Knee Pain
Knee Pain & Body Weight
One of the most difficult things for your knees to handle is excess body weight. For every pound you are overweight, your knees bear four times that weight. That means if the ideal weight for your height is 150 pounds and you weigh 200 pounds – 50 pounds overweight – your knees are experiencing 200 extra pounds of pressure with each step. But the reverse of this is good news: if you are overweight and suffering from knee pain, even taking off just 5 pounds can have a big impact on the health of your knees.
How Can Chicago Chiropractic & Physical Therapy Relieve Knee Pain and Treat Knee Injuries?
When you see a chiropractor for knee pain, first, your doctor will do a comprehensive evaluation. Don’t be surprised if your chiropractor wants to look at more than just your knee! Our bodies are integrated machines – the hip bone's connected to the thigh bone – and so on. So if something is “off” in another area of your body, it could be causing your knee pain.
For instance, if your spine is out of alignment, it may be causing you to lean slightly to one side or rotate your hips slightly as you walk or stand. This alone could cause your knee to also have to adjust unnaturally and, over time, cause pain in your knee. Other conditions that could cause knee pain are tight muscles, unevenly developed muscles in your legs, hip joint issues, and plenty of other situations that a chiropractor will look for.
Once your chiropractor has completed their assessment, he or she will help you devise a treatment plan. If your doctor has determined that another condition in your body is contributing to your knee pain, your treatment plan will involve rectifying that problem, which, in turn, will alleviate your knee pain. Meanwhile, your doctor will set forward a plan to help manage your knee pain and heal any damage that your knee may have sustained. If the problem is in your knee alone, your chiropractor will determine the right path for your rehabilitation.
Whether the root problem is in your knee or elsewhere, your treatment and pain management plan may involve any or all of the following:
- Chiropractic adjustment to the knee joint
- Applying ice to reduce inflammation
- Soft tissue massage to reduce inflammation and increase blood flow to the area. This will also increase the range of motion.
- Ultrasound treatments
- When practical, gentle stretching and strengthening exercises
If you are suffering from knee pain or have had a recent knee injury, we encourage you to make an appointment to see one of our board-certified chiropractors.
What Kind of Movements Are Affected By Knee Pain?
- Walking upstairs
- Walking downstairs
- Squatting
- Sitting down
- Standing up
- Getting out of bed
- Walking
- Hobbies like playing sports or even gardening
In other words – just about everything we do can be affected by knee pain, and that’s a bigger problem than just a pain in your need. Decreased activity levels can lead to weight gain and loss of muscle strength and coordination. This can affect your overall physical health and make you more susceptible to injury in general. Not being able to fully participate in life, and being in chronic pain can also lead to depression and anxiety. So take care of your knees!