Runner’s knee, patellofemoral pain, and IT band recovery guide
Knee pain that won’t quit: cool it down, then rebuild what should carry the load
A 12-week video rehab program for runner’s knee, patellofemoral pain, and IT band syndrome. It cools the knee down instead of poking it, rebuilds the breathing, hips, core, and quads that should carry the load, then plugs your activities back in.
Who this is for
Does this sound like you?
- Knee pain that flares when you run, and lately even with everyday activities.
- You rest until it feels better, run again, and tweak it right back.
- Weeks of stretches from a PT handout didn’t change much.
- Your MRI or ultrasound came back clean, but your knee still hurts.
- Every added exercise seems to poke the bear.
One caveat: this works for a lot of knee-based cases, but a percentage of knee pain is referred from the spine, so the week 1 first-aid menu includes back-based options. If a first aid makes anything travel down the leg, it’s the wrong one; move to the next.
The problem
Stop poking the bear
A lot of programs fall short because they have you do more and more, which pokes the bear. We don’t need to poke the bear.
What this program does instead
Remove the negatives, add the positives.
For a while that may mean pulling back the running, the hills, the deep squats, whatever provokes the knee, and adding what calms it: a net positive.
Use the knee’s directional preference.
It likes one direction and not another. The direction it likes can pump fluid around the joint and change how it feels, even today.
Get the engines working again.
Breathing from the center so the trunk holds pressure, and hips that have gone lazy, so load goes through them instead of dumping into other areas of the body.
Effort, not discomfort
Nothing in this program goes to failure
Every exercise lists sets and reps or hold times, and the loaded lifts list a weight range or effort target. You should not be at 100%, and you stop well before form breaks. Where the lessons set an effort target it is 60 to 70%.
What's inside
Twelve weeks, four phases, 56 videos
12-week online course
Weekly lessons with written sets, reps, and hold times, and a weight range or effort target for the loaded lifts
56 videos
48 exercise and first-aid demos, 4 follow-along movement flows, and 4 classroom lessons
A ranked first-aid menu
Knee-specific and spine-referred options you test on yourself in week 1
Week 4: optional session offer
A one-time discounted 60-minute video session with our team (not included)
Weeks 1 to 2
Cool it down
- Test the first-aid menu: end-range knee extension and flexion, skin rolling, quad isometrics and heel digs, plus press-ups, side openers, 90-90 breathing, and the door jamb squat for knees being fed by the back
- Keep the one that helps, in small sets through the day for 5 to 14 days, then stop once it has done its job
- Week 2 adds breathing work, side and hard-style planks, the low diagonal sit, single-leg patterning, and your daily walk
Weeks 3 to 5
Mobility and stability
- Frog breathing, low kneeling thoracic extension, glute accordions, long lever bridges, quad rocks, birddogs, happy baby, wall sits
- The first loading: kettlebell deadlifts, dowel split squats, crossover wedges, lateral lunges, farmer’s carries, box squats
Weeks 6 to 8
Strength
- Goblet squats, one-arm suitcase deadlifts, three-point pulls, cat cows, windshield wipers, banded glute bridges, oxidative split squats, crawling
- Three sessions a week, effort capped well below failure
Weeks 9 to 12
Plug your activities back in
- Four movement flows, 5 to 10 minutes of continuous, heart-rate-raising motion, plus rolling, bears, rows, presses, plank drags, stork hinges, and halos
- Suitcase carries at 10 to 25 lb, kettlebell deadlifts in the 25 to 55 lb range, split squats up to 45 lb
How it works
Four steps from first aid to loading
Week 1: find the first aid that calms your knee.
Work down the ranked menu and keep the one that helps, in short doses spread through your day.
Week 2: walk and start the circuits.
A daily walk, in chunks, from week 2 to week 12, and your first session of four short circuits.
Weeks 3 to 12: build.
One session of four or five circuits, 4 to 5 days a week, dropping to 3 days a week from week 6 as the loading goes up.
