You are walking down a flight of stairs, and suddenly, your knee buckles. It feels like the joint just "gave up" for a split second.
Most people panic when this happens, assuming they have torn a ligament or severely damaged their meniscus. While structural damage is possible, the most common culprit behind a buckling knee is actually a neurological disconnect called Arthrogenic Muscle Inhibition (AMI).
The Brain-Muscle Disconnect
Your knee joint is greatly stabilized by your quadriceps, specifically a teardrop-shaped muscle on your inner thigh called the Vastus Medialis Oblique (VMO).
When your knee is slightly injured, swollen, or arthritic, your brain goes into protective mode. To prevent you from further damaging the joint, the nervous system literally "turns off" the VMO. The muscle is still there, but the electrical signal from your brain is being blocked.
So, when you step down a stair—a movement that requires massive eccentric strength from the VMO—the muscle simply doesn't fire fast enough. The knee loses its support and buckles.
The Fix: Applied Kinesiology + Emsculpt Neo
You cannot fix a neurological problem by doing standard squats. If the muscle is inhibited, other muscles will just compensate, leaving the knee vulnerable.
At Phelts Chiropractic PC, Dr. Phelts uses Applied Kinesiology (AK) to test the exact firing pattern of your VMO. Using reflex points, we clear the neurological blockage, effectively "turning the muscle back on." We also look for other muscle that stabilize the knee, that may not be functioning optimally, and turn those "o"n as well.
Once the brain and muscle are communicating again, we use Emsculpt Neo to rapidly rebuild the atrophied tissue. By delivering 20,000 supramaximal contractions directly to the quads—completely bypassing the painful joint—we can rebuild your "natural knee brace" and stop the buckling for good.
Want to learn more about how we treat knee pain from the top down? Read our main guide: Knee Pain? Stop Treating the Knee and Start Strengthening the Quads .
