Musing About 'Healthy Joints for Life'

"Knee Pain" left a link in the comments to what looks like (maybe?) a relatively new venture by Doug Kelsey and Laurie Kertz Kelly called "Healthy Joints for Life Institute." She said she attended their informational webinar about an online course being offered and it looks quite good.

Their program is touted as a "joint-first approach," and I can't think of anything better (or more appropriate) for someone suffering from knee pain.

So I started thinking today about how I "met" Doug Kelsey online. "Met" isn't exactly the right word, because during my entire recovery, he had no idea who I was, or that I even existed.

But I knew a lot about him, and what he believed. I can't recall when I first stumbled upon his blog. I'm sure you all know the feeling: you're online, desperately seeking something, anything, that could possibly be a solution for the knee pain that is making your life hellish.

It can be hard to remember exactly when you found a certain research paper, or website that struck you as interesting. If you're anything like I was, you're probably spending hours Googling various search terms and jumping all over the internet.

What I remember about Kelsey though was his optimism, first and foremost. Everyone else, it seemed, was much gloomier about beating knee pain. Bad knees just don't heal was the message. And Kelsey said, in so many words, "Don't believe that crap."

His exercises were different too. I remember being impressed by this concept of using exercise machines that "unloaded" your joint. It made a lot of sense to me. If your knee can't handle daily stresses, if it can't handle exercises like deep knee bends with your full weight being supported, what if that weight were lessened?

What if you could be on the moon, all bouncy and light, without gravity dragging you down so much, and putting so much pressure on your knees?

So his optimism definitely drew me in, but it was the message that convinced me to stick around. He had a lot of good ideas. One of his good ideas (that had nothing to do with knee joints) allowed me to recover from a bad bout of tendinitis that was so severe that on the weekend I got married, back in 2008, I couldn't even sketch lightly using a charcoal pencil without feeling pain. I was a mess.

Today, everything's great (knock on wood; life can change). In recovering from knee pain, I don't like to give advice, partly because I'm not really qualified. But if I were you (knee pain sufferer who is reading this), I would want to work with a physical therapist who believes what Doug Kelsey believes. I think that's the best anyone can do.

Cheers, and hope all are having a good start to the new year!