What Can I Do For My Knee Pain?
There are always positive steps you can take to reduce your knee pain.
1. Icing Your Knee
When the pain is greater, icing your knee is very beneficial to numbing the pain and decreasing the inflammation in your knee joint.
To ice your knee, follow these simple steps:
- Raise your knee to at least the level of your hip by resting it on another chair or sitting in a recliner that allows your knee and lower leg to be raised.
- Lay two towels folded in half onto the place on your knee where it hurts.
- Then add the ice pack or ice gel pack, covered in a towel. If you don’t have a professional ice pack, look in your freezer for something that may substitute, such as a large steak. This may sound funny but steaks can work just as well as an ice pack as long as they are frozen! Countless patients have used steaks and also bags of frozen vegetables!
- Cover your knee with another towel and let the ice work for 10 to 15 minutes or until your knee is numb. You only want numbness here not frostbite, so don’t overdo it. The towels protect you from over-icing your knee.
- Remove the ice and towels and begin moving your knee by walking. The pain should be significantly less.
- Repeat the process every hour if you have to.
2. Limit Your Activities
Since knee pain is worsened if you continue walking, jumping, and running, it’s imperative to cut back on your activities that aggravate the knee. As difficult as it is to cut back on sports you love, your knee needs extra TLC when you have knee pain. Give it time for a full recovery.
For example, instead of running 10 miles 5 times a week, cut that amount to a fifth, maybe 2 miles five times a week. Even this may be too much for what your knee can handle so be prepared to give up running altogether for a period of 4 to 6 weeks.
3. Are You Stretching Before Activity?
Stretching the knee warms up the muscles and brings extra circulation to them to prevent extra strain on damaged areas.
- Hamstring Stretch- Stretch your hamstrings by standing in front of a wall but about six to 12 inches away from the wall. Then lean into the wall, resting your forearms on the wall. Hold for 30 seconds. Repeat three times.
- Quadriceps Stretch- Stretch your quadriceps by standing, grabbing your left ankle with your left hand, and pulling your ankle slowly towards your buttocks. You will feel a stretch in the front of your leg in the quadriceps which connects to your patella.
4. Avoid Certain Activities
There are distinct activities that increase the stress and strain on the knee. When you have knee pain, avoiding these activities gives your body a chance to heal. Here’s a list of the activities to avoid:
- running on hard surfaces such as concrete or cement
- running uphill
- running downhill
- jumping rope or jumping up and down (stop jumping on your bed)
- bicycling with the seat too low
- running with worn-out running shoes (Most running shoes have a life of up to six months.)
5. Facilitate Healing While You’re Sleeping
There are certain sleeping positions that can aggravate back problems and knee problems. Even neck problems may be aggravated by certain types of pillows that are exceptionally large and fluffy.
By sleeping with a pillow in between your knees when lying on your side or underneath your knees when lying on your back, you can place your knee in its ideal position, resting it fully.
6. Are Your Feet Flat or Are You an Overpronator?
Flat feet can eventually lead to knee pain. Overpronating your feet when you walk also leads to knee pain. Overpronating means your feet are turning inward when you walk. When your ankles turn inward, the knees follow, placing them in a weak position.
If the arches of your feet have fallen, this makes it easy for your feet to overpronate. By adding orthotics that have built-in arch supports, your arches are boosted up to the place in space where your feet will not overpronate. Many orthotics also have a deep heel cup that assures your foot will be aligned as you walk, preventing foot disorders from occurring. The more you can keep your feet aligned, the less you will be prone to knee pain.
There’s a simple solution to flat feet – adding the proper orthotics to your feet. We can assist you in the selection of these orthotics or even help you customize orthotics to your feet.
7. Check Your Shoes
It’s possible that your shoes have worn down and now need to be replaced. If your shoes are wearing down on the inside of the sole, it will result in your lower legs turning inward and your knees knocking. This puts you at more risk for knee pain, and if you already have knee pain, then worn shoes can worsen it. New shoes may help a lot.
8. Chiropractic
Chiropractic is the best method for aligning the joints in the body and the knee is no exception! Dr. Van Bogart had countless knee issues as a teenager, until she began chiropractic care to keep her knee cap perfectly aligned. Her results were so impressive she actually became a chiropractor because of it!
Chiropractic is a drugless method of natural healing that focuses on alignment of the skeleton and stimulating the nervous system to begin the healing process. Every joint may be manipulated to send proper nervous system impulses throughout the entire body, sending messages to the immune system and every organ to begin healing. And there are no side effects! Chiropractic goes back to the beginning of time, and even Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, recommended it!
Don’t let your knee pain go untreated when natural healing is made possible via chiropractic treatment.
At Desired Health Chiropractic in Anoka, we focus on your sports goals to keep you healthy and strong for any physical adventure you plan to tackle. If you found value in this article we ask that you share with your friends, family, or teammates. Until next time, stay healthy and reach for your goals.