Why These 3 Common Quick Fixes Won’t Get Rid Of Your Knee Pain

We see a lot of patients at the clinic who struggle with knee pain.

One of the first things they tell us when they call in inquire about an appointment is that they have tried "this" or "that" but nothing seems to get rid of the knee pain for good. 

A patient called last week and told our front desk:

“I’ve had this knee pain for a few weeks now, I’m not sure what I’ve done to it but I’ve tried taking pain killers and that didn’t help.

I was trying to rest it so that it wouldn’t hurt, but whenever I stood up and started moving, it hurt again so I had to sit down.

Now I’m wearing a brace to see if that helps, but I can still feel the pain when I take it off.

Is there anything else I can do to get rid of the pain?”

We were able to promptly get him in for a discovery visit where he was able to talk to Neil, get to the root cause of his knee pain, and talk about possible solutions to fix his knee pain FOR GOOD. 

We know how frustrating it can be when you’re not sure what you’ve done to hurt your knee, and even more frustrating when everything you’re trying to do to get rid of the pain – doesn’t do a thing to make it feel any better.

Everyone always thinks and hopes that there will be a “quick fix” to their problem.

And because we see people confused, fed-up and even skeptical about what can be done to help with their knee pain, we wanted to address some “quick fixes” for your knees – or for any joint problem, whether it’s your knees, back, neck, wherever, and tell you why they’re no good.

With that said here’s the 3 most common “Quick Fixes” that people THINK ease their knee pain, but that actually do the opposite:

1. Reaching For The Painkillers

When you’re in pain, lets face it, one of the easiest things to do is reach for the painkillers to “kill” the pain, quick.

It’s also unfortunately the first option that your Doctor will give you to help your knee pain.

But the thing is painkillers won’t get to the root cause of your problem and actually do anything to fix it – they just mask the pain instead, which doesn’t help anyone.

And at the end of the day, that pain will still be there when the painkillers wear off. So it’s better to do something to fix your pain long-term instead.

2. Resting

When pain strikes, it’s very tempting to do nothing but rest “in case the pain gets worse”, which means many people end up laying on the couch or in their favorite lazy boy chair watching their favorite TV shows…

But when it comes to knee pain, ‘rest’ actually means to not do ‘too much’.

If you rest too much (and not move much at all), your joints will become stiff and tight, which can make your knees feel even more achy when you try to move them.

To actually help your knee, you could try light exercise like swimming, going for a light walk, yoga or going for a bike ride – basically any low impact exercise will help keep you moving and not place any added pressure on your knees.

And lastly…

3. Wearing A Brace

Things like knee braces should ONLY be used as a last minute resort.

Wearing a brace on your knee on a daily basis to try and ease the pain is actually masking the pain and creating an even bigger problem!

The best way I can explain it is to imagine you have a broken leg or arm and you have a cast put on.

After 6 weeks or so, when the cast is taken off, the muscles underneath are weak – it’s exactly the same as wearing a brace everyday.

Because it supports your joint, it takes the pressure off your muscles, but doing this everyday will make your muscles lazy which will make them weaker.

Once you take off that support because it’s eased the pain, there’s a very strong chance it could come back quicker and worse than before!

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When it comes to your joints, these quick fixes are not the way  to fix your problem long-term. 

If you want more information on how to get rid of your knee pain for good, you can book a free discovery visit (like the patient in the beginning of this post) where you can get to the root cause of your knee pain and see what options there are to fix your knee pain long term. 

To reserve your spot, click here to fill out a short form or give us a call at 989-575-1659. 

If you'd like to some easy tips to start alleviating your knee pain immediately, click here to download our free knee and hip pain guide: https://www.freelandphysicaltherapy.com/knee-hip-pain/