Hey everybody it's Doctor Jo, and today I'm going to show you some stretches and
exercises for plica syndrome. what? it's in the knee. so let's get started.
So basically the plica is an extension membrane of the joint capsule around the knee, and so
it helps keep the knee lubricated, and when they get irritated or inflamed it
causes a lot of pain in the knee on the inside kind of right up in there. so the
first thing we're gonna start off with is just some stretches to kind of get
everything loosed up loosened up in there. so start off with a strap. if
you've got a dog leash that works, or a belt if you don't have anything like
that, or you can even use a beach towel and just roll it up, but I like the
anything that has a little loop to it because then you can just wrap it around
your foot. so we're gonna do an IT band stretch first, just to kind of loosen up
the outside to help take some pressure off the inside. so with an IT band
stretch you can do a whole bunch of different ways, but the strap for me is
usually the easiest. so you're just gonna lie down on the ground and you want to
keep your leg nice and straight, but use the strap to bring it up, but try not to
bend the knee when you're when you're coming up. so you're just going to bring
it up almost like you're doing a hamstring stretch, but you're not going
to come up quite as high, and then as soon as you feel a little bit of tension,
then you're gonna drop it across your body and you should feel it on the
outside of your leg. you might feel it down at the knee, you might feel it up at
the hip, that's kind of where that whole IT band is, so you're gonna hold this
stretch for 30 seconds and then come back down and do that a total of three
times. sometimes people can't go quite that high, but as long as you can cross
it over, you should be able to feel a stretch but if some of those stretch
that this stretch doesn't work for you, I've got a video that has a whole bunch
of different stretches for the IT band, so if this one doesn't work go ahead and
check out the others because something might work a little bit better for you.
so the next one is just going to be kind of to stretch out the knee. a lot of
times if the plica is pinched or irritated, if it was this knee people
wouldn't have that full straightening or that
knee extension, and you really want to get that because if your knee gets stuck in
this position the hamstrings get tight and you just end up having a lot of
problems. so just a simple knee prop is what we call it works best if you have
something like a pool noodle or regular foam roller or even just a big towel
that you can roll it up prop your foot up so your heel isn't touching, and what
that does is that give some space here to allow my my knee just to kind of hang
down. some people like to sit in a chair and prop their foot up on something else
which is fine, you can also if you don't feel like you're getting enough stretch
here, but most likely if you're irritated you're going to feel a lot of stretch,
but if you need a little bit more you can just lay a little ankle weight on
top, but make sure you don't put it on the knee put it up above the thigh. you
can also just take a grocery bag a plastic grocery bag and put your foot
through it and then pull it up here and just put some soup cans or vegetable
cans in there. so that's a good way just to kind of let the leg hang and get it
straightened out. so again if you've got that little bit of a bend just try and
relax it and let it straighten all the way out. so with this one it's not
necessarily a stretch where you would just hold it for 30 seconds this would
be one if you can tolerate it you want to have it there for five or ten minutes.
so this could be something you just do in front of the TV or if you're working
on your computers just prop it up so you don't have to just sit there and think
about it because again sometimes it's pretty uncomfortable. so after you do
that for a couple minutes you'll probably just want to shake it out a
little bit and relax it, and then that can take you into the next stretch slash
exercise which is a heel slide. so with the heel slides it's pretty much like it
sounds. I like to prop up the other side just to give myself some support, but
this time we want to work on bending the knee because again if that plica is
irritated in there, or if it's pinched maybe in the joint somewhere, sometimes
that joint doesn't move freely especially with all that swelling around
the capsule, so you really want to just keep it moving to help get that
inflammation out of there. so just kind of like it sounds you're
gonna slide your heel up towards you. so just kind of sliding it up this way
using the floor to kind of help the leg, and then just
slide back down. so again if you've got a lot of swelling in that knee you might
only be able to slide to about right there, and that's fine, just go to you
feel a lot of tension not necessarily a lot of pain, maybe a little bit of pain
is okay. hold it for about three to five seconds and then just slide it back down.
so you want to do this probably about ten times, just to start off with but if
it starts getting super achy around five or six, don't feel like you have to push
all the way through it just go until you're like okay that's enough, if I did
one more it would probably be painful and then eventually you can work your
way up from there. but it gets easier so after you kind of get everything
stretched out and loosened up a little bit then you want to strengthen those
muscles. so now we're going to just do a four-way hip which helps those knee
muscles because they're all kind of connected here. so even though it's
called a four-way hip exercise it's working those muscles as well to help
keep that knee strong and work that inflammation out of there. so the first
one's just going to be a straight leg raise. so for the straight leg raise you
probably want to keep this leg propped up one it takes some pressure off of
your back if you have it straight out it makes you have a little arch in your
back and if you have some back issues that might cause some pain, so I always
tell people just to prop up their knee and it also gives you a little bit of a
target. with a straight leg raise you don't want to swing your leg up really
high you want to just go a slow controlled motion, so you're working
those muscles. so the goal is to keep the leg straight hence that's what it's
called so if you pull your toes up towards you, that helps lock out your leg
it activates the calf muscles and activates the quad muscles to keep that
knee nice and straight. slowly just bring it up about level to the other side so
again you don't want to come all the way up because then you're just going to use
momentum, but just to about the other side and then slowly come back down.
