The other day I slipped walking down the stairs while carrying something. I sort of tweaked my knee a bit, and so it felt somewhat weak thereafter.
After a couple days, my knee still felt weak. Then, I noticed my young son doing some "calf raises" (raising up on your toes). He does them periodically, and they aren't done for any specific purpose (like to reach something high). I'm assuming this is a built-in behavior which probably helps eventually develop the arch muscles.
I figured, what the heck, I would try them too. So the last few days, I did a quick set of 20 calf raises in the morning. Almost instantly, my knee felt better. Now this could have been a coincidence, but my other knee actually felt stronger as well!
I wonder if this kind of "Paleo" physical therapy, consisting of simple, natural movements, is on the horizon. I know there are people out there doing similar things already, but I wonder if this could the next branch of the overall Paleo movement.
Matt,
As a physical therapist myself I’m quite fascinated with the insights I’ve gotten from a evolutionary/paleo approach to my profession. Some changes are minor, some major, but nothing out of the ordinary. It is mostly my mental framework that has changed.
For a long time I’ve been thinking about blogging, and maybe I should. The only blogger with an interest in paleo and physical therapy I know of: Bettermovement.org. Good blog.
Cheers
Hi Matt,
Great blog. I’m also a physical therapist. A current trend right now in the field is a move away from the biomedical model of injury toward restoring natural movements and encouraging people to move in ways that will help them overcome the pain associated with injuries faster, just like you did with the calf raises.
There’s also a lot of discussion about what adults can learn from kids in terms of how to do basic things like run or squat properly–so you’re definitely on to something.
Hey Matt,
The natural movement approach is becoming more and more useful in the coming years. The calf raises you talked about are a good example of the paleo method working.
I’ve been following the Paleo/Primal lifestyle for the past few months and have been seeing a great deal of success. Please read about my story and the method I followed here: http://mikeshonestreviews.com/paleoprimal-diet-review
Thanks.
Mike
shallow squats with heels raised is very effective for building knee muscle strength. The raised heels protect the knees while the squats make them stronger.
I’m a big time functional fitness guy (I hate the term “cross fitter”). I had some shoulder issues a while back from overuse and poor form in pressing. I attended Kelly Starett’s Mobility and Movement seminar and he taught some interesting principles for correcting movement deficiencies and mobilizing at points of restriction. He teaches to look “upstream” and “down stream” from your problem area. For example, in my case, I had some really tight tissue in my upper back/traps area and also my ches which was preventing adequate range of motion in my shouldert. Loosening those tissues up with a lacrosse ball and some range of motion drills solved my shoulder problem. I learned some better form/technique to prevent further injury.
Sounds like you’re touching on the down stream idea here with your calf exercises. Strengthening muscles around your knee will help stabilize and support the knee joint. I’d look upstream too – strengthening your quads and hamstrings/posterior chain will definitely help with knee joint stability.
Highly recommend what KStarr preaches. He publishes his “Mobility WOD” website with free videos on different mobility exercises you can do to overcome your injuries. Check it out here: www [dot] mobilitywod [dot] com.
Again, I’m no physical therapist, but these things work for me – and they’re free.
Chris,
Thanks. I’ve been thinking about the posterior chain myself. The knee could be a side effect.