Exercise as Good as Surgery for Knee Pain

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Exercise as Good as Surgery for Knee Pain

Posted by: Dr. Mercola
January 05 2008 | 53,739 views

An exercise regime is as effective as surgery for people with a chronic pain in the front part of their knee, known as chronic patellofemoral syndrome (PFPS).

PFPS is often treated with arthroscopic surgery, in which equipment is inserted through small incisions in your knee to diagnose and fix the problem. However, there is little evidence that this treatment is the best option.

The study, conducted by researchers at The ORTON Research Institute in Helsinki, Finland, compared arthroscopy with exercise in 56 patients with PFPS.

One group of participants was treated with knee arthroscopy and an eight-week home exercise program, while a second group received only the exercise program.

After nine months, patients in both groups experienced similar reductions in pain and improvements in knee mobility. A follow-up conducted two years later still found no differences in outcomes between the two groups.

The only difference discovered was in cost: those who had received the surgery had to pay over $1,300 more than the exercise-only group.

The researchers concluded that arthroscopy is not a cost-effective treatment for PFPS.

Sources:

BMC Medicine December 13, 2007, 5:38

Science Daily December 13, 2007

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Arthroscopic surgery is performed on about 650,000 people in the United States every year, at a cost of about $5,000 per procedure.

Well, that’s $5,000, and a lot of unnecessary recovery time, wasted because this surgery has been proven time and time again to work no better than a placebo.

While this may seem like a shocking statement, it was published in one of the most well-respected medical journals on the planet and was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial performed at some of the top U.S. hospitals.

This was, without question, one of the most amazing studies I have ever seen published, as it definitely proves the power of your mind in healing.

The home-based exercise program used in the study above also likely provided some relief of the symptoms, but when it comes to pain, your mind has an ability to heal you.

Folks, the placebo effect is REAL.

And when I say that, I mean that if you believe you will benefit from something, you will. And the more you focus your intention on this, the more you’ll find that you can manifest nearly any result you desire.

But there is one caveat: you must resolve any emotional blocks that are standing in your way first.

In the case of knee pain, this could be disbelief that the pain will go away, resentment that you have the pain, or even an unconscious desire to keep the pain because of the extra attention you gain from it.

As Bruce Lipton, PhD., a forerunner in the field of epigenetics and The New Biology, said in my recent interview with him:

“A lot of people use the energy psychology just like a drug. ‘Oh, you’ve got a pain here. If I do this, you can get rid of the pain.’ But here’s the problem. A symptom is not generally the problem. A symptom is a reflection of a problem.”

So the pain in your knee (or any location) is not what you should focus on relieving. Instead, you must get to the root of the problem, which started in your mind. If you simply relieve your knee pain without addressing the related emotional conflict, your body will manifest another ache, pain or illness to tell you that there’s a problem with your system.

This is a new way of thinking about healing for most people. But if you look at it in terms of energy -- pain is energy, and your mind is also energy -- you can see how one directly influences the other.

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is an extremely powerful tool that you can use to get to the root of your emotional conflicts, and to release them.

EFT is a form of psychological acupressure, based on the same energy meridians used in traditional acupuncture to treat physical and emotional ailments for over 5,000 years, but without the invasiveness of needles. Instead, simple tapping with the fingertips is used to input kinetic energy onto specific meridians on your head and chest while you think about your specific problem -- whether it is a traumatic event, an addiction, pain, etc. -- and voice positive affirmations.

I highly suggest that you explore this healing modality for yourself, and if you have an especially traumatic, complex or deep-seated emotional challenge to overcome that you find an EFT therapist to guide you.