LACEY (WA) Losing 10 lbs can result in 40 lbs of pressure removed off of your knees! If recent quarantines have led to increase in weight, this article may help. With the new year, learn how to create lasting change from the comfort of your own home! As we ring in the new year, I’m sure we really wish Covid-19 was a thing of the past. Unfortunately, it’s not and it has lead many towards becoming too sedentary. Over the past few months, we’ve seen increased reports of aches, pains, and weight change in all age demographics. With stress, staying home, and no gyms open, it’s understandable how a few extra pounds may have been added. However, with the new year upon us, it’s a perfect opportunity to take control of your health. This article will help those with a desire for real fat loss, improved blood lipids, more energy and less systemic inflammation! No, this is not some quick diet that will cause you to gain it all back in 6 months. As a health care provider, I am for a reasonable and lean proteins that promote overall health: stabilizing blood glucose, improving cholesterol’s, protecting from heart disease, and limiting systemic inflammation. In fact, our gut health is strongly correlated to our overall systemic inflammation. I don’t even want to call this plan a diet. Really, it is an 8-week program to turn you into a fat-burning machine! Can I get an AMEN? Learn how to burn more fat; ENJOY wonderful food; get on a… Read More

If you suffer from chronic knee pain, then booking a FREE screening might be the answer for you. A life where you can walk up and down the stairs without worrying when your knee is going to ‘give-out’, or the pain stop you in your tracks. A life where you can enjoy leisurely walks with friends and family and not worry if you’re going to make it or not, restricted by a knee so painful. One where you can pick up and play with your grandkids without worrying when your knee is going to stop you from getting back up. A life where you can do and enjoy all the things you see so many others doing and enjoying but your bad knee has kept you watching from the side-lines. …Basically, a life without the curse of knee pain. If you feel let down, disappointed, and even skeptical about what can be done to help you, then read on… My name is Jennifer Penrose, one of the nation’s leading knee pain specialists, and I have been helping people live with much less knee pain for more than a decade now – all across the country. What we know now… …is that so many people are confused by the advice they’ve previously been given, unsure about why it didn’t work out… perhaps even skeptical about their best chances of living with less knee pain in the future… and that’s why I decided to start offering 20 minute sessions to screen your knees – and decided to… Read More

A question I get asked a lot by clients and people who suffer with back pain is a really simple one: “When do I use ice and when do I use heat?” Rightly or wrongly, 9 out of 10 of my clients tend to favor heat–a nice hot water bottle, a soak in the bath, or one of those lavender scented wheat bags to try and ease their back pain. (I think a lot of people don’t like the idea of putting cold ice on their back, unless it’s really hot outside!) As you can appreciate, every concern and injury is different. Sometimes it’s ice to cool it down, or heat to help relax it. It can be very confusing! When to use ice  There’s one time in particular we say to use ice and that’s when something just happened and it’s very painful, likely hot and maybe swollen. This is an “acute” injury—”acute” meaning it just happened. For example, an ankle sprain or pulled muscle. When it comes to your back pain, the time to use ice is if your back has suddenly “gone” and you’re in a lot of pain, or you’ve overdone it and your back becomes very painful towards the end of the day. You see, your body is actually very clever. Let’s use an ankle sprain as an example. When you sprain your ankle, your body will immediately try and protect itself. This is why you get swelling and it becomes very… Read More

Do you work in an office based job? Or are you one of the thousands who are now working from home? As a result, do you find yourself struggling with neck, shoulder or back pain after sitting for long periods of time? Well there is a solution to create a more healthy and comfortable working environment for you, to not have to put up with annoying aches and pains. Let’s start at the bottom with your ankles… Research suggests your ankles should be supported via a foot rest keeping the ankle joints at just over a 90 degree angle. The same rule applies to your knees, keep them slightly at over 90 degree angles with at least 80- 90% of your thighs supported on your seat parallel to the floor. Basically, at all time your feet are planted firmly on the floor and you’re not sitting in a twisted position – which I know can be easy to do after sitting for hours without regular breaks! Your Lower Back Moving on to those troublesome lower backs… A lot of us are guilty of having poor sitting posture – slouching in our chairs at work. This creates extra unnecessary stresses through our spine and the soft tissues (muscles, tendons and ligaments) that support our spine and body! To avoid this extra stress it’s important to ensure that your butt is touching the back of the chair. So get your wiggle on and shuffle right to the back of your chair, don’t be worried if your feet… Read More

