Think Like a Nerve, Part 3: Nerve Ecology of the Knee

About this event

Think like a Nerve is an advanced series of 3 classes for manual therapists (LMT, PT, DO, DC's) seeking clearer strategies for assessing and treating peripheral nerves. Each class is 2 hours of anatomy and technique (online or in-person), and can be taken on its own or all together as a discounted bundle .

about part 3: nerve ecology of the knee

A great deal of knee pain may be amplified by, and in some cases wholly generated by, irritated nerves crossing this hard-working joint. Several run in exposed places: the saphenous nerve and its infrapatellar branch on the inner knee, the common fibular nerve as it wraps the fibular neck, the tibial nerve deep in the popliteal fossa, and the cutaneous nerves of the lateral and posterior knee. Injury to the infrapatellar branch is a recognized source of lingering pain after knee surgery. This class maps these nerves from the distal thigh to below the knee, covers the pressure precautions this region calls for, and practices neurodynamic and graded manual techniques for post-surgical, athletic and everyday knees.

about this series

A headache that cascades upward from a cranky neck, the burning ache along a shoulder blade, the knee that still twinges after its tissues should have healed: these cases fill our treatment rooms. We tend to focus on posture, motor control and repetitive stress, but the health of the nerves in these tissues deserves a central place in our reasoning. We regularly find inflammation far more robust than the state of the tissues would predict, and tenderness or guarding that surprises us. Where inflammation persists without clear cause, or pain seems mistuned, we need to understand how to navigate the local nerve ecology.

That takes much more than the classic wiring diagram of spinal levels and target tissues. We need to understand what keeps a nerve healthy, what irritates it, and how to help it return to a calmer, better-resourced state. That clarity makes every method we use safer, and sometimes it decides whether our work helps at all.

Each two-hour class focuses on one region: its major nerves, how they move and what irritates them, and the common conditions where neuritis or neuropathy may be involved. Then we practice neurodynamic positioning, careful palpation of the nerve sheath along its length, and graded hands-on treatment strategies.

Class 1 · upper cervical ecology · Nov 7. The nerves, dura and vertebral dynamics of the suboccipital region, and their part in headache and neck pain.

Class 2 · nerves of the shoulder blade · Nov 21. The nerves supplying the scapula, clavicle and glenohumeral joint, and their role in pain, scapular dyskinesia and rotator cuff dysfunction.

Class 3 · nerve ecology of the knee · Dec 5. Navigating the saphenous, common fibular and tibial nerves, and the cutaneous nerves of the lateral and posterior knee.

Take the classes separately or as a discounted trio. Join in person, live on Zoom, or by recording. We're excited about this new format and hope you can join us.