KneesOverToesGuy: From Chronic Pain to Dunking at 34

Early Life and Chronic Pain

• 👴 As a child, Ben Patrick was nicknamed "old man" by his high school basketball coach due to his stiffness and long warm-up times.
• 🏀 He began intense workouts at age 9, but by age 12, he experienced chronic knee pain, hindering his ability to perform fundamental movements like squatting.
• 🤕 By 18, he underwent multiple surgeries, including a partial kneecap replacement and meniscus transplant, leading to a year and a half of immobility and reliance on painkillers.

Discovering a New Approach

• 💡 After his surgeries, his right knee began hurting worse than his left ever had, leading him to a dark place and further reliance on painkillers.
• 🚀 He discovered information from Charles Poliquin, challenging the conventional fitness advice of "don't let your knee over your toes."
• 📚 Poliquin's work suggested that training in this position could actually help prevent injury and aid in rehabilitation.

The Power of Backward Sled Drags

• 🚶‍♂️ The first step to getting off painkillers was backward sled dragging, a movement where the knee naturally goes over the toes.
• 📈 This exercise provided circulation and strength in a knee-loading position without pain, allowing him to reduce his reliance on medication within a week.
• 🏋️‍♀️ He notes that thousands of coached sessions on the sled resulted in zero injuries, highlighting its safety and therapeutic benefits.
• 💡 The concept is that dragging weight, while not ideal for hypertrophy, is safer and less painful for rehabilitation.

Embracing Full Range of Motion

• ⛰️ Patrick also incorporated full range of motion squats, another practice discouraged by traditional basketball training which advised against deep squats or letting knees go over toes.
• 🏀 He observed that approximately 99% of basketball teams do not train with full range of motion squats.
• 🎯 Through self-experimentation with these methods, he was able to play basketball intensely without knee pain.