I have a balance board (well I have a deck and a big foam roller), and I’ve been working on some of those ideas anyway after looking at all sorts of physio blogs and I think it’s making a difference but there’s definitely some more things to try in there 
the thing for me was patience. for years i had various knees pains and they just generally felt week. apparently nothing was torn so it a variety of things - swelling, arthritis etc.etc.etc.
it’s easy to build muscle size in your biceps or something like that but you’re not trying to strengthen a muscle you’re trying to strengthen ligaments and all that jazz
if there’s actual pain then you’re really limited to what you can do. no doctor would recommend doing exercise through pain so it’s finding small repetitive stretches you can do daily or fairly frequently to slowly rehab your knees
i’ve got to the point now where i can just about do single leg squats which would have been completely out of the question two or three years ago. don’t get me wrong i’m not jumping down flights of stairs but i feel like i could skate stairs if i wanted to and not immediately die
Had a problem with the inside of my knee hurting after playing football. Kicked the ball as hard as I fucking could and felt a pop. (Still scored top bins obvs)
Went to my friendly neighbourhood Osteopath and he sorted me out. Popped it back into place. Best £45 I’ve ever spent. Knee feels better than ever! Shit be gliding!
Chap used to be a fairly high level rugby player, so he fully gets sporting injuries including skateboarding. Sound guy.
Only problem is he’s a massive Covid denier, so when he’s massaging away and cracking my joints he’s also banging on about how it was all a hoax! 
I’m like “yeah, yeah, lockdown was mad ennit”
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Worth mentioning that osteopaths aren’t real doctors but are recognised as healthcare professionals. Many of them believe that osteopathic mediecene can cure sicknesses by realigning your body
Hence the NHS has this -
There’s been loads of issues since osteopathy was invented with claims that it can do things not backed by medical science
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Same with Chiropractors right?
At the mention of chiropractors I refer you to my post from Sept ‘20.
Up until the lockdown kicked in I was seeing a chiropractor once a month for regular ‘maintenance’. Probably didn’t need to as I stretch daily for 45 minutes-ish. Since not being able to go I’m the same as usual really. There’s certainly no discernible difference with my lower back.
I started to go to my chiro after I zoomed out a switch 180 a good few years back but rode it out somehow even though I should have just taken the slam. Result was two squished discs and me in a perma-Mr Burns posture. I was in a ton of pain and crooked as fuck. Looking in the mirror was scary- puffed out stomach and a kinked to hell lopsided spine. I tried icing, resting, salt baths, painkillers, smoking weed like a chimney all to no avail.
After two weeks of not being able to stand up straight or get out of the house I went to the GP. Ended up on Valium and codeine. Got some uninterrupted sleep for the first time since the injury. No difference to the problem though, just strung out on pills feeling like shit and stopping those made me feel even worse. He had me referred to the NHS back pain clinic where I was told there was no point in me being there as I would just get better as there was nothing seriously wrong. 
I was probably imagining that I couldn’t walk properly and looked like an extra from Freaks.
One morning, head in hands and almost in tears,I resigned myself to the fact that I’d probably never skate again. My wife found me distraught and said I should see a chiropractor, as she likes a bit of alternative therapy. My normal reaction would have been one of, ‘yeah right let’s burn some sage and go see the Ju-Ju man’, but desperate times and all that.
She made me an appointment, She folded me into the car and off we went. I walked into that office bent double and super skeptical. An hour later, after an examination, some x rays and some ‘magical back cracking’. I walked out with noticeably less pain and standing relatively straight. More importantly I felt like the situation was no longer hopeless. They asked what my goal was and I said number one priority was getting back to skating ASAP. They made me bring in some skate vids to look at so they had some idea of what I was up to. They devised an exercise/stretching regime for me to follow and a program of treatment. Ok, I had to agree to come back every two days for a week, then every three days for a further week. Cost was something like £400 for a fortnight. After that period I was walking and sleeping normally and the posture was fixed. Then I had to visit every couple of weeks for the next six weeks. I then
opted for the monthly maintenance after the initial program was finished, for piece of mind more than anything. If I’m honest with myself the maintenance is more than likely a bit of hokum, but the placebo effect was good enough and at £35 a month was worth it.
After two months of the first visit I was back skating again. 8-10 trick flat ground lines for 3-4 hours almost non stop with no pain. I was a total convert and recommended, at the time, chiropractic care to anyone would give me half a chance. I was so enthusiastic about it just because I had been given a second chance. The hope I felt walking out of the chiropractor office was a stark contrast to the feeling of doom I had after my GP visit
The x-rays showed that I had two pinched discs and, (this is where I became even more dubious as it really did remind me of dianetics e-meter nonsense. Where’s the science? 
