Why cleaning my teeth is helping my knees

Tweet

My mother burst out laughing last time I visited her when she caught me cleaning my teeth whilst standing on one leg. The term 'flamingo girl' may have been mentioned a few times. I had to explain to her that I saw a physio who gave me lots of exercises that didn't help my knee and one that did - standing on one leg. As a student, I played ice-hockey. I was a goal keeper so my knees took one heck of a bashing and I'm left with not much ligament on the outside of my right knee and a condition knows as 'patella tracking'. Simply speaking - and apologies to any physiotherapists - that means my knee cap doesn't always sit where it should do. My physio told me to stand on one leg for 30 second. And my electric toothbrush pulses every 30 seconds. So I started out doing 30 seconds on my bad leg, then 30 on the good one and then repeat. There goes the recommended 2 minutes of brushing. Then I moved to 60 seconds on the bad one, 30 on the good and a final 30 on the bad one. It sounds daft but it works. And both my knee and my teeth are benefiting.