"I Have Knee Pain Issues......and my knee pain is too much for me to walk! What can I do?" Your pain is most understandable and we both feel your pain totally. Yoko has overcome a serious MCL/ACL injury and Geoff a 90% tear of his quad tendon. Believe us - we feel your pain! However this is about your pain, not ours. So let's see what you can do to overcome your pain and get you walking again. Do you know... The Cause Of Your Knee Pain? Is it:
Let's get back to some of these causes of knee pain in a minute. Right now though what is the very first thing you need to do? Any ideas? If you said... "See My Orthopedic Specialist" ...you're CORRECT! Why? Because an orthopedic specialist really knows a lot about knees. Your knees have a whole bunch of moving parts and support tissue inside there. They're one of the most challenging joints in your body. If your knee is inflamed or injured and not attended to, it can result in chronic knee pain and instability. You will have to learn how to cope and function with it. Ideally you don't want to have that pain. Think about it. CHRONIC...as in 'FOREVER' pain! You want to avoid that, right? That's why you need to see your orthopedic specialist. She can do a complete diagnosis and give you a rehab plan to follow. She can tell you whether it is serious or not. Her plan will help you get past your knee pain and walking again. Follow that plan faithfully. When you're ready and feel you've 'graduated' from your rehab plan, come and join in one of our Walking Programs! In fact, why not have a look now? There may well be some exercises and movements that are the same as her plan for you. While You're Waiting... ...here's more info for you on some of those causes of knee pain we mentioned. You can have a read while you are waiting to see your specialist! A Knee Injury Did you know that many causes of knee pain, in particular those caused by overuse or physical activity can respond well to self-care? Did you know that in cases where orthopedic surgery is required for a knee injury that your rehabilitation has to start from the time of the injury, not the surgery! Yeah that means while it still hurts. The surgery could happen months after the injury itself! You need to start your physio immediately after the injury (with the guidance of your specialist). First with initial management of the injury and then moving on to improve your strength and range of movement of the knee. This helps greatly in your post op recovery too. It reduces the chances of you having long term problems. Osteoarthritis Osteoarthritis is something that can come about from previous injuries to your knee, especially if those injuries were not treated or recovered from fully. It's also a condition that tends to occur more as we age. When you combine inactivity with a joint that might have been stressed or injured, it just helps make the knee pain worse. The solution? Start exercising it more! This of course needs to be done under the guidance of your specialist. You really want to build up muscle strength and flexibility in the knee. The stronger the knee muscle, the easier it is to reduce your knee pain. The other biggie to help your knee is losing weight. If you carry a little extra baggage, you put a huge amount of unnecessary strain on your knee. Your specialist may suggest a rehab plan that includes walking, weight training and pool work. Pool walking is a great way to get back to walking normally again. You put less weight on the joint. It really does work. Knee Surgery Recovering from knee surgery is NOT fun. Take it from folks that have definitely 'been there, done that'. It is slow. Dare we say 'painfully slow'? Sorry - but it is true! It all comes down to the rehab program your orthopedic specialist and your physiotherapist recommend for you. You MUST follow that to have much chance of walking pain free again. Geoff still has some issues with thickening in his knee after almost 6 years because regular massage has not been applied. Here's an interesting fact. Did you know that recovering from full knee replacement surgery actually can take less time than arthroscopic surgery? In both cases though your speed of recovery all depends on how well you follow instructions from your health professional. How much initiative you take in your healing process also plays a large part. You have to want to heal and do what is necessary to heal. It is a slog, but really worth the effort. Sedentary Lifestyle This of course doesn't apply to you. Right? Glad to hear it! So maybe tell your friend over there that this is for him! Do you see yourself as a classic sedentary 'couch potato' because you have a knee problem? Is it easier to plop yourself down in front of the TV some of the time? It's OK. You can admit it. When it becomes 'most of the time' then your poor old knees, muscles and joints sort of forget what it's like to be active. They get lazy. They like the couch. Sound familiar? How about this? One day you decide maybe it is time to get up off the couch, get a little exercise and go for a nice, brisk walk. Next day your knees are making you pay the price for your folly. You are in pain again. And you think - that's it. I tried. Exercise equals pain. No more exercise. Back to the couch. Wrong! Don't fall for that one. You probably took those achy, underworked old muscles out for too much of a spin before they were ready. You just need to give them a rest and then take them out again - only start a bit slower. Then do a little more. And some more. Make it a habit. A little bit more each day. Build up muscle strength in your knee. Keep it up. With time you will start finding it easier. You really will. Just by getting more active you can do wonders for your knees. Not to mention all of the other Benefits Of Walking you'll be enjoying! When you're ready you can start gently with our Fitness Walking 1 Program if your specialist approves! Let's get right to the point. Carrying extra weight is bad for your knees. Period. (Carrying extra weight is bad for your whole body, your health and well being but that's another story). And most of us have to deal with it. With all the moving parts and bits inside your knee, adding extra pressure on those parts just makes things worse all around. Do you know that even a modest loss of weight can reduce your knee pain by up to 50%? Try this. Get a 10 pound bag of flour, or rice. Rest one hand palm down on a counter top. Put the 10 pound bag on top of your hand. Pretend your hand is a foot and just lift it up an inch or so, move it forward a few inches and put it down. Repeat 10 times. How does your hand feel? Now do the same thing, only take the bag away. How does that feel? Almost done. Now imagine a large rock has just fallen on your hand and it is VERY painful. Put that the bag back on and repeat. How does it feel now? Now for the obvious. Your knee pain is the smashed hand. The bag of flour is your extra weight. 'Nuff said? Is This You? Need to drop a little 'excess baggage'? Our friend Gail specializes in *diet and weight loss . She has some excellent ideas that you might find helpful. Another resource we really like too is Dan's *weight loss advisor website. He takes a little different approach that may appeal to you also. They both offer a wealth of information that I know we find helpful. Now would be a great time to start your Fitness Walking Program. These two initiatives together will do wonders for your health and aching knees! Great good luck! *Diet and weight loss is beyond the scope of our site. We'll be adding links to some of the best quality sites in this field as we research them and verify their quality. Gail and Dan's sites just above are two of these.
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