Is it possible to prevent knee pain?
It is not possible to prevent Knee pain in every individual. However, following measures can reduce incidence of knee pain, reduce severity of the problem, and reduce injuries in knee joint.
- Maintain healthy body weight: this is another reason to shed your extra pound and work on obesity. Healthy weight is best for your knees. Extra weight in obese individuals put extra load/pressure on your joints (knee joints and other load bearing joints such as ankle, hip, vertebrae etc.) and increase injury and osteoarthritis in joints.
- If you participate in any sports make sure to make yourself suitable for the particular sport. Get help from a coach or professional for preventing sports injuries. Make sure you learn techniques and practice them while playing.
- Make your muscles strong, because weak muscles can cause knee injuries. Make your hamstrings and quadriceps muscles strong for preventing knee injuries, because they support knees. Add flexibility exercises in your workouts.
- If you already have knee problems such as osteoarthritis, chronic knee pain or frequent knee injuries, it is best to change the way you exercise. Try doing exercises that do not involve putting pressure on your knees such as swimming, water aerobics etc. You also should not do any exercise during acute pain. Wait until knee pain subsides before starting exercise regimen. Start slowly.
Home remedies for knee pain:
For knee pain, you can use over-the-counter pain medications such as acetaminophen, ibuprofen, naproxen etc. These may help reduce knee pain. You can also use certain medicated creams for pain relief such as creams containing capsaicin, and local anesthetic agent lidocaine etc.
The following self-care home remedies may be helpful in management of knee pain:
- Compression: this prevent fluid buildup in injured and inflamed tissues. It also help to maintain stability and alignment of knee joint. It should be tight enough to be effective but not too much tight to interfere in blood circulation.
- Ice: it can reduce pain as well as inflammation. While using ice packs make sure to cover whole knee with ice to be effective. Ice pack is safe, but do not use it for more than 20 minutes at a time, because it may damage skin or nerves.
- Keep your injured knee elevated if possible during lying and sitting. It can help reduce swelling.
- Rest: this is very important part of management of knee pain. To prevent repeated use of knee, especially if it is injured, one need to take a break. Rest provide time for your injured knee to heal. For minor injuries, a few days rest may be all that is required. However, for severe injuries rest may be required for much longer duration.
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