Between May and July, America has several national celebrations of our military. From Armed Forces Day on May 20 to Memorial Day on May 29 to the Fourth of July, there’s a lot of red, white and blue!
Recently, PT Northwest had the chance to allow one man pursue his dream of joining the Navy. Brandon is a carpenter and an avid rugby player. However, he noticed a gradual onset of pain in his knee after taking part in either of these activities. The pain was mostly at the top of the kneecap and just below the knee. He noticed it when he squatted or sat with his knee bent. It was especially prominent if he tried running anything over a mile.
Brandon was eager to get his knee better because he was joining the Navy in a couple of months and needed to get physically cleared to do so. While assessing his knee, it quickly became apparent that he was really dealing with fascial restrictions at the insertion of the thigh muscle into the knee cap. This was mostly from overusing the muscle and tightness at the hip flexor muscle on the same side.
He was open to trying anything, so we used our ASTYM treatment to improve the fascial mobility around the knee. Along with mobilizing the restricted tissue, we provided stretching and a home program for him to make sure that he returned quickly to all of his regular activities.
Within four visits, Brandon was back to camping, hiking, going up and down stairs without any pain or discomfort, and quickly heading back to doing his regular workouts. He worked really hard following through with the home program we set up for him. By his seventh visit, he returned to swimming and running 3 miles without having any pain.
Because of his dedication to improve improving and performing specific workouts, he returned to his previous level faster than anyone thought he would. He was ready for the Navy a full month before he was due to join. Thanks, Brandon, for choosing PT Northwest!
