Question
QUESTION: Hi, Gary.

I am 60 years old, 5'8", 130 lbs. Both my knees are "crunchy". I haven't been able to bend my knees completely for years. Sitting on my heels is impossible. A doctor recently told me that my knees are so bad that I will eventually need bilateral knee replacements.

Aside from keeping my weight down, is there anything I can do to preserve my degenerating knees? Should I work to increase my range of motion by forcing my knee to bend more, or would that cause more damage.

I can do straight knee exercises, but anything with a bent knee (squats, lunges) is out for me.

Many thanks,
Delia

ANSWER: Hello Delia,

Sorry to hear about the knees.  The good news is that I do think I can help you.

It sounds like you have A LOT of really tight soft-tissue compressing and compromising your knee joints.
The good news is that you can release that tight tissue and give you knee joints more room to function.

Here is my free do it yourself Knee Joint Pain Relief page,
http://www.do-it-yourself-joint-pain-relief.com/knee-joint-pain-relief.html
Follow along with the videos, maybe even have a friend work on the areas the way I show
you if you have a hard time with some spots.

Here is my Chondromalacia Knee Pain page as well.  It's a lot of the same techniques,
but I say things a bit differently sometimes, so might be worth a look.
http://www.do-it-yourself-joint-pain-relief.com/exercises-for-chondromalacia-pat
I think you just have a lot of tight tissue that needs to be released.  You can do it!
I do hope this proves helpful.

All the best,
Gary Crowley

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for your reply, Gary. I just wanted to be sure I wouldn't be doing more damage than good by forcing my knees to flex more. I have seen your site before, too.

We have more than one thing in common, I see. I also volunteer for AllExperts in the field of radiology. And, I am also an SBIer. :) I'm about to put my site (discover-santa-barbara.com) up for sale since I'm moving from Santa Barbara.

Thanks again for your reply,
Delia

Answer
Hi Delia,

I would be very careful about forcing your knee to bend more.  You can do it gently without much worry, but not sure you'll get much improvement.  If you are too aggressive I do think you could damage things.
Yes, SBI has been fun.  Did everything myself.  Learned a lot.  And help a lot of folks with my videos.

I hope I answered your question this time around ; )

All the best,
Gary C.