Where Does That Knee/Hip/Ankle/Shoulder/Back Pain Come From?

Everyone has some kind of pain. I don’t care if you’re 22 or 62, you have an old injury, back pain, an ankle you’re not quite confident in, or a knee that flares up after a day at the park.

Most people think this is normal and that pain is part of getting older. I’m here to tell you that the resting state of a human being should not include pain. From both my studies and experience with clients, I have found that pain comes in four categories.

1. Catastrophic
2. Pathological
3. Biomechanical Movement Dysfunction
4. Muscle/Soft Tissue Imbalance

I’ll discuss each briefly, but want to start by saying that the large majority of pain is not only unnecessary, but 100% fixable if you know what to look for and how to address it.

** Click Here for my Video on the Subject **

Catastrophic

This type of pain is when you’ve had a car accident, fallen on your bike, or just got punched in the eye by a 280 pound linebacker. A catastrophic injury is clear. You know what happened, you know why it hurts, and you need to follow the RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) Protocol or go see a doctor! This accounts for a very small percent of the pain I encounter with clients, on the order of about 1%.

Pathological

This is another category that makes up a tiny percentage of pain in the generally population. This includes things like a tumor growing in your knee, lyme disease, unaccounted for weight loss or weight gain, and the like, and requires medical attention. It makes up, at most, another 1% of the pain in the general population.

A good coach can tell when a certain pain doesn’t fit the mold of overuse or over tension and may require a closer look by a trained professional.

Biomechanical Movement Dysfunction

Here we begin to see a larger portion of the pain in the general population. A lot of runners complain of knee, hip, ankle, or lower back pain, and a lot of people simply say to stop running. That makes sense, right? Oh something hurts you? Stop doing that thing, right?

My position is that running is not bad for the knees. Running incorrectly is bad for the knees. Doing squats is not bad for the knees. Doing squats incorrectly is bad for the knees.

This type of pain can also result from sitting at your desk all day with your feet crossed beneath your chair and your back hunched over like Quasimodo. Or for you moms out there, getting your two-year-old out of her carseat while holding the dog’s leash, your cell phone, and diaper bag in the other hand.

Your body’s way of telling that you are doing something wrong is to hurt. When you have a biomechanical movement dysfunction, it will manifest as pain. People think this pain is normal, but we need to start taking it as a sign that something needs to change.

Creating Stability

Many of the movement dysfunction pains come from expressing force from an unstable position. If you are starting any movement from a position of instability, your body will default into its’ second most stable option. When you have a heavy weight overhead (it could be a barbell or a 5 year old) and you haven’t put your shoulder into an externally rotated, stable position, it will default into a rolled forward position where all the weight is loaded on the soft tissue of your labrum and rotator cuff, instead of being loaded onto the joint socket.

This is just one example of bad mechanics. Learning how to create stability in and around your joints is the first step towards avoiding and resolving pain.

Muscle/Soft Tissue Imbalance

You may have a fantastic ability to move with the correct biomechanics, yet still have nagging pain somewhere. This is where over tension comes into play. Think of a metal door hinge with a pile of shaving at the base. This door hinge is super tight and every time it is opened or closed, it is being damaged.

So the super healthy athlete that has been playing sport for 15 years may be making all the right movements, but his tight calves and hamstrings end up pulling on his knee joint in all the wrong ways, leading to debilitating pain. Or at the very least, nagging discomfort.

Rarely is the cause of pain located where the pain is felt. Low back pain can be a problem with your posterior chain (hamstrings and glutes), tightness in your chest and shoulders, tight calves and weak ankles, or some combination of a lot of these. Knee pain can originate from anywhere between your toes and your chest.

The moral of the story is that it would behoove you to either learn your body or find a coach that can diagnose your problems and help you fix them. Don’t accept knees that hurt. Don’t accept back pain. Don’t accept living half a life because you’re old, you’re injured, or because of some mysterious pain you can’t seem to kick.

About The Author

My name is Graham Lutz, and I am the Owner and Head Trainer at Formula Athletics, serving Norcross and Peachtree Corners, GA. With a focus on general physical preparedness and a keen eye towards movement dysfunctions and inefficiencies, I use Functional Movements, as well as other rehab and “prehab” techniques, to discover and resolve as well as avoid pain issues with my clients.