Alright, you’re going to sigh at this, but we’re going to talk today about something that you really knee-d, your knees. Oh yes, Dad jokes are never off the table, including in this email newsletter. You’re so welcome!
But that’s a great segway into one of the most important parts of our body, the beautiful mechanism that allows us to walk with a loved one, to sit and enjoy dinner, to kneel with kiddos, and many, many other things.
Now, as many of you may know, your knees weather many storms throughout your life and really take on the brunt of wear and tear from sports, health ailments, and beyond. Knees tend to get so much use that people need to have them repaired or replaced through surgery within their lifetime. My hope here is to prevent that for as many of you as possible.
Before we drop into what this all looks like with light therapy, here are some fun facts that might surprise you.
These are referenced from Article 1.
It’s one of the most stressed joints in your body. Your knees receive 5 times the amount of stress and impact for every pound that you weigh. Crazy!
Everyone has unique kneecaps - these can also be used as biometrics.
Knees are the most complicated joint in the body - “The joint is composed of the thigh bone, knee cap, and the top section of the shin bone. All of it is held in place by tendons and ligaments — and in between all of it, there’s cartilage.” There is a lot going on in there! In fact your knees need 10 muscles to function.
Babies are born without kneecaps - when you are born you have cartilage in your knee joints. Bones begin to form between the ages of two and six. I always wondered how kids were so resilient and flexible!
So what often causes our knees to stop working?
When your knees let you know that something is wrong (pain) but we ignore the pain. Whenever this happens, with knees and with other parts of your body, you want to pay attention to when the pain keeps you from doing what you normally do. Then you need to seek out a professional.
Being overweight or obese. Just like we noted in the fun facts above, every extra pound of weight that your body has results in 5 x the impact on your knee (in this case five pounds of force for every one pound) and this extra load really wears on your body.
Not stretching or caring for your ACL & muscle groups around the kneecap. “One of the most commonly injured ligaments in the knee, the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is responsible for about 150,000 injuries in the U.S. every year.“ (Article 2.) Women are especially susceptible to this.
Wearing improper shoes. Wearing shoes that are worn out, poorly fitted, or that don’t offer the support that your feet need, this increases wear and tear as well as pressure on your knees in an imbalanced way that can cause long term damage.
Care for Your Knees
Keep your knees healthy with exercise:
Going on long walks, using the stairs, or playing sports and using new methods are all great forms to promote knee health. Exercising in this way allows your kneecap, the muscles, tendons, etc to all stay engaged. When there are long periods of inactivity, it can cause soft tissue to become tight and weak which can lead to irritation in the cartilage and breakdown. (Article 1.)
Warm up & stretch to maintain your knees:
Make sure you take time to warm up with gentle exercises before any type of physical activity. This allows your body to naturally drop into the rhythm and movement before your body experiences more stress and helps prevent injuries. This will improve your health and performance overall. (Article 1.)
Take time to recover after your workout with stretching to allow for tight muscles to loosen and allow proper flow of blood to the areas that need repair.
And of course! How can Light Therapy help with healing your knees?
As with so many of the natural processes within your body, you want to compliment them and help your body naturally regulate itself with light therapy. For your knees, light therapy really helps by reducing inflammation in and around your kneecap. Utilizing the red light wavelengths within light therapy treats inflammation, wounds and pain by increasing blood flow to your whole body, especially your knees. This reduces pressure on the sensitive ligaments and tendons around your knees as well.
Finally, the blue, red and infrared lights all work together to actively increase circulation so your body can regulate and care for itself during a session when your body interacts with the different wavelengths of light. During this time light therapy helps your body devote energy to circulation, ATP production, and cellular healing which impacts your knees and reduces the impact that has been placed upon them!
If you think your knees may need some extra love and care in the face of your many summertime adventures, then I would love to talk with you about how light therapy can help. You can reach me at (720) 219-2990 anytime!
With Love,
~Lisa Chadsey
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If you want to learn more about Light Therapy & my Light Therapy work, you can follow me with the links below, or email me at Lisa@lightmattersinfo.com - thank you for reading!
Here are the articles referenced above:
Article 1. https://orthotoc.com/facts-about-your-knees/
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