Quick question: How much water have you drank today? For most people, the answer would be “not enough”. From everything we drink and swim in, to the ice that reduces swelling, water is all around us (and even in us). As a matter of fact – it basically is us! Water makes up around two thirds of who we are, and influences every single process in our body. This probably explains why we feel a lot better when we drink enough of it (and the same can be said for back pain) Now, you might be aware of the many ‘tips and tricks’ that are out there on “how to avoid a bad back”, and “how to relieve pain” – but have you ever heard of drinking more water? My guess is you haven’t! I get that it might sound ‘too simple’ to make a difference, but dehydration really can be one of the culprits of back pain, and one of the reasons why it stays around for longer than it needs to. Let me explain… I know you already know that water affects every organ and cell in your body, but it also plays an enormous role in the health of your back and spine. In between each section of the spine (the vertebrae) lies a disc – these are mainly made up of water. During the day when we’re standing up, they slowly become dehydrated, then at night when we’re laying down, they rehydrate themselves again (so… Read More

During the pandemic we have been home a lot more and that means doing a lot more housework. You could be doing something as simple as taking the trash out, gardening, folding your laundry, or even changing the sheets when all of a sudden you feel a sharp pain in your back and you can hardly move… Sound familiar? Just a few weeks ago this happened to one of our patients, Ann, 57 from South Bay. She was making the most of a quiet weekend, and before she planned on relaxing, she decided to do get the cleaning done. Anne was fine to begin with, but as soon as she went to turn over her mattress she put her back out completely. At first the pain wasn’t so bad, but then a few hours later her back began to stiffen up. Like most people we see, at first she thought “It’s just a stiff back, I’ve probably got a bit carried away with the cleaning, it’s happened before.” But the next day the pain was still there, and it felt even worse! Anne’s back started to ache when she sat down, she struggled to find a comfortable position to fall asleep in, and she couldn’t even bring herself to stand without being in agony AND she had a weekend away planned. How was she going to get away with a back so painful? “That Only Happens To ‘Other People'” You might be thinking this won’t happen to you,… Read More

If you drive fairly long distances to and from work every day, if your job requires you to drive long hours, or if you’re the designated driver in your family – it’s likely you’ve experienced back pain. Around 30-60% of drivers report having back pain at some point in their life, and a lot of the people we see in the clinic come to us in pain as a result of spending 30 minutes or more on the road, almost daily! But why does something as simple as driving trigger off back pain when it’s not exactly strenuous? Driving for long periods of time exposes the body to many different forces such as acceleration, sudden stops, and most notably vibrations from the road – and it especially affects those who drive larger vehicles. Driving also involves the use of your feet to control the cars pedals which means they are not used to help stabilize and support your lower body as they normally would when sitting. It’s no wonder why a combination of these factors, as well as the inadequate design of some vehicle seats can cause back problems for many of us. Back pain can make driving unpleasant (in some cases, unbearable), so I put together a list of tips to help make your next journey as pain-free as possible. Here are 7 tips to help you: 1. Get Comfortable Before You Set Off –  A small irritation can quickly grow into an… Read More

If you or a loved one suffer from chronic knee pain, this article may be the most important thing you read. It may unlock the agonizing mystery of your knee pain and show you a way to get back to the life you deserve… A life where you can walk up and down the stairs without worrying when your knee is going to ‘give-out’, or the pain stop you in your tracks. A life where you can enjoy leisurely walks with friends and family and not worry if you’re going to make it or not, restricted by a knee so painful. One where you can pick up and play with your grandkids without worrying when your knee is going to stop you from getting back up. A life where you can do and enjoy all the things you see so many others doing and enjoying but your bad knee has kept you watching from the side-lines. …Basically, a life without the curse of knee pain. If you feel let down, disappointed, and even skeptical about what can be done to help you, then read on… Let Me Introduce Myself My name is Jennifer Penrose, one of the nation’s leading knee pain specialists, and I have been helping people live with much less knee pain for more than a decade now – all across the country. And what we know now is that so many people are confused by the advice they’ve previously been given. They’re unsure about why it didn’t work out. Perhaps even skeptical… Read More

