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.