Chain, Chain, Chain…
January 3, 2008
My wife and I went on a Christmas cruise through the Caribbean, in lieu of the usual way of celebrating the Holidays.
Lots of folks were moaning about their painful knees during the manditory life boat drill at the start of the trip, including my wife.
I recommended the wall chair exercise to her as a way of building a foundation of ligament and muscle strength, without any risk of injury. The nice thing about isometrics or static exercises like this is that ANYONE can do these. Even if you’re a champion couch potato, even if you’re “circus fat,” or have back, or joint pain–anyone can do these. (See the pictures of this and other excellent exercises in my PAIN-FREE PROGRAM by going to http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html)
After the drill, everyone couldn’t wait to jetison the life jackets, and the large majority of people waited for the elevators to return to
their staterooms. I took a walk over to the very well appointed gym and spa on the ship. A number of hardcore joggers were already on the
treadmills and stepper machines, arranged in rows, with a view of the ocean over the bow of the ship. There were also a number of middle aged Boomers, hard at work on nautilus-type machines, presumably getting workouts in before the non-stop foodfest that is a cruise vacation.
I saw one guy cranking out full arc repetitions, with heavy weight resistance, on a knee extension machine. The padded bumper was just above his ankle and the load was applied, therefore, below the patella. He looked like he was in pain, and probably was.
You see, these knee extension machines are a prime example of an “open chain” type of exercise, which is largely non-physiologic. That means that it isn’t functioning the way the body is supposed to. By contrast, a “closed chain” exercise is one in which the foot is flat on the ground (or on the platform of a leg press machine). This type of exercise IS physiological, in that it loads the kneecap from above, the way it is supposed to be loaded.
This is not to say that these open chain exercises don’t have some value–they do. But they have to be used judiciously, bearing in mind that the same resistance applied from above or below the patella actually affects a different part of the articular cartilage. This is especially important if you have chondromalacia patellae (softening of the kneecap cartilage) or arthritis. You can learn more about these and other diseases in my LITTLE GREEN BOOK http:drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html/.
The key to using the extension machine to your advantage is to do short arcs with heavy weight, or full arcs at high speed, with light weight.
DON’T DO FULL ARCS WITH HEAVY WEIGHT, if you have kneecap problems. More next time. All the best, my friends….
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,
Dr. Bill
