Hi there…

Welcome back.

Today lets talk balance.

Not just the ability to stand on one leg or walk a straight line heel to toe.

We must consider balance systemically.

In other words, the body as a whole.

Balance means a state of equilibrium or an equal distribution.

When we consider the possibility that knee pain can be a complex issue that may have it’s origins in imbalance, we can then begin the recovery process.

First by stretching the muscles and connective tissue that may be tight, which in itself, is one kind of imbalance. Then we can get the weaker muscles stronger, a second kind of balancing act.

My experience with many different knee pain clients with many different knee pain symptoms and conditions has showed that just by simply stretching all the muscles around the knee joint and attacking the chronically weak muscles of the hips, core, upper and lower legs with strength exercises, most, if not all, knee pain symptoms are vastly improved if not eliminated.

Now, don’t get me wrong, every knee pain issue is unique to it’s owner.  Yet, this system of progressive stretching and strengthening seems to prove the most overall benefit with the least amount of harm.

One other thing before moving on.

Stretching and strengthening shouldn’t be limited to only the areas directly surrounding the knee.  A complete, well rounded stretching and strengthening program is always the most beneficial approach.  This is what you’ll find with the LoseTheKneePain program.

Total body care and maintenance.

You never know what may be just on the edge of breakdown.

Think of it as one of those 30 point inspections repair shops offer for your vehicle.

It’s much less costly to catch something and attend to it before it becomes an outright problem.

Back to the knees.

Start your flexibility program by stretching the hamstrings, glutes, quads, hip flexors and calves.

Download your free LoseTheKneePain video for a complete demonstration on each of these stretches.

Next, strengthen the interior muscles of the quad, the hamstrings, hip rotators and glutes.

One simple exercise you can perform is a body weight leg extension for the interior quad.

Lie on your back with both feet flat on the floor just below your knees.

Start with the leg that has the least knee discomfort or pain.

Keeping both knees at the same height, extend that knee until the leg is straight and at the same height as the resting knee.

Turn the foot of the extended leg outward.  If it’s your right leg that’s extended, turn the foot to the 1:00 o’clock position.

Hold that position for as long as possible, working toward one minute.

Switch and repeat the same exercise for the opposite leg.

Even if you only have pain in one knee, be sure to perform the exercise on both legs.

We don’t want to create another imbalance by ignoring one side of the body.

Perform this exercise working toward 5 sets of 1:00 holds on each leg at least four times per week.

Hope this helps.

Remember, knowing what to do and actually doing it is the difference between remaining where you are or making possible progress.

Let me know if this helps by leaving a comment in the comment’s section below.

Talk to you next time.

Get strong and stay strong,

Rochelle Gravance

Hi there,

Welcome back to another issue of LoseTheKneePain.

I’ve been finding it very interesting lately that some of my veteran knee pain clients are coming to new awareness.

This new awareness isn’t necessarily because I’ve introduced new exercises or workout programs.

It doesn’t even seem to be a matter of them putting more effort into their workouts.

This new awareness, by my experienced eyes and listening to their stories, seems to be a “shift in awareness”.

What do I mean by a shift in awareness?

Simply stated, it seems that one can now set aside preconceived ideas and notions about their actions and truly feel what is happening and how it’s happening.

An example of this is the client that has been struggling with a particular exercise or movement for a given period of time.  It’s as if no matter what they do or how hard they try, they just can’t seem to get it.

The more effort they put into it, the more frustrated they become each time they fail.

It soon becomes the unattainable in their mind.

Why is this?

Well, it’s my philosophy that the struggle is in the mind and not in the body, in this particular scenario.

Example:

I have this client that used to pump out sub par push ups, one right after the other.

My concern here is that undesirable push up form will lead to compensatory movement patterns and potential for injury.

Once we put the focus on achieving ideal push up form, this client was unable to perform even one proper push up.

This was the basis for much frustration.

The more we practiced the ideal push up, the more ingrained the idea of failure became.

You see, this person remembered that they used to perform several push ups which, in this person’s mind, was success.

Now, even one ideal push up was unattainable.

First you must know that I pride myself in explaining the movements of the body and how to perform these movements correctly very well.  Cuing proper form is critical to help clients understand the principles and objectives they are attempting to recreate.

So, it’s definitely not a matter of neglect or willingness to learn and express ones self on the part of myself or the client.

Here’s what I see happening:

The shift of awareness is the product of placing attention on the details that will make a difference and shutting down the negative thinking and self talk.

You see, this person kept reinforcing the negative thinking that they can’t do a perfect push up.  And, with every attempt, they proved themselves correct.

Fruitless efforts like these can weigh heavy on the spirit.

