The knee is essentially a musculoskeletal harmonising act between your femur or thigh bone and the tibia and fibula, which are your leg bones and all around are your muscles and ligaments with the intricate network of cells and tissues. When you strain the knee with either a fall, sprain, or an injury of some kind, the knee will become unstable. It can vastly affect all age groups, from babies to the elderly, and can last for a short period to a lifetime.
Sporting injuries, for instance, can cause deeper deterioration or injury damage to the cartilage, which is meant to be the cushioning for your knee. Sometimes when left unresolved, it can get worse causing further weakness to the joints. The majority of these types of issues can be treated by an Osteopath.
Osteoarthritis is also another common problem for having knee pain. It causes the cartilage to degenerate where in severe cases, the thigh bone and the leg bone rub against each other, which can cause the pain in your knee. Because it is difficult to keep active with this type of condition, it tends to get worse with constant sitting or long periods of immobility, putting a strain on it by walking too much and excessive sporting or other impact activities.
Osteopathy treatment for knee pain
Osteopathy treatment is the perfect way to relieve these symptoms. By gently working on the knee muscles, knee joints, and ligaments, the aim is to improve blood and oxygen circulation to these areas while helping to decrease inflammation and swelling. Each individual move has a specific purpose and because our Newark team looks at you holistically, they can assess if there are any other underlying issues with any other parts of your body that are affecting your knee as well.
Along-side these treatments, there are a few other things you can do to manage the pain. These include resting, gentle exercises that the Osteopath will discuss with you, heating and cooling pads or creams and compression support. Apart from these, to lessen the strain on your knee, allowing a normal body weight is also advantageous. Chronic knee pain can benefit from relaxing aqua activities such as swimming, versus high impact activities like racquet sports or gym training which should be minimised or modified to include less stress on the knee, perhaps by trying to wear a knee brace.
The tissues in the body have a memory system that can fully adapt to strain for a long time. However, after some time due to various reasons, this ability starts to take a toll on the knees and if left untreated can get worse and damage even further rendering the knees (or any other part of your body) useless. One thing can lead to another and a simple knee injury can end up hurting your ankles, hips, legs, as well as your back.
Make an appointment to see an Osteopath