A Guide To Relieving Knee Pain

Knee pain is common in many people for several reasons. The knee joint is a synovial joint connecting 3 different bones: the femur, tibia and patella, and is formed by articulations between them.

Knee pain could be caused by multiple reasons, including a sudden injury, an overuse injury, or even by an underlying condition such as arthritis. While many minor knee pain can be relieved through self-care measures, other pain may be relieved through physical therapy, knee braces or even surgery.

Causes Of Knee Pain

One of the main causes of knee pain relates to aging, injury or repeated stress towards the knees.

While being active is healthy for you and your body, multiple injuries may happen as well, often involving the knees. Some injuries could lead to knee join pain, including: sprained ligaments, meniscus tears, tendinitis, and runner’s knee.

Common Knee Problems

While, as mentioned, many knee problems are the result of aging and wear and stress, other knee problems can result from an injury or a sudden strain in the knee. Some of the common problems include:

Sprained Knee

A sprained knee ligament or muscle is typically caused due to a sudden twist in the knee. This means that the tissues holding the knee together may have been stained suddenly, causing pain.

Some symptoms of a sprained knee include:

• Knee pain
• Swelling
• Difficulty walking
• Knee buckling/instability

How long the knee sprain lasts will depend on the type of knee sprain, the severity of the injury and the rehabilitation program.

Torn Cartilage

Cartilage tears typically occur with sprains and trauma, which results in a tear in the menisci. The menisci are pads of connective tissue that enhance stability and act as a shock absorber.

Symptoms of a torn cartilage include:

• Knee pain
• Swelling
• Knee popping/giving way

Tendonitis

Tendonitis is caused by the inflammation of tendons, which may by caused by overuse of the knees during particular activities such as running or jumping. This is also called jumper’s knee which is often caused from frequent jumping on hard surfaces.

Jumper’s knee, if not treated, will weaken your knee tendons and may lead to tears in the tendon.

Some symptoms of Tendonitis include:

• Knee pain around tendon
• Knee swelling
• Knee pain while jumping/walking
• Knee tenderness behind lower kneecap

Arthritis

The most common form of arthritis is Osteoarthritis, which is a degenerative process which wears away the joint cartilage of the knee. This problem often affects middle-age and older people.

This problem could also be caused by excess stress on joints from repeated injuries. This causes joint damage which can accumulate over time, leading to wear and tear in your joints.

Symptoms of arthritis include:

• Knee pain
• Knee tenderness
• Knee stiffness
• Knee inflammation

How Are Knee Problems Diagnosed?

There are multiple ways to diagnose knee problems including imaging tests such as X-rays, MRI scans, CAT scans, Arthroscopy and Radionuclide Bone Scan. Another way where your doctor can diagnose the pain is through inspecting the knee for swelling, pain, tenderness and bruising.

How to relieve knee joint pain?

There are multiple ways to treat knee joint pain, varying depending on it’s cause. One of which is medication.

Doctors may prescribe medication to relieve knee joint pain while treating underlying conditions such as arthritis.

Another form of relieve would be through therapy to strengthen your knee muscles. This will help to stabilise the muscles around the knee. This can be done through physical therapy or different strengthening exercises, based on the different causes of pain. Particularly in a sports-related injury, you may need particular exercises to help correct movement patterns that may affect your knees.

Other remedies to help knee joint pain relieve is through injections and surgery. As it may not be necessary to have knee operation immediately after diagnosis, you should consider the pros and cons of both nonsurgical and surgical rehabilitation.

There are 3 different types of surgery which could help to relieve knee joint pain, which includes:

• Arthroscopic surgery
• Partial knee replacement surgery
• Total knee replacement surgery

Home Remedies For Knee Joint Pain Relief

If you prefer to use home remedies to relieve your knee joint pain, you can try over-the-counter medication such as ibuprofen and naproxen sodium. Alternatively, you can use knee creams that help to ease knee pain.

When relieving knee joint pain at home, it is important to implement self-care measures to help quicken the relieving process. This includes letting your knees have ample rest and reduce repetitive strain in your knees. Remember to give your injury time to heal to prevent further damage.

Applying ice or heat to the pain may also help to relieve both pain and inflammation. To reduce swelling, prop the injured leg on pillows to bring the swelling down.

Compressing your knee will also help to relieve the pain as it will help to prevent excess fluid buildup while maintaining knee alignment and stability? This can be done through compression bandages. Do note that these compression bandages should be tight enough to support your knee while still allowing for circulation.