Without a knee injury, I never understood why the left knee plagued me 20 years ago doing some rotor or brake work, with real stiffness the next few days. Having the left knee folded 'indian style' with left foot under the butt while working on the floor, aggravated it often. Gradually, I chose wearing knee protection and not compressing, folding the knee, if possible. Stiffness still reminded me that all was not well in the joint. Kind of baffled, but walking and running were not overly hampered, so did not obsess about until...

Some years ago, the knee swelled - which was new and different. Started looking for alternative therapy that might help. Lying on my back I discovered a 'yoga' style flex with foot toward the groin, which immediately caused audible chiropractic 'pop' at the joint. Right away it felt better, but not that much. However, about 5 - 7 days later inflamation was 50% reduced. It got better soon..

Good for 6 years -- then an issue in 2015 to the point where walking was affected, trying to finish stride and propel forward, which was a problem.

Not fond of physicians, but no choice and up against it, I called in for 'Arthroscopy' prognosis. ALL of them were booked [ 2 - 3 months ] in advance...and if a meniscus is torn or not, it's about 12 - 14 G, for a procedure that requires about 15 min of their time. Not sure if 30 - 40 are done in a week...but those are some nice returns.

Since the yoga maneuver had run it's course, a new search took place. I DID find something else FWIW : Standing up with the foot planted down, against a dining room table leg, and rotating the upper body in the 'opposite' direction of the foot, it creates a twisting action similar to ringing out a wash cloth. Doing this in both directions does in fact, 'flex' the joint, in a way that it normally does not see. Although some pain appeared the next day on the outer portion of the knee...motion improved.

Chronic pain subsided. Inflamation went down. Not a panacea for every problem, but I absolutely wish I'd tried it sooner.

If there is stiffness in the knee and you decide to stretch, don't go too far too fast. Gradually build up to it.


Phil