Do This To Avoid Knee Surgery
Protect your knees with strong feet. Here's what you need to know..
Yesterday I shared how a fit, former female pro in her 50’s kicked my butt on the court leading to the creation of Tennis Fitness Mastery, my new project I’m putting out into the world.
Today I want to share a quick story of my knee surgery a few years ago, one that could have been avoided if I had stronger feet. Don't make the same mistake I did.
Let’s go back to 4 years ago...
I’m playing my local rival in a tight match. It’s the business end of the match, 4-4 in the 2nd set. I’m serving up 40-15. I won the 1st set 6-4 and I’m 5 points from closing out the match.
I spin in a kicker, I get a short return to my forehand, exactly as I wanted. The ball takes a funky bounce so I have to adjust mid step - then I go to pivot off that right foot and BOOM my knee buckles.
I hear a loud “crunch”. I stumble to the ground in pain.
Shiiiittttt...
I'm hoping it’s a sprain but the MRI 5 days later confirms a good sized tear in my meniscus. Luckily, the rest of the knee is OK.
I go under the knife, get the meniscus cleaned up and I’m back to playing within 2 months.
But here's the major lesson I learned a few years later..
I didn’t have a strong and stable foot because of all the ankle sprains I’ve had over the years. My foot was weak and stiff and my poor knee was taking on all that extra stress.
And on that day, the force through the knee was too much and it caused the injury.
Fixing the knee damage was step 1, but more importantly, I also had to also fix my foot, ankle and hip function to make sure this wouldn’t happen again.
This is a crucial thing that most people miss!
Fixing the damaged tissue is only addressing 50% of the equation. The more important piece is making sure that you figure out WHY that tissue was getting damaged in the first place.
For me, the knee was where the damage was, but the CAUSE was coming from down below in the foot and ankle.
This link between foot, knee, and hip came to me from studying with The Foot Collective, a group of physical therapists and podiatrists who are like the special forces of foot health.
I went through all their training and I became an official foot nerd, yes that’s actually what we call ourselves.
I now do daily foot training so that I can avoid these types of injuries from happening again. I’ve built a strong and flexible foot that acts as a solid foundation for the rest of my body.
I recorded a workshop all about this stuff last week.
You want me to send you a highlight clip? Just reply back with “yes please” and I’ll send it your way.
Thanks for being here as always..
Nick
P.S. I’ll be spending more time writing content and I want to know what you care about! Can you do me a huge favor and take 10 seconds to vote below, I would greatly appreciate it!