Knee Pain: Natural Treatment Works Best
Knee pain is very common in modern life. This is not surprising since knees provide major support for walking, standing and getting up from sitting or lying down. They are also at risk of injuries from bumping into hard surfaces or twisting the wrong way. Pain in the knees ranges from a dull ache to intense pain that prevents even walking.
Most of the time, natural methods can help knee pain. These include self-care people can do at home. They also include natural medicine. In a few cases, however, medical treatment, including surgery, may be necessary.
Accompanying Symptoms
In most cases of knee pain, there may also be additional symptoms. Here are some of the things to notice:
Swelling of the knee due to inflammation
Stiffness in the knee joint causing weakness, instability and reduced movement
Popping or crunching sounds whenever the knees are moved
Possible Causes
Knee aches and pains do not always happen from just one cause. They can also happen from a combination of reasons at once. These reasons include:
Injuries: Injuries cause ligaments, tendons and sacs of the knee joint become inflamed.
Structural Problems: These also add to knee pain. Moving the wrong way can lead to locking knees, dislocated kneecaps, and hip or foot pain going to the knees.
Arthritis: Inflammation is at the root of arthritic pain. Many things can cause inflammation.
Other problems can also lead to pain in the knees. These include tightness of the muscles of the leg.
Natural Treatments Recommended
Fortunately, there are effective natural treatments for knee pain. To get the best results, it is important to choose the right method of treatment. At the same time, it is a good idea to treat the accompanying symptoms of such pain.
You may be asking why we do not recommend medications as first options for most knee pain. This is because there are considerable risks of side effects. And they are not always effective in relieving the pain. On top of that, these drugs do not take care of the underlying problems that caused the pain in the first place. For example, injections of corticosteroids into the knee joint are not effective in all cases, not to mention carries the risk of infection that can aggravate the pain.
The following natural treatments have high levels of safety, efficacy and affordability:
Resting the knee joint to avoid placing more pressure on it. This allows the knee to heal.
Applying ice on the affected knee to reduce the pain, swelling and inflammation.
Using compression methods to prevent fluid buildup.
For some people, nutritional supplements containing glucosamine and chondroitin are effective. Acupuncture can also provide long-term relief from knee pain. In time, your knees should feel better and look healthier.