Full Transcript Intro: Left Knee Pain in Golf 0:00 Have you ever hit a great drive? 0:03 You watch it fly beautifully in the air, and then your left knee yells at you. 0:07 We're done for today. 0:09 And you're thinking, my swing felt fine, but why does my knee hate golf? 0:14 If that sounds like you, you are in The Right Place. 0:17 I'm Dr. 0:17 Guyen Pugendry. 0:19 And for over the last 15 years, I have helped thousands of golfers get back to the game they love without having to resort to surgery. 0:26 Today, what we're going to be talking about is fast fixes for left knee pain in golf. 0:31 These are simple things that you can start today with no pills required. 0:35 And yes, not a lecture I promise and for more tips on how to keep you golfing with less pain hit the subscribe button and tap like so that this video can 0:47 reach other golfers that have cranky knees as well and also comment left knee if that's you so, that I know that you that i'm helping now in today's video 0:55 we're going to be focusing on, how you move your swing, your muscles, you're warm up.
Why the Left Knee Hurts 1:01 Because I always say you can't address the root cause of your knee pain until we address your core. 1:07 And I mean that literally. 1:08 Your core muscles. 1:10 Not your emotional core, though if golf is causing you existential pain too, well, maybe that's a different video. 1:18 In the next video after this one, I'll hit the fun stuff that people ask me a lot about. 1:22 pills, muscle rubs, CBD braces, all of it. 1:26 But today, I still really want to focus on movement. 1:29 Why does the left knee get mad? 1:31 Let's talk about why the Left Knee is the one complaining. 1:34 If you follow this channel, you have heard me say this before, but let me really paint the picture for the newcomers out there. 1:41 When you make a golf swing, your body is doing something remarkable and brutal at the same time. 1:46 You're loading weight onto your back foot during the backswing, and then it's explosively shifting forward through impact. 1:52 All of that momentum, body weight, rotational speed, that force of impact, it all lands on your lead leg. 1:58 In your right-handed golfers, this is your left knee. 2:01 Your left knee in that moment is doing three things simultaneously. 2:06 All at the same time, it is bearing your weight. 2:08 It is absorbing rotational torque or twisting force, and it's also stabilizing your entire finish. 2:15 You're basically doing a one-legged squat combined with a twist all at once. 2:20 Now in a healthy 25 year old knee, fine, no problem. 2:24 But for a knee that has a little bit of arthritis or an old meniscus tear, or it just has decades of rounds behind it, it can end up being a recipe for inflammation. 2:34 Here is the best part. 2:36 This is a part that most golfers miss. 2:38 The knee is often just the messenger. 2:41 If you have tight hips, they can't rotate properly, so the knee has to compensate for that. 2:46 If you have weak gluteal muscles or your butt muscles and they can't absorb the shock, your knee has to absorb it instead. 2:53 If your have stiff ankles, that changes how the force travels up your kinetic chain.
Post-Round Ice and Compression 2:58 Poor swing mechanics can amplify everything. 3:02 Your knee is just the one that's yelling the loudest even though the problem may be somewhere else up street. 3:07 Okay. 3:08 So let's start with what you can do right after a round if your knee is angry. 3:13 If your left knee feels swollen or hot or puffy after 18 holes, here is your post round reset. 3:19 Step number one, grab some ice. 3:22 Wrap some Ice or a cold pack and apply it on your leg for 15 to 20 minutes. 3:28 Now don't put it directly on the skin. 3:30 You need to have a thin layer of a towel or t-shirt or something like that in between the ice pack. 3:35 And your need and it'll work just fine. 3:37 If you don't heed my warning, I had a patient who didn't listen to this advice and they took an ice pack straight from the freezer, 3:44 put it on their knee, let it stay on there skin for 45 minutes. 3:48 And what ended up happening was when they take that icepack off, the top layer of skin came off with it and that wound took forever to heal. 3:57 What the ice does is it helps reduce the inflammation and it signals your body that it is time to start recovering. 4:03 The second step is compression. 4:06 A light knee sleeve or even on an elastic bandage wrapped tightly, you know those a strap things we talk about, they can help reduce swelling and give 4:14 the joint a little bit of extra support. 4:15 Now I know what you're thinking. 4:17 That's it. 4:17 That is his advice. 4:19 Medical school, residency, fellowship, and he's telling me to ice it and compress it? 4:22 Well, yeah, because the number of golfers who skip this and then wonder why their knee still is swollen the next morning is huge. 4:30 This isn't glamorous advice, but it does work. 4:33 Think of it as telling your knee, I hear you.
