Customer Reviews

Treat Your Own Knees: Simple Exercises to Build Strength, Flexibility, Responsiveness and Endurance

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This remarkable little book may change the way you think about knee pain. Instead of focusing on pain symptoms and where they originate, the author focuses on what your knee does - and how to improve those functions with simple exercises. The only anatomy lesson you need is to know where your quadriceps and hamstring muscles are - front and rear of your thigh respectively.

He identifies four functions in your knee: strength, flexibility, proprioception/balance, and endurance. If you have unexplainable knee pain, you probably just need to improve your knee function in one or more of the four functional areas. The author suggests simple exercises in each functional category.

To develop strength, the single most important muscles to develop are your quadriceps. There are many exercises you can do to strengthen your quads. The author suggests a very simple floor exercise.

To develop flexibility, the author suggests a quad and a hamstring stretch. The exercises he suggests can be done standing or on the floor.

Proprioception might be a strange word to you. It was to me. It is probably best described as a combination of coordination and balance. Can you accurately sense what your knee is doing? Does it react appropriately to changes as you move? This is what proprioception is all about. The simple and interesting exercise the author suggests to improve proprioception is simply to stand on one leg for 30 seconds. Then switch legs. (It's ok to have a wall or chair to help catch you if you start to fall.) You might find this exercise easy to master. If so, the author suggests doing the exercise with your eyes closed. This may require considerable practice!

The author suggests that you can build endurance simply by walking or stationary bicycling.

And that's the entire program for treating your knee pain. Some readers may feel letdown or short-changed. What about all the anatomy lessons other practitioners give you? What about issues relating to your tendons, ligaments, bones, and cartilage? What is the theory behind this skimpy program?

Chapter 6 gives you the surprising answers to these questions. The author reviews many scientific studies on knee pain. The studies (based on X ray or MRI testing) show that the existence and/or severity of knee pain/disability have little correlation to the amount of knee deterioration. Many people with severe knee deterioration reported no pain, and some had their symptoms decline over time. The factors most closely linked to knee pain/disability were muscle strength, obesity, age, and psychological health. The author is a physical therapist and not a dietician, gerontologist, or psychologist. His knee program does as much for your knee as science suggests physical therapy can do.

The author recognizes that surgery and medications seem to help a lot of people, but the available research suggests that most people will benefit from the low-tech solutions he offers.

I have had 16 years of knee pain originally brought on from a heavy knock to the knee and then exasperated by basketball and a lack of knowledge of how to solve the problem. This book helped almost immediately, with excellent detail and practical activities to treat the various aspects of knee health. I have had some great physiotherapists but even the best of them couldn't explain the detail in easy to understand terms like this book did. Furthermore, the practical activities can be implemented quickly into your daily routine. It may be the best ten dollars you ever spend if you have knee pain, just because it should limit your the time you spend waiting in a physiotherapists office.

This book doesn't waste your time - it just reports what research says has been effective and then lays out a simple routine of exercises you can do at home, with extensions if you want to go further. I've had good results from following basically the same routine he suggests - it's given me back hope that fifty-year-old knees can survive a running program after all, and it's helped me avoid surgery which probably wasn't needed. It also cut through a lot of conflicting and confusing diagnoses and went straight to advice on how to avoid pain - who cares about the exact cause if it goes away?

After reading the reviews and suffering from knee pain, I decided to buy this book. My expectations were pretty high since all of the reviews were glowing. Perhaps that's where I went wrong.

I was expecting a series of ailments and exercises to help alleviate them. Instead you get one strengthening exercise, a few stretches, one prioperception exercise and a recommendation for some endurance exercise. All of this could have fit onto a single sheet of paper.

Sure the discussion of the studies is interesting but it really doesn't help me treat my knees. By taking the step of buying the book, I already had commited to wanting better knees and the author didn't need to convince me to do exercises or stretch.

All in all, it was a quick read and at ~$10, was less than most people pay for a co-pay. I'd recommend it if you want some general information about knee health and studies but not if you are looking for rehab exercises to get better knees.

This book is excellent. It is an easy read and full of useful information. I recently had knee surgery on "torn up" meniscus and found this book to be very helpful as a follow up to my therapy. I urge anyone who wants to "save their knees" to get this book. As the saying goes "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!"

The author presents a stategy to deal with knee pain by focusing on the function of the knee. He bases his treatment suggestions on research-based evidence that these interventions have been shown to be effective. The book is written in language the lay person can understand and the exercises are clearly illustrated and instructions are simple to follow, This is a must read for any person suffering from knee pain!

Besides being an easy read, I found this book to be a common sense approach to the care of your knees. With disability in both of my knees, I found the author's approach very beneficial and would highly recommend this book to anyone with knee problems.

I just had ACL replacement surgery and this book is a great resource and tool. This book tells you what you need to know in order to put together a basic workout routine to strengthen your knee no matter what your issue is. This book explains to you what Physical Therapists won't take the time to explain and allows you to ask intelligent questions of your therapist and surgeon. Note, this book was what turned me on to massage techniques which have sped my recovery immensely. Most insurance plans won't cover massage, and physical therapists and surgeons don't recommend it unless you ask. If you get no other books about knee recovery, get this one!!

I've never written an Amazon review before, but this little book impressed me so much that other readers should share its benefits.

I damaged my knee in a motorcycle accident and had recurring pain for two years. A string of hospitals, therapists and acupuncturists were all unable to diagnose, never mind treat, the problem.

Enter Jim Johnson Stage Right>>>

6 weeks after doing only part of the exercises, my knee has stopped locking up and I don't feel any discomfort after playing soccer.

In short: I can't recommend this book highly enough. Well done Mr. Johnson and your team.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has suffered with knee pain. I have problems with both knees and in the past had tried physical therapy. The exercises prescribed by the therapists actually aggravated the problem so I stopped doing them. This book is extremely informative and explains the need for stretching your muscles (something I never did before )as well as doing simple isometric exercises (I was told to do leg lifts which made the knee pain worse). Plus you can do them at your own pace without someone standing over your shoulder pushing you to do more when or if you're not ready. Buy this book and follow what he suggests; you won't be sorry!