Can Chiropractic Treatment Help Reduce My Knee Pain?
One of the more common ailments people mention when attending our clinic in Romsey is painful knees. Very often, there’s no obvious cause and doctors and patients alike just put it down to wear and tear. Sometimes, the individual is told they have osteoarthritis and there’s nothing to be done but to rest up and take painkillers. However, if that doesn’t seem to bring any relief or improvement in the condition, don’t despair. Luckily, there are various chiropractic treatments that can help. Here, we look at the causes and solutions to knee pain.
Why Is the Knee Joint Prone to Damage and Pain?
The knee is one of the major weight-bearing joints, supporting the body as you stand, walk, run or jump. It’s a complex joint that doesn’t just move backwards and forwards – it also rotates and twists, and it’s made up of bones, ligaments, muscles, tendons and cartilage to enable it to do so. As we’re increasingly encouraged to be as active as possible and are as a society living longer, it’s almost inevitable that the mechanisms within the knees will wear down and we’ll suffer from injury, soreness or swelling from time to time.
What Happens If I See A Chiropractor About My Knee Pain?
A chiropractor will first take a medical history, and then carry out a full assessment of the body, including the arms, spine, pelvis, hips, ankles and legs. This is because your pain might well be centred on your knee joints, but these other parts of the body all have a direct influence on the knee’s condition too. Likewise, if you’ve been suffering from back pain, for instance, that could be as a result of a problem that’s actually centred in your knees. In order to successfully treat the pain, the chiropractor needs the bigger picture to make an accurate diagnosis, and this requires a full physical and biomechanical examination.
In some instances, the pain you’re experiencing can actually be caused by problems with the lower back, the pelvis or the hips. And if parts of the body other than the knees aren’t performing their function properly, that can result in a greater degree of stress being placed on the knees, which can be causing pain and injury over the longer term. So your chiropractor may recommend treatments for other body areas, to increase the chances of improvement in your mobility, health and pain levels.
Every patient is different and a good chiropractor will tailor their methods to each individual, but there are then three typical stages to treating the condition.
- First, the chiropractor will seek to reduce any inflammation in the joint and lessen the pain. This might include cold therapy (treating the joint with cold packs which reduces pain and swelling), and/ or soft tissue healing through ultrasound, laser or interferential therapy.
- Next, the chiropractor may use manipulation techniques to loosen up the knee and other joints. This will help increase ease of movement as well as reducing pain. Trigger point therapy will identify and treat any muscle knots or spasms that have developed as a result of trauma or overuse of the joint. Massage is another example of a treatment your chiropractor may use to improve your joint function.
- Lastly, you’ll be advised on specific exercises that will help build the knee up and improve its stability, strength and performance over the longer term.
So if you have been suffering from knee pain, don’t think it’s a hopeless case and you just have to put up with it. Speak to an experienced chiropractor in Hampshire about how they could help.