4 Ways to Treat Knee Pain
Enjoy this “Get Healthy!” post from your Lake Forest chiropractor, Dr. Craig Stutzman.
Knee pain is complex and causes can vary greatly.
Knee pain can be caused by many things - a direct injury to the knee itself, weakness and imbalances in certain muscle groups, tightness in others, etc.
Although knee pain and its remedies all vary, here are some things that you should do, regardless of what type of knee pain or injury you have.
Here’s 4 ways to treat your knee pain.
1. See your physician.
For any injury, see your physician.
Some injuries in the knee can only be properly diagnosed with an X-Ray. Some only through various movement testing.
Only a trained physician will know how to test your movements, prescribe the right treatments and therapies, and order any additional screening or tests needed.
If your physician isn’t testing your movement when you come in regarding your knee pain, you need a different physician. Knee injuries and causes of knee pain are incredibly diverse and often require both physical testing and scans.
If you are to only take one thing away from this article, take away this point:
If you have pain in your knees, see your physician.
2. Get an adjustment.
The body is connected. Issues with one body part will create issues for another. Although chiropractors are thought of as spinal physicians, chiropractic care treats the whole body as issues in the spine create issues elsewhere.
Check out this image here to see what I mean - each vertebrae in the spine is connected to major parts of the body.
If you have issues with your kidneys, it’s very possible you have a subluxation issue or worse with vertebrae D10. For issues with the knees, issues with the sacro can be a major factor.
See a chiropractor and get an adjustment, regardless of where you are injured and what type of injury you have.
Your knees will thank you.
3. Full body stretching.
Of course, you should be intuitive here and listen to your physician, first and foremost. If he or she says no stretching, then you should listen and save these next 2 points for when you are cleared to start moving again.
With that said, if movement is allowed at this point in your therapy, you should begin full body stretching.
Like I mentioned in point #2, the body is connected. Tightness in one muscle group will lead to body imbalance, which creates tightness and tension in other muscle groups.
Many issues in the knee are caused by overly tight ankles, hip displacement, etc. Pain in one part of the body can and will lead to pain in other parts of the body.
I recommend light yoga to start.
4. Strengthen your leg muscles.
Strengthening your leg muscles is crucial for rehabilitating your knees and for preventing future injury and pain.
Your physician should prescribe you the leg exercises that you need, depending on your type of pain and injury. Some knee injuries are caused by overly weak hip flexors or overly tight hamstrings - each cause will have a different movement remedy.
Listen to your physician and make sure they have given you an exercise gameplan for when you are ready to begin your physical rehabilitation for your knees.
Thanks for reading these tips, I hope they help you or someone you love fix their knee pain!
Stop by at Mission Hills Chiropractic in Lake Forest, CA, and we can talk recovery, health tips and more.
Dr. Craig Stutzman is an expert chiropractor, practicing daily in Lake Forest, California at his clinic, Mission Hills Chiropractic. He’s also an expert surfer, practicing weekly on the beaches of Orange County.
Dr. Stutzman, along with Dr. J and Dr. Gooing at Mission Hills, have a mission to help people get and stay out of pain with regular chiropractic adjustments.
Some people say these are the best chiropractors in Lake Forest or even the best chiropractors in Orange County. We agree with those people.
Looking for the best chiropractors in Lake Forest? Look no further than Dr. Stutzman and Mission Hills Chiropractic, Lake Forest chiropractors.