What is a Pain Pattern Interrupt (PPI)?
The Backstory
If you’ve read my story you know that I had 4 knee dislocations BEFORE I decided to go to the doctor. The ACL Surgery and Physical Therapy (PT) achieved their goal, which was repair the knee damage. The problem was, I still had pain, tension and instability in the knee. What’s WORSE was a competitive martial artist (Judo at that time), I didn’t have FULL FLEXION in that knee and couldn’t even touch my heel to my butt like I had before. At 29, I was bowing into class like the “old” black belts in their 60s and 70s! The sad part? This was all the conventional medical model had to offer! I was cleared to resume normal activities as long as I wore a HUGE custom fitted Donjoy titanium knee brace! This was not a long term option in my mind and it lead me to seeking out other solutions to solve the problem.
Pain Pattern Interrupts (PPI) explained
The short answer is, they are neurological hacks that allows you to bypass the pain and reset the signal in your nervous system for YOURSELF! They are based on a gentle, Osteopathic Concept of “Positional Release.” PPIs is a term I coined to describe this practice that is not quite an exercise, but more of a principle that helps the body STOP FEELING/FOCUSING ON PAIN, and START TO FEEL/FOCUS ON COMFORT!
They involve subtle movements and adjustments within the joint with the goal of ONLY CREATING COMFORT and never pain – kind of the opposite principle of physical therapy, chiropractic adjustments and deep tissue massage practices where pain is an expectation and you have to power through it…
Here are two videos I think will be of interest. The first one explains a bit more about what a Pain Pattern Interrupt(PPI) is. The second video, the 1 minute Simple knee stretch, demonstrates a PPI. I have recorded 200+ of these pain pattern interrupt videos which demonstrate how to relieve pain/tension/tightness for different parts of the body. Watch these videos and try it. See what you think.