Once I was able to present the movement of the push up in words the client’s mind was willing to hear, miraculously the client was able to perform a few push ups with ideal form.

Really, it’s not so miraculous.  Except in this client’s non believing mind, it was.  So be it.

Talk about a change in momentum and energy.

And with every new attempt, additional awareness was gained.  Soon the push up became better and better and more and more push ups were achieved with each attempt.

It was quite a thrill to listen to the client enthusiastically explain every little thing they learned with each new attempt.

In this particular case, once the client stopped thinking about the push part of the push up and focused on keeping the anterior core tight, glutes braced and shoulders packed (all things you’ll learn by following the LoseTheKneePain workouts), the push part just happened.

As strength was gained because of the proper positioning now practiced, more push ups were achieved.

AND, the client absolutely loved the feeling of doing push ups.  Even more than before.

There is much to learn here about persistency.

First, I didn’t give up on the efforts and struggles of the client.  I kept finding new ways to explain exactly what needed to be done for the client to achieve success.

Next, the client never gave up trying.

Even though each failed experience was painful to the ego, perseverance and persistency paid high dividends in the end.

The fact that you have that pain in the knee and have tried many different avenues to cure it doesn’t mean you won’t eventually find a way to make it better or beat it.

You just have to keep an open mind and pay attention to details.

I promise I’ll never give up on you.

And, I’ll never give up researching and finding new ways to help you recover from knee pain.

So keep the focus and shut down the negative self talk.

You can do this.

We’ll do it together.

Until next time…

Get strong and stay strong,

Rochelle Gravance

PS- If you have come to some new awareness that has helped you achieve something you thought not possible, leave your inspirational story in the comments section below.  And, thanks.

Welcome to today’s post.

So how are the resolutions coming?

By now you should be 8-10 pounds lighter if you’re goal was to drop unnecessary body fat to cure that chronic knee pain and get healthier.

Are you?

Have you implemented the proper system to get the weight off for good and finally feel that much needed knee pain relief?

We are already approaching the time of year when you’re more likely to see blowing dust and tumbleweeds across the expanses of the local gyms than all the resolutioners that started the year off with a bang.

December is known as the time of year for giving and late January seems to be the time of year for giving up.

If you are frustrated with your attempt at resolving your health and weight loss goals, know that you aren’t the only tumbleweed being tossed about by the January winds.  If a proper plan isn’t in place with the appropriate steps to elicit and track progress, the inner “You” says thanks, but it’s not worth it.

Lets take a look at some potential pitfalls and how we can avoid the eminent sabotage they can instigate.

1. Cutting calories too much.  Remember that you are not trying to starve the body.  It’s only necessary to reduce calorie intake by approximately 200 calories below your basal metabolic rate.  It’s important to maintain a rich metabolism and reducing calories exponentially will backfire on your weight loss goals.  Use www.fitday.com to track your food intake and caloric consumption.

2. Consuming so called “diet food”.  If your diet isn’t made up primarily of organic fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grass fed/wild protein sources, you’ll continue to fight the war on fat reduction.  Diet food is the food industry’s way of selling you a diet version of the inferior boxed product original that’s not worth the box it came in.  Get back to basics and stick to what works.

3. Portion control.  How much of that are you eating?  If you’re not measuring it, you don’t know.  Underestimation of caloric intake is one of the biggest pitfalls that will quickly sabotage your resolutions.  Measure the foods you eat regularly for 3-5 weeks until you get used to “realistically eyeing” portions.

4. Fixing the diet with more exercise.  I’ll say it once, twice, a thousand times-you cannot out exercise a poor diet.  The average person cannot compensate for a poor diet by exercising the calories away.  Eat well, very well, move your body in non-mechanistic fashion and you’ll be healthier and leaner for it.  And yes, most likely you are average the average person we‘re speaking of.

5. Putting too many eggs in the cardio basket.  If you want one of the best forms of cardio for weight management, walk…everywhere…a lot.  If you want to condition your cardiovascular system and lose body fat in the process with a time efficient workout, implement interval training several times per week.  If you want to maximize the health of your entire system, program body weight training several times into each week.  Better yet, do all three.  Cardio is far from the be all end all fat loss/health solution.

OK, time to regroup with all the suggestions.  If you continue to bail on every attempt at getting healthy, you’ll find the long run a lot harder than putting effort in the here and now.

If you want one of the best home remedies for knee pain, drop the excess body fat you’re carrying and follow the LoseTheKneePain exercise program for healthier knees and a fitter you.

One more thing:

If it isn’t working, don’t beat the dead horse.  What you’re doing really isn’t working and you must make adjustments.

If you are unsure of where to go next, leave me your questions and comments below and I’ll personally answer every one of them.

Get strong and stay strong,

Rochelle Gravance

It’s a very special day so a very special welcome to you.