),they did a muscle density test that showed which muscles were in spasm the most, and produced a muscle map on many pretty colours for me to look at.
Treatment consisted of the usual back cracking business and by putting me on a bed that was akin to a giant black and decker workmate and dropping various shelves in order to realign my pelvis. They also used a ‘magic biro’, clicking the unexplained gubbins on various parts of my back (muscle trigger points). It all seems mental now but I can’t deny that it worked for me and got me skating again, gave me hope and made me happy, so it still seems worthwhile.
The x—rays also turned up an old fractured vertebra from years ago which was an added bonus and explained a load of back issues I’d had years previously.’’
Update: I haven’t returned to the chiropractor since lockdown. I can self crack various joints myself when it feels necessary. I have up’d my stretching regime and have incorporated a bunch of yoga into it. I’ve had a couple of blips due to injury but have resolved it all myself with no chiropractic care or filling myself with painkillers.
TLDR: Chiropractic might well be a load of woo but it worked for me.
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I’ve been to both chiropractor and osteopath.
Chiropractors just focus on realigning your spine and do very little else. The one I saw also tried to pressure me into signing up for an 8 week course of treatment that would have cost about £300!
The osteopath I see does more of a sports massage on the injured body part and also does the realignment (aka cracks) your joints.
Apart from the covid talk, he’s a sound guy and doesn’t try to fleece me so I trust him.
Yeah I think some of them get a bad name from the ones who think they have magic hands that can cure everything.
People I know who use chiro or osteopaths are continually seeing them and that’s the thing.
I swear by physios because they actually want to resolve your problem and not have you back constantly.
Where as the non medically recognised chiropractors and osteopaths will have you back every month clicking the bones etc not actually resolving the issue fully , just a temporary fix .
Stretching for 45 minutes?
Have you forgotten the word yoga?
Read that wrong doh , ignore me .
Get to my age, you’ll find yourself forgetting a lot of things.
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yoga is funny. it’s just advanced stretching with Indian names and focus on breathing/meditation
i’m all for it except for the fact that every time i do a class or watch an online video they always start with something like “welcome ladies”
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Have started to get pain in one knee since switching from a cupsole to cons chucks. Will be going back to my old cupsoles and looking at getting some Tiago 1010s. I guess they’d be just about the best option for old knees.
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The inside arch of my foot has been in agony for the last couple of months particularly in mornings and post skate.
Terrible self diagnosis feels like metatarsalgia. Anyone with experience of this or plantar fasciitis?
Yeah mate I had bad plantar fasciitis, I couldn’t walk properly during the first 30-45 seconds every morning when I’d get up. I saw a sports medicine doctor who advised me to do those easy exercises that quickly helped: https://www.chuv.ch/fileadmin/sites/otr/documents/otr-brochure-talalgie.pdf
Yeah it’s all in French but you’ll get what you have to do. Do these 2 to 3 times a day, whenever you can. It will help, but see a sports medicine doctor or a podiatrist if you can, you might need orthotic insoles. I’ve been getting a new pair of custom ones every year for 5ish years now and my feet feel ok. I certainly don’t feel 20 any more but I can skate!
Cheers Frank. Wearing the flattest Clark’s dessert boots to work seemed to cause it.
I got some insoles a couple days ago. Thanks for the stretches, I’ve seen some similar ones on YouTube I’m just terrible at building something into a routine.
Out of interest how do you remember how long it took you for the discomfort to ease?
I think things got better in about 10 days regarding the plantar fasciitis and the stretches. Yeah it’s hard to get used to a routine like this but remember how much you love skating and do this stuff while making a cuppa or something.
Took far longer to fix the rest of my right foot but that happened years later.
My back has took a turn for the worse. I got a bit lazy and stopped doing my stretching and squats as it was all good in the summer. Had to shift some furniture yesterday and wrestle my kid in the street as she was trying to run off and it must of squished what little remaining disk material.
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I’ve started getting a tight pain in the tendon on the outside of my right knee after cycling. It’s centred around the bone on the outside and extends a bit down the side of the calf. I’ve read it could be to do with tight hips? Anyone experienced anything similar?
Really annoyed as I got the bike to start doing more exercise and now it’s making things worse!
Also still don’t have full movement of my arm after my slam last month. It’s getting there but still can’t fully straighten it. I feel decrepit
