01
Test the whole chain
Foot, ankle, knee, hip, pelvis and low back get examined together, because they load each other. Treating the sore joint in isolation is how you end up treating it forever.
Health conditions · Lower extremity
The joint that hurtsisn't always the problem.
Hips, knees and ankles are a chain, and they are connected to your low back. A knee that hurts is quite often a hip or a foot that is not doing its job.
Into the hip, knee, ankle and foot. The nerves that run your lower extremity leave the spine at the lumbar and sacral levels.
What hip, knee & ankle pain actually is
Patient education — general information about the condition, not medical advice about your body. Only an examination can tell you what is going on with yours.
Lower-extremity problems cover everything from your hips to your knees to your ankles, and they usually involve the soft and hard tissue in those joints. Most of them come from one of three things: wear and tear, injury, or overuse. Nearly 7 million adults in the United States are living with a hip or knee replacement, which tells you both how common this is and how far it can go.
At the hip, the conditions that show up most are bursitis (joint pain with burning and swelling), sciatica referring down from the low back, strains, and arthritis. At the knee — one of the most commonly injured joints in the body, packed with muscles, tendons, ligaments and cartilage — it is bursitis, runner's knee (pain at the front and outside of the knee), tendonitis, degenerative arthritis, and strains of the ACL, MCL or meniscus.
At the ankle and foot, sprains lead the field, followed by shin splints, Achilles tendonitis (pain at the back of the ankle and heel), plantar fasciitis (that sharp pain near the heel, worst on the first steps of the morning) and heel spurs. The through-line is that these joints work as a chain, and the joint that is shouting is frequently compensating for one further up or down that has gone quiet.
How it shows up.
Does this sound like you?
Tick what you actually feel.
Not a diagnosis, and not a test — nothing here can tell you what you have. It is a list you can take with you, because everybody forgets half of it the moment a doctor walks into the room.
0 things to mention. However many you ticked, the exam is what tells you anything.
What tends to be behind it
01
Overuse
Running, standing all day, a training load that went up faster than the tissue could adapt to it.
02
Injury
Sprains, strains and ligament injuries. The ankle sprain that never fully rehabilitated is a classic source of trouble years later.
03
Wear and tear
Degenerative change in the joint cartilage, most commonly at the hip and knee.
04
Referred from the spine
The nerves running your lower extremity leave the lumbar spine and sacrum. Hip and leg pain is sometimes a low-back problem wearing a disguise.
How care approaches it
What Dr. Meansactually does about it.
Written as aims, not outcomes — because that is all anyone can honestly promise you before they have examined you.
02
Adjust and mobilise
Chiropractors adjust extremity joints as well as spines. The aim is to restore function and range of motion at the joints that have lost it.
03
Bracing where it is indicated
The clinic offers bracing options intended to reduce pressure, provide stabilisation and relieve pain at joints like the knee and ankle — alongside care, not instead of it.
04
Conservative before invasive
Hip and knee replacement is a big operation. It is reasonable to exhaust conservative options first — and equally reasonable to be told when you have.
Chiropractic care is not a cure for any condition on this page, and no honest clinic will promise you one. What Dr. Means can do is examine you, tell you plainly whether this is something chiropractic care is suited to help with, and refer you elsewhere if it isn't.
If you come in
Here is what actually happens.
Step 01
Free consultation
Call or book online and we'll sit down with you at no cost or obligation. Tell us what's going on and we'll start building the picture.
Read this part
When this is not a chiropractic problem.
Some of what looks like hip, knee & ankle pain is something else, and some of it is urgent. A clinic that only ever tells you it can help is not being straight with you. If any of the following is true, do not book a chiropractic appointment — get medical care.
- A joint that is hot, red, swollen, and painful — with a fever. That needs urgent medical assessment.
- You cannot bear weight on the leg at all after an injury.
- A knee or hip that visibly deformed at the moment of injury.
- Calf pain with swelling, redness and warmth — get a blood clot ruled out.
This page is general health information, not medical advice, and it is not a substitute for examination by a qualified provider. In an emergency call 911. See our healthcare disclaimer.
Hip, Knee & Ankle Pain, honestly answered.
Including the questions where the answer is no.
Chiropractors work on knees and ankles?
Yes. Chiropractic training covers the whole musculoskeletal system, not just the spine. Extremity adjusting is a normal part of the work.
Why would my knee pain come from my back?
The nerves that supply your leg leave the spine at the lumbar and sacral levels. Irritation at the root can be felt further down the line, which is why the exam looks at both.
Do I need a brace?
Only if the exam says so. Bracing is a tool for specific situations, not a default.
Should I stop running?
Not necessarily, and not permanently. Load management is usually the answer rather than stopping outright — but that depends entirely on what is wrong.
Often connected
Not sure if this is what you have?
That is what the consultation is for — and it costs you nothing to find out. If it turns out Dr. Means is not the right person for it, he will tell you that too.