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What Causes Knee Injuries?
Are you aware that knee pain is usually caused by an acute injury or by repetitive motions that wear the joints down over time? Runner’s stretch is one of the more common causes of knee pain. This is when you grab your foot and bring the heel to your butt. Many people do it as part of their warmup, not realizing that this can be the cause of some knee pain and injuries.
Playing Sports and Engaging in Physical Activity is Fun, but Do It Right
People love sports and heavy activities but don’t factor in the possibility of hurting themselves. Our first priority before starting is to prevent knee pain and injuries associated with sports. Sports enthusiasts often complain about Knee problems.
Some only maintain a healthy physique and but then fail when it comes to taking preventive measures. Fortunately, there are several ways to prevent knee injuries.
To Prevent Knee Injuries, Know Their Risk Factors
There are different ways you may suffer from knee pain and injuries. Accidents cay happen every day, even during a supposedly safe exercise. Scientifically speaking, knee pain and injuries occur due to imbalances around your knee muscles.
In addition to muscles, knee injuries may occur due to kneecap pressure. Dislocation of the patella is common, which results from quadriceps (the muscles that surround the knee) imbalances.
Seven Easy-to-Follow Tips to Avoid Knee Problems
swollen knee
It is possible to prevent knee injuries, except for the ones from accidents. You can avoid the problem in terms of your general habits, recreational activities, and sports. Make choices that will lessen your risks of having knee stress by stabilizing your joints.
Given below are the best ways to prevent knee pain and injuries:
Maintain Your Weight
You may have always asked yourself, “How can I prevent knee injuries”? The answer will come from you. If you have extra weight, more stress will be applied to your knees. Sometimes it is not about your exercise, but rather, of your weight. This video will prove it to you:
Studies published in arthritis and rheumatism have shown that obese adults with knee osteoarthritis can lose one pound of weight, which can result in four pounds of pressure being removed from the knees. This means that even if someone were to lose just ten pounds of excess weight, they could ultimately relieve up to 40 pounds of pressure from the knees. This results in less pain.
Use the Right Shoes for Training
Wearing the right shoes matters in exercising. Trainers to prevent knee injury are available and have always been recommended by doctors. Current Opinion in Rheumatology review stated that the right choice of footwear could reduce pain and decrease knee pressure.
The right shoes will offer you stability and will keep your feet firmly planted. You need to know your foot as well to find the absolute best fit. Wet your foot and set it down on a brown piece of paper so you can see the outline. This will give you a lot of good information you can use to find the right shoes for training. You will see the curve of your foot and if you have a narrow heel or not, for example.
Always Warm-Up
Warming up is the key to keeping your thigh muscles stretched and prepared for exercises. Moreover, it relieves the knees from pressure and tension on your tendons. You can warm your knees by using an elliptical trainer, by cycling or by jogging. This will not only lessen your knee injury risk but also prepare your cardiovascular system for a strenuous routine.
Choose the Right Exercise
There are several exercises to prevent knee injury. It is best that you perform a low-impact exercise. For instance, you can use a rowing machine to strengthen your knees without putting much pressure. In addition, you can consider swimming and walking. Low impact exercise can still work all of your major muscle groups and can increase blood flow and circulation. It is also the ideal exercise for those with arthritic knees, inflammation, and chronic pain.
Never Increase Intensity Fast
Do not be too excited and overdo your exercises. Expediting your fitness goals is best done by increasing your routine intensity gradually. You may use the 10 percent rule in exercising. Every week, you may increase your activity repetitions or duration by 10 percent.
Do Not Decrease Your Activity
You should be building up activity for better health results, and not decreasing. If you worry about your knee pain, be aware that there are knee pain exercises. Exercises for knee pain include knee squats, straight-leg raise, leg cross, and step-ups.
Prevent Knee Injury with the Right Exercises
Just as there are exercises for better knee health, there are also activities that increase risk. Surprisingly, lunges, hurdle stretches, and deep squats can cause knee injury.
Consulting a fitness expert or doctor will give you a better understanding of preventive measures. Bear in mind that your willingness to prevent a knee injury will also help in maximizing your fitness outcomes. In addition, many professional athletes stabilize their knees with knee supports.
Taking Anti-Inflammatory Medications to Treat Knee Pain
The main and most common anti-inflammatory medications for knee pain that you can get over the counter are acetaminophen and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). However, before trying any of these medicines, you want to try RICE (rest, ice, compression, and elevation) to try to reduce swelling and decrease pain.
When using NSAIDs, you may find some side effects like a greater risk of heart attack and stroke. You can also get ulcers, gastrointestinal bleeding, or holes in the stomach if you take these medications for too long.
Physical Therapy and Knee Pain
Through evaluation and assessment, you can find treatment plans that make sense for your knee pain. Your physical therapist can assess the knee pain and teach you ways to decrease the pain while also improving your overall mobility.
Four ligaments support the knee. Two of these ligaments act as shock absorbers, and one is known as the meniscus and is found within the knee. When there is repetitive trauma and injury, it can cause pain in the knee. When you are experiencing this kind of pain, you may also find walking to be more difficult as well as getting up from a seated position or going up and down the stairs.
So, it is important to work with your doctor or physical therapist to determine the type of knee pain you have to find the best course of treatment.
What to Expect
When you see a physical therapist, you will go through a series of evaluations. A gait evaluation will assess how you walk. Palpations allow the therapist to feel for any abnormalities. They will also take range of motion measurements to see how far the knee is bending and if it can be straightened.
Strength measurements are then done to see if there is any muscular weakness that may be the cause of knee pain. Your balance is also assessed because imbalance can cause excessive strain and stress on your knee, and this can result in pain.
Types of Knee Pain
When determining your knee pain, it is important to distinguish between acute, sub-acute, and chronic knee pain. Acute pain is more severe and typically starts one to seven days following an injury. It is essential to rest the knee and let it heal before you put it through motion like that again.
Sub-acute pain happens two to six weeks following an injury, and you will need treatment to help improve your mobility. Chronic knee pain lasts for eight to twelve weeks and needs to be evaluated by your doctor.
If you are experiencing any of these pains, you should see your doctor and physical therapist to get it assessed. Also, by following the 7 easy tips above, you can be more proactive when it comes to your knee joint health.
