Here are my Top 3 Tips for reducing your knee pain and getting back to your favorite spring activities.
#1 – Add in strength training. Often times, knee pain occurs due to weakness in the muscles around your knee and hip. Improving the strength of these muscles is really important to help support your knee and provide the endurance you need for your longer walks.
#2 – Motion is lotion. If you are suffering with arthritis, you may notice some stiffness in your knees, especially in the morning or after you are sitting for long periods of time. My best advice is to try to limit how much time you are spending sitting and try to get up and move once per hour. While sitting, you can also bend and straighten your knee to get some blood flowing.
#3 – Seek help. If you have been struggling with knee pain for a while now, it is worth your time to get it checked out. A physical therapist can assess your knee pain and provide you with a personalized plan to get rid of it and get you back to your favorite activities. Why risk waiting and missing out on this beautiful weather?
Personally, I love spending time outside walking my dog, going to the park and taking a bike ride. If you are like me, you too are wanting to spend more and more time outside enjoying the mild weather and sunshine and the last thing you want to happen is your knee pain to stop you.
Unfortunately, that exact thing happens way too often. In fact, here are some of the things I have heard over the past week at the clinic:
“I am having to cut my walks with my dog short because my knees hurt if I walk for more than 20 minutes”
“I love going to the zoo with my grandchild but I had to miss our last trip because of my knee pain.”
If this sounds like you, you are not alone. Give us a call to see how we can help!