Simple Strength and Balance Exercises 4:36 We're winding down now. 4:37 It's time for you to cool down. 4:39 And it's cooling down the joint, not just the muscles. 4:42 All right, so you want me to use my knowledge. 4:44 So here's where things can get a little bit more interesting. 4:47 Remember when we were talking about that root cause, the core weakness? 4:50 If your glutes and your quads are half asleep, your knee ends up having to work overtime. 4:55 Let's wake up the support team with three easy moves that you can do at home or you could do them on the course. 5:00 Exercise number one is quad squeezes. 5:02 So remember, quads are those big muscles on the front of your thigh. 5:05 What you're going to do is you are going sit or you going lay and keep your legs straight. 5:10 And what you gonna do, is your going tighten those muscles in front your thighs like you pushing the back of you knee down. 5:16 We're trying to make it as straight as it's going get. 5:18 Hold that for five seconds and then relax. 5:21 Do that ten to fifteen times. 5:23 Exercise number two is glute bridges. 5:25 I think you've heard me talk about these ones before. 5:27 Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet on the floor. 5:30 Squeeze your butt and lift your hips into a small bridge. 5:34 It's like you're trying to point your pelvis up towards the sky. 5:37 Hold this for three seconds, then lower slowly. 5:39 Do that for 10 to 15 reps. 5:41 And finally, single leg balance. 5:44 Now this one, we're gonna start standing next to a wall or a chair because it can be tricky when you're first starting out. 5:48 Lift one foot off the ground and balance on the other one for 20 to 30 seconds. 5:53 Then switch legs. 5:54 If you hold your golf club while you are doing it, it becomes a golf specific balance drill that you can do in your living room. 5:59 Now one important note with these exercises, none of these should cause pain. 6:04 Yes, you may get some mild discomfort or you might feel mild muscle fatigue or feel effort, absolutely. 6:10 But sharp pain, no way. 6:12 What we're trying to do here is we are just trying switch your muscles on. 6:15 We are not trying punish them. 6:17 Now, here's my next tip. 6:19 And this one is a tongue twister. 6:21 This is the front foot fix. 6:23 Here is quick swing tweak that can help a lot of knees. 6:26 Change your front foots. 6:28 Most golfers set up with their front foot facing forward, try to say that four times really fast.
Front Foot Setup Fix 6:34 That means when you turn through the ball, your knee twists more. 6:38 Try this instead. 6:39 Turn your front, the left foot if you're a right-handed golfer, slightly open, a little bit towards your target, 20 to 30 degrees. 6:46 It's a very small change, but what it does is it lets your hip and your foot share in the twisting motion. 6:52 Often it makes the finish of your swing feel smoother and it feels easier on the knee. 6:57 If you don't believe me, try this. 6:59 At the range, hit five balls with your normal swing and you're normal stance. 7:03 Notice how your knee feels. 7:04 Now hit 5 balls, with that front foot facing slightly forward. 7:09 if your need likes the new setup, That's a free upgrade to your swing and you can thank me at the 19th hole. 7:15 Now let's talk about the warm up or what most golfers call getting out of my car, moving my shoulders a little bit, walking around and then walk me to 7:23 the first tee. 7:24 Your knee hates cold starts. 7:26 When you go from sitting in a car to swinging a club with full force, your joint hasn't had a chance to produce something called synovial fluid. 7:34 Now, synovial just means joint, but that is the natural lubricant in your knee. 7:39 What you're doing is you are essentially running your engine without oil for the first few holes. 7:43 So here is a quick two minute routine that can fix that.
Quick Warm-Up Routine 7:47 First off, start for 30 seconds by marching in place. 7:51 This is just going to help get the blood moving. 7:53 Number two, once you've done that, is you're gonna do 10 mini squats. 7:57 You're going to have your feet shoulder-width apart, your hips back, and like you are trying to sit into a tall chair. 8:03 This is small, pain-free range of motion. 8:05 this is not a deep squat or deep bend. 8:07 Number three is hip circles. 8:09 you gonna to do ten of them in each direction. 8:12 Your just gonna put your hands on your hip and you do gentle circles in a clockwise fashion and then counter-clockwise. 8:18 It's gonna help loosen your hits. 8:20 Now you're going to take two to three practice swings with the front foot open. 8:24 Just make slow, smooth swings and feel how that left knee behaves. 8:28 You can finish this faster than your buddy can probably finish signing on us to Facebook. 8:33 The quick reality here is though, if your knee is locking or if it's giving out or it is blowing up with huge swelling, that is not normal golf soreness. 8:43 Those symptoms can mean that there's something structural that can be going wrong inside the knee. 8:47 It could be a torn meniscus, it could a ligament that's injured, or it can something else that needs to have imaging and evaluation. 8:54 Please don't try to manage those types of things with ice and glute bridges. 8:59 Go see a professional. 9:00 Now, here is my standard disclaimer. 9:02 Yes, I am a medical doctor, but I'm not your medical. 9:06 Not yet, anyway. 9:07 This was meant to be educational. 9:08 It was not intended to personal medical advice for your specific situation.
When Knee Pain Needs Evaluation 9:13 So today, we focused on movement fixes, ice, simple muscle activations, a stance tweak, and a quick warm-up. 9:20 If this helped you understand your knee just a little bit better, hit like and subscribe. 9:24 Help me out, because in part two, i'm gonna be breaking down anti-inflammatory medications, muscle rubs, CBD cream, braces, 9:32 maybe even some cortisone shots. 9:34 We'll talk about what's actually gonna help, what overhyped and how to use them safely. 9:39 And if you want that, the only way to get it is to hit subscribe, to like, and tell me in the comments on a scale of one to 10, how bad is your left knee 9:46 after a full round? 9:47 I'm Dr. 9:47 Guyen Poovendrin and I hope to see you pain-free on the fairway.
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