About 25% of adults experience chronic knee pain, with osteoarthritis being the most common cause. Other common causes of knee pain include injury, overuse, and inflammation.
Knee pain is not only common; it can also be problematic. It can prevent you from doing things you love, like participating in sports and even just walking and performing everyday tasks. Fortunately, there are ways to treat knee pain. The first step is as simple as not doing things that can aggravate it.
Fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon Bryan King, MD, and his team at Tuscaloosa Orthopedic & Joint Institute can help you reduce or prevent knee pain by eliminating these five bad habits that may be aggravating your knee pain.
If your shoes are too big or too small, they can make walking uncomfortable. If you’re wearing uncomfortable shoes, it can affect your gait, putting pressure on one side of your body. This imbalance or awkward gait can lead to knee pain and stress.
Excess weight puts pressure on your joints. By maintaining a healthy weight, you can reduce your risk of joint pain and stress. One study found that obese or overweight adults who lost weight significantly slowed the rate of knee cartilage degeneration.
While you may think that you shouldn’t exercise when your knee hurts, proper exercise can actually help your knee. Low-impact exercises such as swimming, rowing, weightlifting, and walking can help make sure your supporting muscles stay strong. Weak muscles can lead to more injury.
The right exercise is good for your knee, and the wrong exercise, such as running, can put too much pressure on your knee. Likewise, doing deep bends and squats for exercise for leisure, as with gardening, can exacerbate knee pain.
Pain is a sign that something isn’t right. Unfortunately, taking the approach of “no pain, no gain” or deciding to “work through the pain” can do more harm than good. In some cases, knee pain just requires ice and rest. In other cases, there may be more severe damage that needs to be addressed by a doctor.
In any case, if you experience knee pain, you shouldn’t ignore it.
Does your knee hurt? Call Tuscaloosa Orthopedic & Joint Institute in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to make an appointment with Dr. King for an effective and personalized treatment plan.
