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Tuesday, October 15, 2024
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How to Keep Your Knees in Perfect Health and Shape

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Did you know that 25% of all American adults have been impacted by knee pain? Issues with the knees are pretty common. They are second in the list of causes of chronic pain. 

Knee pain is most common in people over 50. 25% of adults in that age bracket suffer from this problem. 

Knee pain is a result of many different conditions, one of the most common being osteoarthritis. Of the people diagnosed with this condition, 7.8 million have reported trouble when trying to kneel or bend. 

These numbers are pretty staggering, but learning how to keep your knees healthy to prevent a lot of these issues and pain is possible. Keep reading to find out how. 

Stay at a Healthy Weight

The heavier you are, the more pressure the weight will place on your knees. Maintaining a healthy weight is one of the best ways to avoid developing knee pain and keeping your knees healthy. 

Losing just a couple of pounds can significantly decrease the pressure your knees are feeling and will prevent you from having knee issues in the future. Weight loss is incredibly important if you’re currently overweight. One extra pound of weight quadruples the pounds your knees have to carry.

If you want to prevent the development of conditions like osteoarthritis and don’t want to suffer from knee pain, maintaining a healthy weight is crucial. 

Strengthen Your Leg Muscles  

Healthy knees can only stay healthy if you work to strengthen the muscles in your legs. Doing strength exercise will help relieve the pressure on your knees to minimize any type of pain.

Working specifically on the quadriceps and hamstrings can relieve the pressure on your knees. Doing exercises like squats, about three times a week, will help keep your legs strong and your knees healthy.  

Stretching exercises are also a good way to exercise your legs and keep your knees in the best shape. Practicing yoga stretches can increase your range of motion and prevent your knees from tightening up, this is a great way to prevent future joint pain. 

Stay Active in Other Ways

Staying active is great for your body as a whole and it will help keep your knees in the best shape. While not every physical activity is great for your knees, staying active is a great way to maintain function in a joint without overworking it. 

Some physical activities that can keep your knees healthy without putting too much strain on them include low-impact exercises like cycling, swimming, and walking. It’s also important to do different types of exercises so that you don’t overwork your knees.

Alternate between muscle groups so that your knees get some time to heal. If you want to run one day, try something less draining on the knees the next day, something like swimming. 

Work on Improving Your Posture

You might not think that knee health has anything to do with posture, but bad posture can add strain on your knees. Aligning your shoulders and your hips with your knees and making an effort to stand up straight can help correct your bad posture. 

There are also some activities you can practice to help improve your posture, like pilates and back extensions. These will help relieve pressure from your knees. Working on improving your posture can also help prevent falls that could hurt your knees even further. 

See a Chiropractor

Taking care of your health and staying healthy often requires seeking professional medical help when needed. When you want to improve the health of your knees, you might want to seek a chiropractor for knee pain

If you’re already feeling pain, this might be a sign of a more serious issue. Whether you’re dealing with a meniscus tear or an ACL sprain, or anything else, a chiropractor can work with you to develop the best treatment plan for your pain. This decision will set you on your way back to a healthy knee and can prevent future pain or injury. 

Follow the RICE Treatment

RICE stands for rest, ice, compression, and elevation. When you feel any type of pain, this usually means your body is asking you to slow down or take a break. If you’re experiencing pain in your knee, you should immediately start taking some time off from the high-impact exercise you’re doing and follow the RICE treatment.

This might be all your knee needs to improve. If the pain subsides after a couple of days, you can ease your way back into your high-impact exercise routine. Always remember to mix in some low-impact exercise as well to prevent overworking.

Your Shoes Make All the Difference

If you care for your knees then you’ll make sure to always wear the right shoes for them. The right shoes will give your joints the proper support needed to prevent misalignment and knee pain. 

Make sure that if you’ll be jogging or running, you wear the right size running shoes. It’s always a good idea to ask for a shoe fitting at a sports store so that you’ll get the perfect fit to continue to practice your workouts comfortably.

If you struggle with knee pain and want to get back to the day that your knees are healthy and pain-free, you’ll want to avoid wearing heels as these place a lot of pressure on your knees. 

The Guide on How to Keep Your Knees Healthy

If you want to learn about how to keep your knees healthy, this guide offers some helpful tips. There are many things you can do today to help relieve pain and increase mobility.

Are you looking for more helpful content just like this one? Make sure you check out some of our other articles to learn more!

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