee aligned. Add loading slowly. Pain is your friend. It will tell you when to stop overloading. Some heat using a heating pad helped me.

The process will stop when your knee is tight again. 
This is not a quick fix.

Over a period of time, my knee has tightened up and can support full-load. Moguls and running are again okay. It has taken a couple of years because I still have rebuilding lost muscle and RA issues.

The concept of the joints filling with fluid has been explored by Dr. Jerome Fryer, chiropractor, in Naniamo, BC, www.drfryer.ca .  If you have a back issue, his site is a good place to start.  I have adopted his work on backs for the specific application to knee joint. The speed of the fluid flow into the joint is unique to his work. The discussion of the fluid being plasma is my speculation. 

Beginner Skiers and The Snowplow

Taken From the Manual

About the Snowplow

One of the first things that you will be taught at a ski school is how to snowplow down a small hill. This is an excellent place to start if it is used properly. It uses all the primary skills; 

• Pressure control, 
• Edge control, 
• Pivoting or Counter Rotation,  
• Blending, 
• Stance and Balance. 

The snowplow allows you to move slowly down the hill. It can be used to stop and turn. It can be used as a way of skiing. Also, by keeping your legs wide you keep your balance bending slightly forward you prevent falling. There is a but. It can be habit-forming if overused and becomes a way of skiing.

Pressure Control

A snowplow is a powerful tool for learning the primary skills

required to ski. You start by forming a wedge or V shape with your skis. Leaning forward at the waist so you free pressure on the ball of your foot and if your feet are wide enough, you will feel pressure concentrated just at the base of your big toe.  This is an important pressure point because this is the pressure required to make skis turn. If you lean to the right, your right ski will tilt and bend. When moving your ski will turn left. This pressure can be enhanced by tilting the knee to the left.

Primary Edge Control

When you start moving down-hill the first time, you should form a small wedge. If you increase the V angle really wide, then you will stop. Or you can keep going making small and large wedges to speed up or slow down.  This is accomplished more by applying pressure to your heels, heel pressure control.  Also what enhances the effect of slowing and speeding up is that the angle of your ski changes.  The wider your heels move the greater the angle and the greater the ski edges grip the snow with the result to slow your motion forward. Performing this simple exercise you are teaching both legs pressure and edge control plus pivoting or counter-rotation.

Pivoting/ Counter-rotation

Counter-rotation is turning your leg in the direction you wish to go.  In a snowplow position, both your skis are pointing in opposite directions, so unless you enhance one or the other you will move in a straight line down the hill. Enhancing toe pressure on the right ski, you will turn left.

The above is all you need to know to ski down beginner and intermediate hills. It is also a very tiring way to ski. Your legs are under stress continuously.  This is one reason beginners lose energy quickly.

Enhancement of the Skills

To make skiing easier and less stressful is to enhance these skills with 2 more exercises.  One is the one-foot stop exercise and the other is initiating small turns. These are lessons 3 and 4 in my manual.

Primary Pivoting / Counter-rotation, Heel Pressure

In lesson 3 you start down the hill skis side by side, then make a wedge and then push one foot out in front so that it lies across your line of motion. Kids find this is an easy body move, often using this to stop automatically. You use pressure on your heel to make this happen.  As you get older it becomes more difficult. This is a tough one for me to demo, as I am really old now.

Primary Pressure Control, Balance forward, Turn Initiation

Lesson 4. this is where we first started with pressure on the ball of the foot and a slight tilting of the knee in the direction you want to go. With pressure applied to the front inside edge of one ski, the ski will turn.  Again the motion is down-hill in a straight line turning left and right in small turns. These are not real turns, they are just the beginning of turns.

Blending, Transition to Parallel Skiing

In lesson 5, you use a modified snowplow. It is called a stem christy turn, a mini turn and a one-foot stop without the stop combination. This is the start of the transition from snowplow skiing to parallel skiing.  If you have practiced the previous lessons diligently you will be able to combine lessons 3 and 4 and add parallel skiing.  It works like this. You start across a gentle hill at about walking speed with your skis side-by-side, spread about shoulder width, and at a 45-degree angle to the right of straight down the hill. Move about 5 meters (about 17') then lean forward and push out your right ski in a snowplow and turn 90 degrees. Bring your skis parallel and repeat.  It is best to see the video for this movement.  This is a progression where you gradually increase your speed and applying more pressure to the outside ski making the turn. You will find that eventually most of your weight will be on the outside or turning ski and the other ski can stay beside the turning ski.  Magic.

Fine-tune the process by reducing the straight length, and you just shift your weight left to right making a series of turns. There you are effortlessly parallel skiing. Maybe 2-4 hours. Maybe a faster run (steeper hill) to feel a little speed.  Maybe a better hill with a bit of a challenge. Maybe adding a little more pressure on the turns at the start and finish, for speed control. Maybe work the skis a little harder. 

The point here is that there is no reason that a person can’t be parallel skiing in a few hours. The last 3 parts make the difference. Nobody should be stuck in a snowplow skiing position. To Improve start at the top and repeat the process often.