Pain due to gamers elbow can be a frustrating journey.

In short the main reason this happens is due to what we call in the rehab world “creep”.  When are wrists are cocked and loaded (smirk) in an unnatural position for long periods of time it can have some detrimental effects at the elbow joint.

The best way to avoid this is through motion.

If you work at a computer for any length of time you absolutely have to get up and move every so often.  Even if it IS just your wrists and elbows.

Set a timer if you have to.  I like to use the timer app in igoogle.

Every 30 minutes get up, do some stretches and then continue with your work.

Heres a quick vid of some exercises you can do at your desk.  It’s definitely not a complete list but it’s something to get you started.

Knee pain.  It sucks and no one should have to deal with it.  When it comes to knee pain I’m a firm believer in exhausting all of your options before submitting to the dreaded knife.

Surgery is expensive.

Rehab is long, painful, and extremely unrewarding in its early stages.

That being said, I’m no doctor.  You should listen to yours and always consult her/him before engaging in any type of exercise program.

Knee pain, for the most part, is a symptom that tells us that there is some sort of dysfunction above or below the joint and not necessarily within.  Today I’ll explain to you a few “lo-tech” steps you can take to start appropriately dealing with knee pain.

1. Stretching – We’ll start by stretching muscles that are most often associated with knee pain.  Hold each stretch for 30 seconds and do them several times a day to maximize their benefits.

Gentle Quad Stretch                                     Advanced Quad Stretch

Calf Stretch (back leg)

2. Mobility – If you want the knee joint to be stable that means you want the hips and ankles to be mobile.  Any limited range of motion in the hips or ankles has to be made up at the knee.  This leads to problems.  As you can see on yourself, the hips and ankles were designed to move in many directions.  The knees, not so much .  Repeat each movement 10 – 15 times.

Hip Mobility (hurdle step over a bench)

Ankle Mobility (with the toes elevated gently push the knees over the toes)

3. Activating – The tissues above and below the knee joint can typically become dysfucntional when a few specific muscles are not doing their job.  The glutes mainly.  In this case you want to try and wake these muscles up with a few activation exercises.  Again do about 10 – 15 reps.

Glute Bridge (be sure to squeeze your butt cheeks at the top)

One legged Dead Lift (notice I bend from the hip and do not lean forward at the spine)

Conclusion - This is nowhere near a complete list of the strategies you can use for dealing with knee pain.  These are just a few of the simple lo-tech solutions I use when dealing with clients whom suffer.  Next time I’ll break out a few toys and show some of the more “mid-tech” tricks.

Until then, post any questions below and I’ll be sure to answer them promptly.

Recently Sue Stanley-Green, a professor in athletic training  has stated …

“We are looking to incorporate Wii Fit into the athletic training room as far as rehabilitation, for example, on post-operative knees and ankles”.

Thats a cool athletic trainer.

In all seriousness.  I have worked with a lot of post-rehab clients in the past and getting them to do any type of balance related movements is like pulling teeth.

I’m sure a lot of stuffy old school athletic trainers will scoff at this type of method claiming that rehab needs to follow specific guidelines in order to remain effective.  But in the end, you can have the most effective rehab program in existence but it wont do jack if people aren’t doing the work because they are bored out of their minds.

I’m curious as to what other people think.