Here in San Diego, I see everyone from soldiers to civilians, and from athletes to couch potatoes. One constant among all my patients is an aversion to physical therapy, especially where chronic knee pain is concerned.

I get it: therapy is designed to push the limits of your comfort zone in an effort to increase mobility. But when that therapy proves too frustrating, a discouraging number of people simply give up altogether.

Now a group of researchers have discovered something that joggers with iPods have known for a while: keeping a steady beat can improve your performance in physical therapy:

[U]sing a device such as a metronome seemed to “fire up different parts of the brain”, allowing patients to workout without pain.

The audio “pacing” was accompanied by a single, heavy bout of stationary exercise, like weighted leg extension, targeted at the knee. The method resulted in 19 percent increased muscle strength over the 4 week trial.

Just one more good idea in our ongoing battle against the monotony of exercise, and the tyranny of pain. If your knee pain has lasted more than a few weeks, it’s time to see an orthopedic expert in San Diego. Please contact the offices of Dr. William Holland for an appointment today.

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Tags: knee pain san diego, orthopedic expert in san diego, therapy for knee pain