1 in 4 adults suffer from knee pain. Our kindergarten students can squat without limit and our fifth graders cannot. Sitting in school shortens the muscles and ligaments of our hips, thighs and knees.

This shortening and tightening can cause injury later as the inflexibility causes injury to the joints from improper mechanics. If your knees are bent all the time, in the long term, you will have trouble straightening your knees. In my book, “Got Knee Pain? Where is Your Tbia?” I mention the Cartesian monks, who pray on their knees 16 to 18 hours a day (Into Great Silence, a documentary by Philip Gröning). After a few years they cannot walk properly. They cannot straighten their knees. 

More than 20 years ago I had a 65-year-old morbidly obese woman come into my office with terribly swollen knees. She denied trauma, but they were very painful to touch. We wrapped her knees in ice for 20 minutes just to do the evaluation. She had significantly posterior tibias.  I asked if she had a history of falls; she said no. I asked her she had a history of motor vehicle accidents; she said no.  So asked her if she did any gardening or kneeling and she said she was a Catholic nun, and had been kneeling to pray daily since she was 16. I said, “I am not a theologian, but I’m pretty sure that this is not required. Can you do your praying seated instead of on your knees?”

After two weeks of adjustments along with this small change in behavior her legs and knees were normal. If you have knee pain, take a look at what you are doing on a daily basis to cause the injury. It seems like such a simple thing, but I constantly find that few people stop to think about it.