Preventing and Recovering From Knee Injuries — Theresa Larson and Anders Varner

Dr. Theresa Larson is co-creator of The Low Back Fix and Knee Fix, and founder of Movement Rx, a physical therapy and wellness company that offers support to wounded warriors and individuals with health and movement issues. She travels all over the world as a speaker for MobilityWOD and the CrossFit Movement & Mobility Trainer Course. She is a lululemon ambassador, and works with nonprofits including Team Red White & Blue, LinderKids.org, Resiliency Project, CrossRoads Adaptive Athlete Alliance, and the National Eating Disorder Association.

Anders Varner is the co-creator of The Low Back Fix and Knee Fix, and owner of Anders Varner Training located in San Diego, CA. Anders found the weight room at 13 and decided he would call it home for the rest of his life. A four- time CrossFit regional competitor and member of John Cena’s “One Ton Club,” Anders has trained with and coached high level athletes from the worlds of the NFL, WWE, and CrossFit. A true believer in self discovery, Anders finds his true passion in helping the everyday person live a pain free, empowered life through mindful movement. Anders Varner’s approach has helped transform the lives of stroke victims, pre and postpartum moms, extreme weight loss clientele, and individuals recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.

Knees

Our knees are the biggest joints in our bodies, and they are super important because they provide stability. Knee pain and injuries are usually a result of bad habits associated with foot, ankle and hip movement. In this episode, we cover knee problem symptoms such as sciatica, knee clicking, behind the knee pain, knee overextension, and more.

“You can never go wrong with building more stability or balance in the joints.” — Dr. Theresa Larson

Key Takeaways

Don’t sit for too long — When you sit down, you’re not activating your glutes, which results in weak glutes, which leads to bad mechanics. Squeezing your glutes while sitting is possible, but it’s not comfortable or intuitive, and strong glutes are important for good movement mechanics. If your day consists of a lot of sitting time, make sure you’re stand up often and go on walks.
You need good form even when you are walking — Walking with your feet turned out (a.k.a. duck footing), causes bad hip and knee positions and movement. Even worse, running with bad form, such as heel striking, causes even harsher damage on the body.
Don’t wear cushy shoes — Shoes with thick, cushy soles are not good for your health. Ideally, wear minimal, flat shoes, so you can use your foot and leg muscles correctly.
Don’t wear heels too often — If you are a woman who wears heels often, (for example: to work), make sure you are switching to flat often. Spending a lot of time in heels, causes unwanted toe dominance and bad ankle flexion mobility, which means you won’t be able to squat well.
Slow down your training — Have you ever done a 90 second squat? Yup, 90 seconds. Slow down your training to focus on stability, that will help with your longevity.

“The gym doesn’t need to be this place where we go kick our own ass, every single day, as hard as we possibly can. We can create this balance in our life, where some days we slow down a little bit, some days we are going to lift and try to PR.” — Anders Varner