Those people living with knee pain or a knee injury on a daily basis will tell you that everyday tasks can become an enormous struggle. If you don’t look after your condition, it can worsen rapidly and you may find yourself with serious health problems such as arthritis. We rely on our knees not only for our basic mode of transportation, but for lifting, standing, and even sitting. There are a number of home treatment options for knee pain that could prevent your niggling ailment from becoming a far more serious issue. Here are a few suggestions that will help you.
- Assess the pain. The first step on the road to recovery is learning exactly what kind of pain you have and what it might be that’s causing it. There is no better way to do this than seek professional advice. Head over to OrthoMemphis or your local practitioner and get to the bottom of your knee pain problem by locating where the pain is coming from and understanding how best to remedy it.
- RICE. If you’ve twisted your leg, taken a hard bump or strained your knee during exercise, then home remedy is the best method of pain relief. RICE is the best way to remedy this kind of pain, and i’m not talking about the grain. RICE is an acronym for Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. Rest is obviously the most important thing to do when you have pain in your knees. Continuing to run and adding more pressure and impact will only contribute to your pain. Icing you swollen knees will help to reduce inflammation while a compression bandage or brace and keeping your foot elevated will prevent swelling too.
- Treating arthritis pain. Osteoarthritis is one of the more common causes of knee pain that’s not necessarily related to injury. It’s important to determine whether you have osteoarthritis or a regular injury. As you get older, the cartilage that cushions your joints begins to wear away. Joints can eventually suffer bone-on-bone contact and become swollen, causing a lot of pain. Certain dietary supplements such as a willow bark, turmeric and ginger can help with this kind of pain but there is no way of actually reversing the effects of osteoarthritis.
- Try alternative therapies. There are a variety of alternative treatments and therapies for joint and muscle pain. Tai Chi is an ancient form of mind and body relaxation that works wonders for this kind of pain while also improving your overall flexibility. Watching your weight and generally eating well will help reduce pressure on your joints. Basic hot-cold therapy is a great way to keep your joints from swelling and stiffening up while herbal ointment can help reduce pain significantly. Yoga is a great way to focus on strengthening your body’s core and therefore helps take pressure away from joints.
- Avoid hot baths. Hot temperatures can actually contribute to the swelling of your joints and increase the pain levels. So, for at least 48 hours, it’s best that you don’t have hot baths, or hot showers. Cold showers will even help reduce swelling. After 48 hours your swelling should have subsided a little bit and resuming your hot showers and baths should be okay.