Relieve Knee Pain
Practical Method To Relieve Knee Pain At Home .. And When To See A Doctor?
Knee pain is a problem that faces a lot of people of all ages, not the elderly only. Its causes differ as it may be due to rheumatoid arthritis, gout or any infection and may be a result of any injuries or a hard trauma that lead to torn ligaments or joint sprain.
Knee pains may be simple and can be treated by physical therapies, wearing knee support or taking analgesics to acute pain which needs surgical interference.
Symptoms of knee pain:
Symptoms differ according to cause, but maybe appear as:
- Swelling of the knee.
- Redness and warmth of the area surround your knee.
- Stiffness in the knee joint.
- Inability to fully straighten your legs.
- Feeling extreme pain while standing and sitting.
- Pain feeling once touches your knees.
You can do some home remedies if these symptoms are not extreme:
- Use a topical ointment at the area of pain such as: voltaren, or Take analgesics like ibuprofen to relieve pain sensation, but just take care because overuse of taking analgesics is harmful to stomach.
- Buy a knee support because it will help you to relieve your knee pain by pressing without obstructing blood flow.
- Take enough rest and do less daily activities.
- Use a thermal pillow at the area of pain, this will help in temporarily relieving pain.
- Put an ice bag on your knee to relieve pain.
- Massage your knee to yourself or by home massage devices to improve blood circulation.
- Release extra weight which may be a load on your legs and knees.
- Avoid sitting on low chairs or sofas because this increases knee pain.
- Sit in a resting position and put a pillow under your knee during resting or sleeping.
But When should you see a doctor?
- If your knee pain occurs as a result of an injury, trauma or accident; this is because the doctor will ask you to make sure there is no bone fracture.
- Accumulation of fluids leads to an obvious swelling in your knee due to osteoarthritis and knee roughness.
- Inability to stand up because of the extreme pain.
- Inability to fully straighten and bend your knee.
Then the doctor will do his clinical examination to prescribe a suitable medication.
Medical treatment of knee pain:
- Non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs NSAIDs: These drugs help in reducing pain feelings such as: ibuprofen, naproxen and diclofenac.
- Corticosteroid injection: Cortico refers to cortisone and steroid refers to anti-inflammatories which means this treatment is used if the knee pain is a result of inflammation.
- Hyaluronic acid injection: Hyaluronic acid is a natural substance in cartilage and surround the joint which is responsible of flexibility and easily movement of our joints, but in case of knee roughness this substance decreases and friction occurs causing knee pain, so in this case the treatment is hyaluronic acid injection in the cartilage.
- Injection of plasma: The plasma of the patient is used by taking a blood sample in any laboratory, this sample is centrifuged to take the plasma rich in blood platelets. There is a study that refers to the importance of blood platelets in regeneration body cells if it is injected in an affected area, so it is also used to be injected in the knee to relieve knee pain.
If these treatments did not help, doctors may suggest practical surgeries.
Practical surgeries of knee pain:
Arthroscopic surgery: This surgery is simple mostly for those who are less than years old. Doctors make small openings in the knee to remove excess fluids and debris of bone friction and repair knee joints.
Partial knee replacement surgeries or unicompartmental arthroplasty: A small opening is done near the damaged area of knee for a partial removal of the knee joint and may be replaced by an artificial one made of metal or plastic.
Total knee replacement: This surgery includes replacing the knee joint with an artificial one.
After talking about knee pain we suggest using knee support braces once you feel knee pain as it helps to reduce complications and the feeling of pain, and another advice taking any medication must be under doctors’ supervision.
Sources: mayoclinic
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