If Knee Pain Is Sabotaging Your Life, See Your Chiropractor
By Sandy Schroeder
Knee pain ranks right up there with low back pain as one of your toughest opponents when it comes to discomfort. Too often, it changes lives and simply defies solution. As it threatens mobility, even simple tasks become difficult. If you, or someone in your family, is battling knee pain, chiropractic may have answers to help.
Stop by The Joint Chiropractic clinic in your community to learn how the knee works, and find ways to deal with the pain.
Understanding the Knee
Arthritis, knee trauma, excess weight, or ligament tears can lead to ongoing knee pain. I have known people who had “bad knees” for years. They struggled along until they had to have real answers to function. If you are in that position, don’t wait, look for the best answers that you can find right away.
When knee pain hits, the knee’s role in keeping us mobile becomes all too apparent. The knee is the hinge between the upper and lower leg. Simultaneously, it needs to be flexible, and stable enough to support the weight of the whole body. If you have a bad knee, you may know what it is like to have a knee suddenly give way. Don’t wait for more mishaps, see your chiropractor soon.
Chiropractic Assistance
In your initial visit, your chiropractor will use a spinal adjustment to correct any misalignments in the body, which may improve knee alignment, and dysfunction in the hip or lower back, which can also impact the knee. Learning how the knee works, and what can be done to reduce pain and hang on to function, may become a multi-faceted attack.
Here are some key starting points from WebMD:
Losing Weight Will Help - For each pound of weight that you have, the knee takes four pounds of pressure. Someone weighing 200 pounds puts 800 pounds of pressure on the knee with each step. So each pound that you lose could give you four times the relief. Check your weight, and consider using a healthy diet to lose extra pounds.
Water Is Mandatory – The soft spongy tissue that lines the knee and absorbs the shock of every movement is really 80 percent water. Becoming dehydrated can impact the cartilage, triggering stiffness, pain and loss of movement. Knee problems often begin with dehydration. Make sure your body is getting sufficient water to keep the cartilage completely nourished.
Movement Is Crucial – Movement is the only way to keep the cartilage alive, allowing the knee to function. Unlike most other tissues in the body, the cartilage does not have blood vessels to supply nutrients. The knee cartilage relies solely on body movement to stay alive, to be healthy and to heal.
When knee pain strikes, it is very tempting to just sit, or lie down, but that will make the situation worse. Moving, at whatever level feasible, will help the knee continue to function. Try for some form of moderate activity 30 minutes a day to keep the nutrients flowing and the cartilage healthy. Talk with your physician and chiropractor to decide what would be best.
If you would like to find out more about chiropractic assistance, stop by your local chiropractor, The Joint Chiropractic. The Joint makes everything simple. A private affordable health care plan eliminates the hassle of insurance. Flexible, weekend and evening hours are available and walk-in visits are welcome. No appointments are needed.
