Treat Your Own Knee

Love this series. I have used this book and the one for neck problems. Very helpful. I recommend.

I happened upon a video of Yoav Suprun, a PT in Miami, and he showed how I could bend my knees without pain in order to get back funcion and reduce pain. Had I not seen that, I wouldn't have bought this book. I got steroid shots in both knees and had 8 weeks of PT, and faithfully did my PT homework every day. M knees were still painful, swollen, and restricted my motion and ruined my days and nights. You need to read the whole book of aroung 70 pages and understand the ideas behind the exercises and stretches. I followed the instructions and made more progress than the steroid shots and PT I had been doing. One knee seems completely healed, the other about 80-90%. I'm going to keep doing this program of stretching and strengthening three times a day until I'm back to "normal" and I fully expect that to happen. I wouldn't have believed this simple program would work had I not done it myself. Robin McKenzie wrote a series of self help physical therapy books and I now have this, the shoulder, and the neck books. I'm 70 years old and plan on staying active with the help of this knowledge.

I have had knee issues off and on for years. The exercises in this book WORK!

I guess I am a fan, because I have several of the McKenzie books. But I have been going to PT with McKenzie trained therapists. I like having the books for reference, and figure I will use them after I finish with therapy. I like the McKenzie approach, as it overlooks a lot of the noise that you get in the regular medical community and doesn't just give you a bunch of exercises to do without explaining why and how this affects your functioning. McKenzie therapists also teach you how to deal with your issues after you are done with therapy, which is soooo much better than most medical interventions. Does it work for everyone? Probably not. It is helping me, 71 yo and overweight, get my knee pain (torn meniscus 12 years ago) under control so that I can walk better. But imo, the book is best used in conjunction with a real McKenzie trained therapist.

The McKenzie Method works!

About four years ago I had a problem with knee pain, and was referred to a physical therapist who diagnosed the problem as tight hamstrings. I was instructed to do a stretch called a “quad set” in which one straightens the leg, then presses down hard on the knee and holds for about a minute. While this stretch gave temporary relief, the pain would return several hours later. I was advised to repeat the stretch when the pain returned. After several years of reduced activity due to the knee pain, I bought McKenzie's book. Instead of the quad set, I followed McKenzie's recommendation of a gradual stretch with a bent knee. After several months, the pain has stopped. My health insurance was billed over $300 for each of the sessions with the therapist, quite expensive compared to the cost of this book.The book also discusses changes in daily activities such as sitting and sleeping to reduces stress on the knee. If you have knee pain, you should read this book.

Before I had knee surgery, this book was the best thing I ever bought. After knee surgery, this book was an absolute awesome reference. The exercises that I did from this book enabled me to get my knee strong before surgery. It also help aleviate the knee pain. Because my knee was strong, I recouperated faster than lots of other patients.My advice: If you need knee surgery, do what you can to get your leg strong and your stamina. After surgery, DO NOT let anyone do anything for you unless it involves heavy lifting. As a person who was by herself a lot, it enabled me to recoup faster also. My at-home PT therapists could not believe how fast I progressed.Good luck and this is worth it!

This book is great if your knee pain is relatively new and you are not at the stage where surgery is required. If you require surgery, this will NOT prevent it.