Unfortunately, knee pain doesn’t discriminate. You might be able to run marathons or climb mountains with no issues, but if you do any activity that involves jumping, twisting, or repetitive motions, your knees may feel pain at some point. The good news is that there are a lot of ways to treat knee pain, including physical therapy, massage, and other forms of bodywork.
The most common causes of knee pain include many sports-related activities, such as not lifting heavy objects with the proper technique, running without working on muscle flexibility, using the incorrect pair of shoes, or exercising without warming up. Degenerative arthritis is also a trigger of this condition, and it can start if you have a knee injury and do nothing about it for many years.
If you have severe or chronic knee pain, you should see a doctor to determine the source of the problem. The good news is that there are some effective treatments to reduce the pain and help you get back to your normal life. One of them is physical therapy. In addition to exercises designed to strengthen your muscles and improve your balance, your physical therapist may suggest other treatments like medication to help reduce the pain. A physical therapist may also recommend injection therapy to reduce inflammation and pain when no other treatments work, and in most cases, conservative treatment is enough, but some patients may require knee replacement surgery.
However, why treat something you can prevent in the first place? After reading this article, you will have some basic tools to help you reduce the risk of inflammatory and structural problems that will require medical treatment or surgery. If you follow these simple recommendations, you’ll be on your way to maintaining your knee health for a more extended period unless there’s already a degenerative process going on. And still, if that’s the case, there’s much you can do to slow down the progression of the disease.