Steps for Fighting Knee Pain

If you’ve ever experienced arthritic knee pain, you know how crippling it can be. It makes even daily tasks excruciatingly painful and difficult. However, scientists are understanding more and more about osteoarthritis and what you can do to help reduce the pain experienced.

 

Exercise continues to be one of the best ways to reduce pain. Exercise doesn’t make the arthritis go away, but it does strengthen the muscles around the joint, protecting the joint and helping make movement less painful. Still, exercise can be painful when osteoarthritis is involved, especially if you’re participating in the wrong kinds of exercise. High impact exercise can have the reverse of the desired effect.

 

Walking, cycling, and swimming are all low impact exercise activities that can have an overall tremendous impact on your physical health. In fact, current research indicates that low impact aerobic exercise is the best way for seniors to stay active, improve their health, and minimize knee pain while doing so.

 

 

A recent study published in The BMJ discusses low impact exercise in more detail. Not only do low impact exercises help improve fitness, they also help to reduce the amount of pain that the person impacted will experience over time. The team stressed that for this to truly be effective, the exercise 

 

Osteoarthritis is one of the main culprits when it comes to chronic pain. About 30 percent of people over the age of 45 suffer from osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is a joint condition in which the protective cartilage that cushions the ends of bones gradually wears down, causing pain, stiffness, swelling, and reduces the movement in those joints. It most often affects weight-bearing joints like the knees, hips, and spine, as well as the hands, and tends to develop with aging, repetitive joint use, prior injury, or excess weight. Low impact exercise can help reduce pain because it helps manage some of these causative factors.

 

Starting on the path to being more active and relieving pain can be overwhelming. Start by talking with your doctor. They can help you understand what is needed and how you can best approach your unique situation. They can also help you to address other health conditions that might be impacting you. This journey might be tough, but no matter where you might be in the process, there are things out there that can help enhance the quality of life that you experience.

 

A care professional might also be able to help steer you in the right direction. We’re here to help you. If you have questions about how in-home care can help your loved one live a higher quality of life, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Our caregivers are happy to talk more with you, answer your questions, and even help get you pointed in the right direction. And we do this all at no cost and no obligation on your end. Helping seniors live better lives is something that we are passionate about. Please give us a call today if we can help you get the process started for your family.