Posted: May 20, 2006

Health and Fitness: Let’s Talk Knees

By Brett J. Hayes

If I had a ten dollar note for every time someone said to me, “I can’t run because I have bad knees”, I would be a great deal financially richer. Even though no one’s going to give me the dollars if they do tell me, it’s still time to get real about something.

There is no such thing as a “bad knee!”.

The health and vitality of the knees may leave a lot to be desired; yet calling the knees “bad” is certainly not a step towards the positive. The human body that you live-in, is an amazingly adaptable organic mechanism and regeneration is definitely one of its major attributes, given the appropriate resources.

The knee joint gives us the ability to move around on this little planet of ours, with flexible organic shock absorbers that will stay as flexible as we keep our mind and sight.

Having a look at the anatomy of the knee, it looks like there's not much to it, although there is a lot to it and the way it works is really quite complex. I always practice looking at complexity with the K.I.S.S. mentality (Keep It Simple Sweetheart), so let’s see the knee working in a similar fashion to a modified hinge on a door.

It not only bends back and forth like a hinge, but it also has a complex rotational component that occurs whenever we bend (this is called “flexion”) as well as when we straighten it (this is referred to as “extension”). It is a major weight-bearing joint that is held together by muscles, ligaments and tissue.

The cartilage that can be found inside the knee joint provides the shock absorption when we walk, run, lift, climb stairs and any other impact activity using the legs you can think of.

Bones of the knee

Your knee is made up of the thighbone (femur), the shinbone (tibia) and the kneecap (patella). Together the thighbone and shinbone come together to form a hinge with the kneecap in front of them, which provides protection for the joint. All the while, the kneecap moves in a sliding action up and down in a groove in the thighbone. This groove is called the femoral groove and the sliding occurs whenever we bend or straighten our knees.

Ligaments of the knee

The job of the ligaments is to assure that the components of the knee are held together and kept stable. The medial (inner) collateral ligament (MCL) and lateral (outer) collateral ligament (LCL) limit sideways motion of the knee. All the while, the posterior and anterior cruciate ligaments (PCL and ACL) limit forward motion of the knee bones, thus keeping them stable.

Cartilage of the knee

Each knee has two cartilage structures called menisci, which sit between the thighbone and the shinbone and act as shock absorbers. When damaged, a torn meniscus is called “torn cartilage.” The menisci are one of two types of cartilage in the knee. The second type, articular cartilage, is a smooth and very slick material which covers the end of the thighbone, the femoral groove, the top of the shinbone and the underside of the kneecap enabling smooth movement of the knee.

Tendons of the knee

The job of tendons is to connect muscle to knee. The quadriceps muscles on the front of the thigh are connected to the top of the kneecap by the quadriceps tendon, which covers the kneecap and becomes the patellar tendon. The patellar tendon then attaches to the front of the shinbone. The hamstring muscles in the back of the leg attach to the shinbone at the back of the knee. The quadriceps muscles straighten the knee while the job of the hamstring muscles is to provide the bending motion.

So why is it that so many of us experience discomfort and sometimes disability in our knees?

Your pH levels, soft tissue inflammation and the strength of the bones have a lot to do with it. Mature bone is mostly made up of the minerals, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium and zinc. These minerals also help with energy production, hydration, muscle movement and healing.

Good dietary intakes are found in...

Calcium

Green leafy vegetables (chlorophyll ~ green blood) – Milk and milk products – Molasses (the last extraction from cane sugar) – Almonds

Magnesium

Green leafy vegetables (chlorophyll ~ green blood) – Fruits – Apples
Watermelon – Figs – Grains – Legumes (beans, chickpeas, peanuts…) – Nuts – Kelp

Sodium

Carrots – Beetroot – Kelp (an excellent source)

Potassium

Green leafy vegetables – Fruits – Watermelon – Bananas – Oranges Grains – Potatoes – Nuts – Mint leaves – Kelp

Zinc

Pumpkin seeds – Sunflower seeds – Fresh field mushrooms – Soybeans – Brewers yeast

A diet high in these foods may well provide all your nutrient needs, including the all important calcium and magnesium (calcium helps your muscles contract and magnesium helps the muscles relax after contraction).

Obviously muscles that are not strong enough to support the skeletal structure will contribute to knee pain - yet how strong do the leg muscles have to be? Most of the human family spend a vast majority of the day standing, walking, running, swimming, cycling, lifting and pushing with their legs everyday.

Surely with constant movement (exercise), this should be enough to maintain the knees structural strength?

Well, yes and no!

Good knees are built - not only by exercising, but with good nutrition, hydration at a cellular level, correct posture and a balanced distribution of load-bearing forces over the course of decades. What most of us don’t look at in the equation of load-bearing forces - is the way we breathe.

Breathing isn’t just breathing. Breathing is Energy!
Your inhalation is “Implosive Energy”.
Your exhalation is “Explosive Energy”.

It certainly sparked an interest in me when over 18 years plus of teaching and treating, I noted that more right knees were giving the people curry than were the left. And only a very small minority of the people I have seen have ever played football. It was so common I was intrigued to see if this was true of the greater community. So in early 2005, I contacted the Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry to get the facts on knee replacements.

Please note that these data are preliminary and are not yet finalised between 1 September 1999 and 31 December 2003.

Knee Replacement Statistics

Type of Knee Replacement

Unicompartmental Knee	Left	% 48.9	Right	% 51.1
Primary Total Knee	Left	% 46.5	Right	% 53.5
Revision Knee	Left	% 45.5	Right	% 54.5

As you can see, more right knees than the left. The difference would be even greater except that a lot of people opt for both knees to be worked on at the same time. It’s cheaper to get both knees done when you are already committed to being on the table, you only need one general anaesthetic session and when you have had years of pain, it can look like an acceptable option. But before you do commit, have a look at the revision knee statistics. A revision knee is the term used to replace the already replaced man-made cartilage - and it can be within a couple of years of the knee replacement.

Have you sussed out the stats?

10% more on the right hand side.

Again, Your BREATH is an ENERGY people.
IMPLOSIVE and EXPLOSIVE ENERGY!

If implosive and explosive energy is constantly expressed on the one side, IMBALANCE WILL RULE! And ultimately, the side that is over-worked WILL COLLAPSE!!! It’s the Law of Limitation.

Of the many people I have helped with their knees and greater body, the vast majority have received ease of movement and pain in a relatively short space of time. By treatment, I am referring to the supplementation of specific elemental minerals and vegetable derived colloidal minerals, regularly practicing the healing techniques I have documented in the Tri-Breath™ book and most importantly, creating “a balanced breathing rhythm” using the Tri-Breath™ breathing and mind techniques to equally distribute your implosive and explosive force.

As the impact of unbalanced force lessens on each side, the need for the body to brace itself for every step will be recreated into…

“the body embracing every step”.

The Tri-Breath™ breathing and mind techniques are available on DVD, book and on-line download at www.vitalityplusaustralia.com. Or, for more information go to www.tri-breath.com. For regular health and fitness tips go to brettshealthblog.blogspot.com.

Stay strong,

Brett J. Hayes
Breath and Fitness Coach

Comment on this story.

Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest