Simple Remedy for Hip or Knee Pain

Pain in hips or knees? 

Life is busy and demanding. It is really a drag to be keeping all those balls in the air while also hurting. 

Pelvic, hip or knee pain is fairly common. It is even more common in pregnancy.

It can vary person to person, but can be experienced as any of the following:

• pain in one or both hips

• pain in one or both knees

• pain in pubic bone, especially in pregnancy

• pain in outer aspect of hip and leg

  • either while standing or after lying on that hip in bed 

  • different from sciatic pain in glute and down back of leg

In many cases there is an easy explanation, and fix, to this bothersome discomfort.

My own experience…about 10 years back I had pain in my right knee for over a year. It was painful with bending and weight bearing. So, hiking up and down, walking up and down stairs, or doing squats in pump class were quite painful. 

I just figured getting older brought this kind of thing. I had a pretty healthy lifestyle so I really didn’t know what else to do, other than live with the pain. 

Mysteriously, the knee pain went away. But before long, the other knee started hurting. Same pattern. I lived with this for about a year and finally went searching for answers.

What I found was a simple leg lift exercise and stretch. I did this several times a day and within the first week, I had some improvement. 

What was curious about it was that a straight leg lift could be helping my knee. How could this be? I didn’t know, and at the time I didn’t care, because it was getting better.

What I learned completely relieved my knee pain, and has helped many women relieve their pelvic, hip and knee related pain over the years as well.

What is often the case with this kind of pain is that the psoas muscle has shortened and tightened. The psoas muscle is also known as the hip flexor muscle because it allows you to lift your leg by flexing at the hip. 

See the picture. When the psoas tightens, the hamstring (back of upper leg) tends to also tighten.

This happens if you begin to sit more than usual, especially if you aren’t walking regularly. Walking tends to stretch the psoas and hamstring muscles.

It is also common in runners because they flex hips and knees when they run. This allows shortening and tightening of the psoas and hamstring muscles. 

It doesn’t take a physical therapist to understand that this combination puts undo torque on the pelvis. This can result in a variety of pelvic, hip and/or knee pain. 

So, what to do?

For psoas strength:

Lie flat on the floor. Bend one knee so that foot is flat on floor. Raise the straight leg up to 90 degrees with foot flexed until a gentle stretch is felt in the hamstring (back of raised leg), and then lower to floor. 

Repeat this 15-20 times with each leg.

For psoas stretch:

Kneel on one knee w front leg at 90 degrees. Tuck your butt of the back leg and lean into the front leg enough to feel a good stretch into the thigh (of the leg with knee on floor). Keep head and chest up. 

Hold this stretch for at least 20-30 seconds on each leg.

Do this strength and stretch 2-3 times a day in the beginning to get faster relief, then once a day to maintain.

This strength and stretch is helpful for knee, hip, pelvis or outer leg “nerve” pain. 

It is important to do both the strength and stretch portions several times a day in order to derive benefit.

Click Here for a good visual of the muscle and a couple other exercises to accomplish the goal.

I’d love to help you figure out your pain or other health problem. Get in touch.