Knee pain can have a variety of causes, including injuries, overuse, or underlying medical conditions. Some common causes of knee pain include:
- Injuries: Knee injuries, such as ligament tears, meniscus tears, or fractures, can cause sudden or gradual knee pain.
- Arthritis: Osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and other types of arthritis can cause knee pain and stiffness.
- Tendinitis: Inflammation of the tendons around the knee can cause pain, especially with movement.
- Bursitis: Inflammation of the bursae, small fluid-filled sacs that cushion the knee joint, can cause pain and swelling.
- Patellar tracking disorder: When the kneecap (patella) is not aligned properly, it can cause pain and discomfort.
- Osgood-Schlatter disease: A condition that affects young athletes and causes pain in the area just below the knee.
The following are some tips to help prevent knee pain:
Exercise regularly: Regular exercise helps to strengthen the muscles around your knees, providing support and reducing the risk of injury.
Wear proper footwear: Wearing shoes that fit well and provide adequate support can help prevent knee pain caused by poor alignment or shock absorption.
Warm-up before recreational activities such as golfing, pickle ball: Warming up before any physical activity can help to increase blood flow to your muscles, reducing the risk of injury and knee pain.
Use proper technique: When engaging in sports or exercises, use proper technique to prevent undue stress on your knees.
Avoid overuse: Avoid overusing your knees by taking breaks and resting as needed.
Incorporate low-impact exercises: Activities such as cycling, swimming, and yoga are great for building strength and endurance in the knees without putting undue stress on them.
Stretch regularly: Stretching helps to improve flexibility and reduce the risk of knee injuries.
By incorporating these tips into your lifestyle, you can help prevent knee pain and enjoy a healthy, active lifestyle. However, if you experience persistent knee pain or discomfort, it is essential to seek medical attention from a qualified healthcare provider.
Physiotherapy can be an effective non-surgical and non-pharmacological treatment option for knee pain, as it can help to reduce pain, improve joint mobility, strengthen the muscles, and improve activity and function.
At Physio Care Owen Sound, we will do a complete physical assessment to determine the underlying cause of your injury through a variety of tests including your strength, joint range of motion, patellar tracking and stress tests for the meniscus and ligaments. We will review any imaging reports that you have such as an x-ray or MRI to corroborate our findings with our assessment. We will discuss our findings with you and then start your treatment.
Our physiotherapy techniques to treat knee pain would include using modalities such as Therapeutic Ultrasound, LASER, Dry Needling, and Shockwave Therapy to facilitate inflammation, collagen synthesis, and the overall healing process.
We would use appropriate manual therapy techniques such as joint mobilization and soft tissue mobilization to reduce pain and improve mobility.
If needed we would fit you with an appropriate knee brace to unload the stress on the meniscal and ligament structures so that you can move around with less pain.
We will teach you specific exercises to improve strength, joint mobility, and agility. It is important to focus on the hips and ankles as much as focus on the knees as weakness and tightness in the hips and the ankle will affect the knee as well.
We will discuss ergonomic strategies to modify activities that cause repetitive stress on the knees.
The goal is not only to resolve the knee pain but to prevent its recurrence as well.
If you have knee pain, book an appointment today with one of our physiotherapists to help you get better and get back to doing things that you love.
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This article was written with the help of open.ai and was vetted for accuracy by a Registered Physiotherapist before publishing. This article is not intended to replace any medical advice, if you have knee pain you are advised to consult your health care practitioner to arrive at a diagnosis and a proper treatment plan. Thank you.