Your knees are two of the largest joints in your body, which can become quite obvious when they're in pain. If you struggle with knee pain, you are not alone - nearly half of those who have osteoarthritis (OA) have it in their knees (14 million). In fact, the lifetime risk of developing symptomatic knee OA is 45%.
Due to these very large numbers, our team here at Bryant Medical Group wanted to take this opportunity to explore the many ways you can maintain that spring in your step by properly addressing your knee pain.
Here's a look at 5 great tips for combatting knee pain.
1. Beefing up the support
Your knees are some of the largest joints in your body for good reason - they bear a considerable amount of responsibility when it comes to your support and mobility. One of the best ways to promote pain-free function in your knees is to ensure that the supporting tissues, your muscles, are shouldering their fair share of the work.
Rather than relying solely on your tendons, ligaments, and cartilage, you can strengthen the muscles around your knees to take the pressure off the joint. More specifically, you can beef up your quads through squats, leg lifts, and other targeted exerises.
2. Work it out
We know that painful knee joints present challenges when it comes to moving, but sometimes moving is the exact thing you need to do to maintain your health. If you lead a sedentary lifestyle, the tissues in your joint can weaken and inflammation can take hold.
Endeavor to give your knees a little exercise from time to tie, even if it's just a nice walk. This movement will help keep your knees strong and healthy and allow valuable healing resources to flow into the joint.
3. Give 'em a rest
We know we just discussed the virtues of exercising and strengthening your knees, but the flip side to this coin is knowing when to give your knees a break. Just as a sendentary lifestyle can exacerbate knee pain, so, too, can pounding your knees until they hurt.
If your knees are in pain, try exercises like cycling or swimming. Or, take a break altogether and give your knees time to rest.
4. Watch your weight
One of the reasons for high prevalence of knee pain is the increase in obesity in the United States. Your knees are designed to carry a specific amount of weight, and when you add to their burden, it can quickly lead to knee pain.
If you endeavor to lose a little weight, you can reduce the burden on your knees, not to mention improve just about every other area of your health. If you're having problems with weight loss, we can help guide you with a medically supervised program.
5. Come see us
While we've outlined a few things you can do on your own to alleviate knee pain, it's important to have us take a look so that we can share the best practices for relieving your pain and restoring funtion.
To combat knee pain, we take an integrative approach that includes:
As mentioned above, we can also help you slim down if excess weight is affecting your knees.
The bottom line is that our team works with you to ensure that you can maintain a normal, active life that's not affected by knee pain.
If you'd like to learn more about effectively combating knee pain, contact one of our offices in Lafayette or New Iberia, Louisiana, to get started.
