Is Knee Pain Taking You Down? Talk to Your Rolfer

knee pain rolfing helps

Did you know that what starts as knee pain can cause pain elsewhere? That’s because if you don’t treat knee pain quickly, your body compensates. “Making up” for the knee, which is a pivotal hinge joint, will send your body off track. Rolfing tackles the cause of your pain for a long-term vs a short-term fix.

Because you need the knee joint for locomotion, if the pain is debilitating, all activity suffers. Sports play, walking, running, even simple actions like rising from a chair or taking the stairs hurt. That one vital joint permits flexion and extension, as well as a slight medial and lateral rotation. In other words, a healthy knee bends and straightens, plus – ever so slightly – rotates. What it’s NOT meant to do is move laterally or to rotate excessively. Our hips and ankles are supposed to handle those types of movements.

“I’ve had limited range of motion in my knee for years and within a few visits he has restored the range to almost 100%.”

– Satisfied Rolfing Client

When you visit either my Tacoma or Bellevue Rolfing practice, we’ll discover the source of your joint pain. I treat a lot of people specifically for knee injury. While some knee problems are from familiar causes, others may surprise you.

  • Lateral knee pain stemming from a too-short IT Band
  • Kneecap tracking issues stemming from overdeveloped lateral quads
  • Meniscus issues (pain behind the kneecap) due to a damaged meniscus or tracking issues
  • Medial pain from to an aggravated nerve that originates in the abdomen or an underdeveloped medial quad VMO (Vastus Medialis Oblique)

6 Questions About Knee Pain

My job as your Rolfer is to not only relieve the painfulness, but also to figure out where it stems from.  To start, I ask myself these questions when I’m examining you:

  1. Is there enough movement at the ankle?
  2. Is there enough movement at the hip?
  3. Is a nerve being aggravated by something going on in the abdomen?
  4. Is there proper balance between the ligaments on the inside of knee vs. the outside?
  5. Does the kneecap track straight and if not, why?
  6. Is there a nerve or artery that is compressed on the back side of the knee?

As a Certified Rolfer treating knee pain, I aim to return balance to the tissues surrounding the joint, plus improve tissue mobility in the hip and ankle. Why are the hip and ankle involved? Because if they function correctly, there’s less strain on the knee to move in a way that it’s not designed to do. 

Keep in mind that as the cause of the imbalance is often nowhere near where it shows up, my goal is to not only free you from the pain, but also to find and treat its origin.  


As a Certified Rolfer, Christopher Horan uses Rolfing to restore your body’s ease, balance and movement. His Puget Sound Rolfing clients come from Tacoma, Puyallup, Newcastle, Gig Harbor, Fircrest and University Place, as well as the Seattle metropolitan and Bellevue areas. Schedule your Rolfing session with Christopher today in either his Tacoma or Bellevue location.