so don't let gravity just drop it down because one that's gonna be a little
painful when you're dropping it down, and two then you're missing out on that
exercise of coming back down. if you can if you feel strong enough try not to
bring the leg all the way down, so you're going to come up slowly come down right
before you touch the floor and then come back up. so you're keeping those muscles
activated and engaged the whole time. if you have to come down and take a little
break and reset in between that's fine but again with all of these I just start
off with about ten, if you feel okay the next day do two sets of ten, two sets of
fifteen, if you get to two or three sets of twenty twenty-five and it's easy, then
you can add a little ankle weight and then kind of start back over with the
ten. so then you're going to roll over onto your side and this time it's going
to be a hip adduction, ad, so this leg is going to now come up working those inner
muscles that have a lot to do with that area that might be painful, so these
these might be a little bit sore to do, so don't feel like you have to do a
whole lot of these. you can either put your leg in the front this way or in the
back with whichever one is more comfortable for you, but again pull up
your toes towards you and try to keep everything locked out, and then just lift
it up a little bit off the floor. it doesn't have to be a big lift, but you
just want to lift it enough where you feel that muscle activating. if you try
and lift it too high then you're going to start moving the rest of your body
and then that's going to be very uncomfortable. so again just kind of
lifting it as long as you're keeping those muscles contracted and engaged
then that should be fine. just a little bit off of the floor, so then you're
going to roll over onto your stomach and you're gonna do a leg extension. so I'm
gonna do my right side just so you can see it but you would just keep the same
leg going all the way around. so still keeping that leg straight and locked out
pulling those toes up towards you, if you have that a little bit of a back issue
make sure you're lying all the way down so you're nice and comfortable and
you're not stressing something else out, but if you're comfortable propping up on
your elbows you can/ keeping again that leg nice and straight with this one.
again it's not going to be very high, but try not to lift your whole hip up. so
it's not this movement because that's using my hip, you want to use those gluts
and those hamstrings in the back, so you're just lifting it up this way. so
it's again it's not a big huge movement, but you want to keep those muscles
contracted and working the whole time. so you know not just kind of flinging up
like that, but really trying to lift up that whole leg without
lifting your hips up. so again same kind of thing 10, 2 sets of 15, working your way up
adding a weight if you need to. so then you would keep on rolling around, where now
the injured side is up on top. so this is going to be hip abduction, a b, so with
this one you really want to try and keep your hips perpendicular to the floor. so
not rolling your hips, but keeping them nice and straight up and down. you also
want your whole body to be in a pretty straight line so it's not going to be
when you come up with your leg it's not coming up this way, but actually try and
kick a little bit back behind you because that's gonna help keep
everything straight, that's gonna work those glutes the meds and the max in
the back. and try and lead with your heel. so you're going up this way. if you go up
with your toes up that way, then you're not working the muscles that you want to
work you end up working your quads a little bit, so leading with the heel
going back a little bit behind you, trying to keep those hips fairly
straight up and down. so same thing working all those muscles all the way
around, and then the last one is going to be a clamshell exercise. so for the clam
shells, just kind of prop your knees on top of each other and your feet on top
of each other. the same thing applies where you really want your hips to be
perpendicular to the floor. this one's a lot easier to roll your hips back when
you open up, but again then you're not using the muscles that you're supposed
to, so really try and keep them up and down and if you need to lie all the way
down again to keep everything else comfortable, make sure you do that, but as
long as you're keeping everything up and down you can prop up if that's
comfortable. your feet stay together for this one and then you just lift that top
knee up off the other one again without rolling back. so it's just going to be
this motion. it doesn't have to be high because the higher, people they want to
tend to roll back like that, so with the clam shells they seem pretty easy. the
first five to seven, usually people are like "oh this is fine,"
and as you get eight, nine, and ten that get a little bit harder. so again just
start off with a little bit. if you get you know to the 20-25 with these and it's
easy, you can add a little ankle weight around the thigh on top which will give
you some resistance, or you can take a resistive band and wrap it around your
legs and then when you pull apart that will give you some resistance as well. so
those were your stretches and exercises per plica syndrome of the knee.
If you have any questions, leave in the comment section, and I'd like to take a moment
for the wall of thanks. so the people I would like to thank is Joan R., Ron J.,
Will R., and Steve A. thank you so much and if you would like to be on the wall
of thanks, make sure and click on the link up here to find out how, and don't
forget to subscribe by clicking down here. and remember be safe (don't hurt
that plica), have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.