Mobility
                                                                         Episode 2

In episode 1 we talked about shin pain and how to prevent and relive pain. We had a great response from the members, helping you all overcome those issues once and for all. Something so simple can help someone so much, which makes doing these blogs so rewarding.
In episode 2 we are looking into knee pain and how to resolve, prevent and optimise this area. I think we can all hold our hands up and say we’ve had some knee issues at some point. For some of you pain will come and go, for others the pain will stay. From my personal experience, I feel the pain lasts longer and increases in discomfort the longer I neglect it. My knee pain is now a thing of the past due to doing these 4 simple mobility techniques.

So what is mobility?
Mobility is a range of exercises, Stretches and techniques which resolve pain, prevent injury and optimise athletic performance.
When working with my clients at Pure Fitness, I try and get them to understand that the area of discomfort isn’t always the area committing the pain. I get them to focus in and around the target area. Relating to your knee, one of the structures around it will usually be tight or not working correctly, resulting in knee aggravation.
First of all, I want you to think about how your knees became painful. I want to identify if your injury is chronic or acute.
Chronic injuries can be also called overuse injuries. Like the name suggests, it is caused by overuse of particular part of your body either through sports or exercises. They develop slowly and last a long time.
Acute injury is a sudden injury that is usually associated with a traumatic event such as clashing into another player during sports or a fall from a bike. A traumatic impact can cause your bone to crack, muscles to tear or ligaments to snap.
If your injury is acute, I seriously advise you to see a Doctor or a Physiotherapist.
If your injury is Chronic, try and fit these 4 techniques into your daily routine.
In these 4 techniques we will be releasing built up tension in the surrounding tissues, eliminating the aggravated knee pain and restore suppleness to the tight tissues that cross your knee.

Flexion Gapping

Roll up a small gym towel and place behind your knee. Grab your shin and pull your heel towards your bum. Move your bum towards your heel, creating as much pressure as possible. Try keep your foot as straight as you can. After completing these stages, oscillate in and out of peak compression. You want to be doing this for 2/5 minutes or until the tension subsides.

Lacross Ball Gap and Smash (Inside Line)

Changing from the towel to the lacross ball/tennis ball is great. You can target specific trigger points and get full compression with your knee in flexion.
Place the ball behind your knee towards the inside. Grab your shin and pull your heel towards your bum. Move your bum towards your heel, creating as much pressure as possible. This creates a large amount of compression targeting your lower hamstring and upper calf. Still pulling on your shin, move your foot around in all directions. When moving your foot, try focus on finding any hot spots. If you find one, try holding your foot in that area for a longer time.
2/5 minutes

Lacross Ball Gap and Smash (Outside Line)

Place the ball behind your knee towards the outside. Grab your shin and pull your heel towards your bum. Move your bum towards your heel, creating as much pressure as possible. This creates a large amount of compression targeting your distal hamstring and upper calf. Still pulling on your shin, move your foot around in all directions.
2/5 minutes

Lacross Ball Suprapatellar Smash

Place the lacross ball in the area above your knee cap (suprapatellar pouch) and then apply pressure until the pain/tightness subsides. Take your time with this, slowly moving the position of the ball from centre to both the left and right side of the lower quad. By opening up the area right above your knee cap, you can effectively decrease the joint pain as well as resolve a lot of the knee dysfunction that can occur in the deeper ranges of flexion.
To add more pressure to this technique you can simple put the ball on the floor and lay on top, placing the ball in the same area. This will use your body weight to an advantage resulting in a higher level of compression.
2/5 minutes
Improvements
Squat and Pistol Squat Archetypes
Knee pain
Knee function
Calf/Hamstring/quad suppleness

This has been episode 2 of the mobility series. Focusing on knee pain and resolving those issues once and for all. For any more information, be sure to grab me for a chat in the gym. The majority of my research comes from Dr Kelly Starrett, the founder of mobiltyWOD and author of Becoming a Supple Leopard.
Reference – Becoming a Supple Leopard (The ultimate guide to resolving pain, preventing injury and optimising athletic performance) By Dr Kelly Starrett with Glen Cordoza