Big Summits and Burning Knees - Patient Success Story

Another successful summit was in the books for local mountaineer Brad Rimpela. Despite the clear skies and great views from Mt. Whitney, Brad had a dark cloud descending on him quickly. That dark cloud was his anticipation of the burning knee pain that he knew awaited him the entire climb down. The pain was so excruciating that he didn't know if he could even continue down. 

A few years ago, 43 year old Brad changed gears from power lifting to big mountain summitting. He set a goal to summit 5 mountains on 5 different continents. His resume touts impressive summits to include Mt. Rinjani in Indonesia at 12,224 ft, Mt. Rainier at 14,410 ft, and Mt. Whitney at 14,505 ft. Prior to Mt. Whitney, Brad was full speed ahead to knock out this goal. When his knees started burning on Mt. Whitney’s descent, he began to seriously question if he would be able to continue his big mountain summits.

Three weeks after his descent from Mt. Whitney, he was limping, wearing knee braces, and still had severe pain. A trip to the doctor’s office left him feeling even more defeated with only a prescription for pain pills and a sheet of exercises that “may help”. Although he desired to climb more mountains, mentally he had relegated his dreams of any more big summits and settled for small hikes with his young kids. The searing pain of his Mt. Whitney descent stuck in his psyche as a mental wall for 3 years. 

A smoldering desire to finish what he started sparked a 40th birthday present - a trip to Africa to see if he could make it to the "roof of Africa". Standing at 19,344 feet, Mt. Kilimanjaro would be his tallest summit yet, so he wanted to make sure he was as prepared for it as he could be. Not only did he know that he needed to get his knees in order, he also knew that his body needed to be conditioned for the suboptimal high altitude oxygen levels.

The severity and history of Brad’s knee pain indicated that he had quite the hole to climb out of before he could even start to think about climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. If you can imagine a 2x4 board squatting or bending over to touch his toes, then you have an idea of Brad’s flexibility at the start of this journey. The sedentary nature of his desk jockey position at the bank didn’t help anything either.

Burning pain on the outside of the knee is often the result of issues with the IT band. A common misunderstanding for addressing IT band pain or tightness is to stretch and roll the IT band. The results of this approach typically end with unnecessary discomfort and unnecessary disappointment. 

Instead Brad started with stretching and rolling all of the muscles around the IT band - the front and back of the hip and thigh. The goal was to reset his muscles and joints to move as they were designed to. Once this was achieved, the next goal was to restore the strength and stability of his hips, knees, ankles, and back too. Once countless lunges, squats, single leg RDL’s, and Bulgarian split squats (to name just a few) were dialed in, he started to reload his movements with weight and speed.

There wasn’t a stone left unturned in Brad’s preparation. Whether it was at the Wellness Center at North Park, his favorite local trails, or the floor of his living room, he was constantly focused on a successful and pain free trip to Africa. Once or twice a week, he worked on strengthening with a personal trainer before work. Once or twice a week, he worked on mobility, strength, and coordination with a physical therapist after work. Every evening, he diligently worked on his flexibility and endurance. Most weekends, he was logging miles on as many trails as he could on Mt. Spokane or in Riverside State Park with his weighted vest or loaded pack.

After 4 months of intense training, Kilimanjaro was finally calling Brad’s name. Was all the training and physical therapy going to put out the fire in his knees during the descent? Were his lungs conditioned for the low oxygen levels awaiting him? You better believe it! Not only did he blaze through the thin air to the summit, he enjoyed the entire descent without a hint of knee pain! The remaining brick of that wall of doubt was finally removed! 

He already has his next big mountain on his calendar! Aconcagua is in his sights for 2023! Being the tallest mountain in the America’s, Brad has his work cut out for him once again!