Over the last 10 years… I’ve been working on a daily basis to help people aged 45+ find relief from chronic knee pain. What I can tell you is that the cocktail mix of more rest and more painkillers will do absolutely nothing. No matter what most doctors say! Because I’m growing increasingly frustrated with the number of people suffering unnecessarily that I’ve written a report that details the 7 things any person can do to relieve knee pain naturally. And I want to send you this report completely at no charge. This report is for the person who is suffering from the torment of daily, annoying, chronic knee pain. The type of “ache” and pain where you get so nauseated that you feel your only option is to stop what you’re doing completely. Or to reach for the pain medication drawer and wonder when it will stop. The thing is, all of those pain medications are not good for your stomach. Plus the long periods of rest you’ve been told about is not likely to be doing you much good either. What Can You Expect Now, I don’t know if these 7 things will relieve you of your knee pain completely. I can’t promise that what worked for my patients over the past 10 years, will work for you too. However, reading my free report is definitely better than spending another day “resting”. Better than “accepting it” thinking “it’s your age”. Or worse yet, masking it… Read More

So far in this series on knee pain, we’ve covered a lot of different topics. We’ve looked at the 3 things you could be doing that make knee pain worse, which included wearing the wrong shoes, sitting with your legs bent and taking it too easy. We then looked at the 3 ‘quick fixes’ people think will help knee pain, but don’t. (Painkillers, resting and wearing a support). Next it was looking at whether knee replacement surgery could be avoided, and how. And most recently, we looked at how to stop arthritis before it stops you. That’s a lot to cover in just 4 weeks, but we’ve still got more to cover. Knee pain is something that a lot of people struggle with at any time of year, but especially when in the warmer months, as people tend to be more active. Which leads me to this week’s article… This question was sent to me yesterday by a reader suffering with knee pain: “Jennifer, I’ve been suffering with on-off type knee pain now for more than a year. What I can’t put my finger on is when it started or why, and what’s more confusing is that my pain gets worse as the day goes on. But whenever I wake up, the pain is gone – or is considerably less. Yet by the end of another day, my knee aches, sometimes it feels hot and swollen and I’m often in considerable pain – especially if I’ve been out… Read More

Many people just like you are becoming victims of knee pain – sometimes arthritis. This is quickly becoming one of the most common things we see at Penrose Physical Therapy, and one of the areas that we treat the most too. But before I tell you why, have a look and see if this sounds familiar to you? There’s a familiar pattern that emerges with knee pain (before arthritis sets in). It starts with a few clicks of the knees, just here and there. But nothing painful, and you think nothing of it. Then as the years go on, some of those clicks become painful, and they start to ache a little bit more, commonly under the knee cap and inside of the knee. Walking around the stores for a few hours and they begin to feel sore. And getting back up again after sitting down watching your favorite TV show, you notice it takes a few steps for them to ‘get going’… And they become even WORSE in the cold weather. Does that sound familiar? I thought it might. So why does this happen, and why so more now than ever before? Well, let me share this with you; so many people are becoming victims of bad footwear trends. Footwear To Avoid For Day-To-Day, Long-Term Use Plimsolls and pump-style shoes are the top of that criminals list that I come across almost on a daily basis, but there are many more besides them, more commonly work now than… Read More

Most people think that when they get knee pain, it’ll eventually “ease off” and go away on its own. That they’ll wake up one morning and like “magic”, knee pain will be a thing of the past… But then 6 months later you’re still living with the discomfort of knee pain and worry about knee replacement. Another scenario we see all the time at Penrose Physical Therapy is when people go to their doctor, and the well-meaning doctor tells them to “rest”, “try these painkillers” and “come back in 6 weeks if it’s no better”… But then, 6 weeks later, they end up going back to the same doctor again because it hasn’t gotten any better, only to be given ANOTHER prescription of even stronger pills, maybe a knee support – or worse, told that the ONLY thing left to do, is to go down the route of knee replacement surgery. f The Stories I Hear… I hear worrying stories each week from people who have said yes to knee surgery – to find 6 months down the line, knee pain comes back. Knee pain after knee replacement surgery is a tricky topic. Most medical professionals will tell you that knee replacement surgery is the “solution” for anyone with arthritis and painful knees that have lasted for months. But the reality is, once the procedure is done it doesn’t guarantee you won’t have pain after knee replacement surgery. Which worries me! Especially when we’ve helped so many people like… Read More