Plug your activities back in.
Week 12 ends with loaded carries, split squats, pulls, and movement flows, with the activities you were avoiding plugged back in.
“We don’t need to poke the bear.”
Why Performance Place
Dr. Sebastian Gonzales, DC has been a sports rehab chiropractor in Costa Mesa, California since 2008 and hosts the Restoring Human Movement podcast. These videos were recorded many times over to make the cues as clear as possible, because most people who don’t recover simply didn’t follow the instructions.
Reviews
- Verified ownerEmma CalabreseDecember 11, 2019
About 8 months ago, I had sprained my knee/hip running, and experienced continuing knee pain for months following the injury. It would stiffen up, crack in pain every time I’d bend it, and limit my ability to exercise. I definitely couldn’t run anymore. On the occasion where I felt like I was feeling better and could run again, I’d just tweak it right back to the original pain. After a while, doing normal, every day activities started to trigger it further. Frustrated, I turned to Physical therapy. The doctor diagnosed me with runner’s knee, and gave me a program of basic stretches to follow for 6 weeks. After about 5 weeks in, I didn’t see much progress. My pain had lessened a bit, but wasn’t entirely gone. I was concerned that I would never get back to running. I had reached out to Dr Gonzales on social media a while back about my issue, and he was so kind to recommend this guide to me. This guide contains very descriptive information about knee/hip issues. It taught me that my knee pain wasn’t just coming from my knee, but from the muscles and nerves surrounding it (such as the back and/or hips). The guide puts you though a series of exercises and stretches that focus on hip, pelvis/core, and back strengthening. After following the guide for JUST ONE WEEK, I had felt such a difference. Not only in my knee, but also in my hips and back! It relieved tightness that I didn’t realize I had. After about the third day into the guide, I attempted a 10 minute run and HAD NO DISCOMFORT AT ALL. I’m very happy I finally have the confidence to start moving again, and excited I have the appropriate exercises to do for my longterm goals. Thank you for this guide!
What you get
Everything in the guide
- The complete 12-week course: cool it down, mobility and stability, strength, plug your activities back in
- 56 exercise, first-aid, flow, and classroom videos with written sets, reps, and hold times for every circuit
- A test-it-yourself first-aid menu, then breathing, hip, core, and quad strengthening into real loading
Informational program. Not a diagnosis, and not a substitute for one.
FAQ
Fair questions
- Which conditions is this for?
- Knee-based pain, including pain under or below the kneecap and IT band irritation, sold as runner’s knee, patellofemoral pain, or IT band syndrome. If nothing on the first-aid menu helps, that is a sign you need eyes on you.
- My imaging was negative but my knee still hurts. Is this for me?
- This program does not screen by imaging. The first two weeks are the test: a dramatic change within the first week is common if your body needed the first aid you picked, and it is not supposed to feel good after the first five or so reps.
- How is this different from the stretches my PT handed me?
- Most handouts have you do more and more, which pokes the bear. This program starts by doing less: remove what provokes the knee, find the one first aid that calms it, then build breathing, hips, core, and quads over 12 structured weeks into real loading.
- Do I have to stop running?
- Pull back on whatever pokes the bear: running, hills, deep squats. It gets added back in phase four, weeks 9 to 12. You can still use a short run as your before-and-after test for a first aid.
- Do I need equipment?
- Weeks 1 to 2: a chair, a towel or yoga block, and a door frame. From week 3: a kettlebell or dumbbell (light at first) and a broomstick or dowel. From week 7 something like a sandbag, and from week 8 a glute resistance band. Later weeks call for kettlebells in roughly the 5 to 55 lb range depending on the lift.
- What if I have questions along the way?
- Week 4 has a built-in one-time option to book a discounted 60-minute video session with our team to check your form (not included in the purchase).
Stop poking it. Start rebuilding around it.
One first aid to calm the knee, then the breathing, hips, core, and quads that carry the load, and the activities you were avoiding plugged back in.