It’s a new beginning here at LoseTheKneePain.com.

This is the start of my new year.

It’s my birthday today.

And because it’s my birthday, I want to share with you a list of “to dos” that I have planned for my next trip around the sun.

By design, it’s my hope that you will be inspired and make your own list of things to accomplish before the next celebration of your birth.

Here we go:

1. Pursue and publish a ton of valuable information to help you overcome and conquer knee pain for good.  Being a knee injury and former knee pain sufferer myself, I know how much pain and discomfort can effect one’s life.  I’ll be working very hard in the next twelve months and beyond to bring you all the information and programs you’ll ever need to be pain free in 2010.
2. Spend more time with the people that are most important to me.  I’m not the type to look back and wish I’d done something.  And I don’t want to start now.  Spending time with the people you love is essentially the essence of life.
3. Educate myself.  I love learning.  Learning the new and rethinking the old.  I’ll be searching out the greatest teachers of body movement and using the information and knowledge I gain to build and design new programs to help you live better.
4. More public speaking.  I look forward to speaking to bigger audiences this year about the benefits of staying fit and moving the body so that chronic injuries and knee pain are no longer a fact of life but merely occasional accidents that can be overcome and dealt with successfully.
5. Traveling.  Seeing new places and being in culturally rich environments inspires me to get out of old habit and make changes that will affect me in ways that promote growth.  I hate the feeling of stagnation.  Even though change can be uncomfortable, it’s also exciting and necessary in the evolutionary process of seeing one’s self with open eyes through the expansion of awareness and possibility.

This is only a partial list that I’ll keep adding to as inspiration creates new desires.  I’d love for you to be along with me for the ride.

I have no doubt that I can help you overcome the setbacks that injury and pain can render on your life just like I’ve helped many others before.

Thanks for being here and keep checking in every week for all the tips and advice from someone who knows and understands your frustrations with knee pain.

It’s a time for celebration.

New beginnings are here and on the horizon ahead….

Get strong and stay strong,

Rochelle Gravance

Welcome back.

How are you today?

How’s the knee feeling?

Are you seeing progress?

Is the knee pain beginning to affect your mood and outlook on life?

If it is, you’re not alone.

Pain of any kind can weigh heavy on the heart and spirit.  You can begin to feel you may be doomed to a life of pain and struggle.

Physical pain can often be accompanied by mental distress.  And this is serious business.

Often, you have to change how you move about the world, both literally and figuratively.

This can lead to feelings of inadequacy.

Maybe you are forced to change your daily routine because it takes you longer to prepare for your day.

The knee pain can be enough to keep you from enjoying the activities you used to engage in for fear of re-injuring your knee.

If you now need help to do the things that once came easy, you may be left  feeling emotionally and physically dependent on others.

All of these experiences can lead to feelings of depression, especially if you valued your physical abilities.

The one thing I know is that as tough as it is, you can’t give up.

You must have emotional support from your family and friends.

You must talk about how you feel and let it out.  Holding it in only adds weight to your spirit.

You have options.

One of the best ways to help your emotional state of mind is to actively pursue ways to heal the pain and discomfort.

Pursue every option and exhaust all potential treatments.

Start with the ones that are less extreme and can pay higher dividends.

Try this for starters:

• Discuss all potential options with your doctor.

• Then read, research and educate yourself on what you can do that may bring relief.

• Never do anything that causes further damage.

• Be realistic with your expectations.

• Look for any kind of progress and validate it.

• Congratulate yourself often for taking a proactive approach.

• Stay physically active, even when you feel down in the dumps.  It is a widely accepted theory that the endorphins released through physical activity can help relieve both physical and emotional pain.

• Get stronger and more flexible.  When you keep the muscles that support the joint strong and flexible, you’re providing a tremendous relief to the joint.  This can ease and/or eliminate pain and discomfort.  And, what a relief that is on your emotions and outlook on life.

• Lose weight.  If you’re overweight, this leads to more joint pressure and subsequent pain.  Give yourself and your joints a break by losing excess body fat.  You’ll look better and feel better about yourself.

Listen, I know it hurts.  I’ve been there.  Just remember you have options.  And, you’ll probably never exhaust all of them in your lifetime.

So take it one day at a time as you pursue each of your options.

Being passive is a sure way to remain in pain.  This injury is nothing personal.  It was an accident.  That’s all, nothing else.

Now you must do what it takes to keep living.  And not just existing, but really living.

Do me and you a favor and tell me about your story.  It’ll help to get it out.

You have friends here that understand.

I’ll read and reply to all your stories in the comments section.

Hang in there.

I’ll be here when you need help.

Get strong and stay strong,

Rochelle Gravance