5 Ways You Could be Making Your Knee Pain Worse

Knee pain can affect anyone at any age. From high school to college athletes, professional athletes, middle-aged adults, and senior citizens — knee pain doesn’t discriminate. Knee pain from injury, cartilage damage, or arthritis can prevent you from enjoying the activities you love and negatively impact your quality of life.

Board-certified family physician Lawrence Scott Wilner, DO, and our compassionate team at Summit Primary Care, are prepared to diagnose and treat your knee pain so you can find relief and get back to the activities you enjoy.

We’re here to help you discover the cause of your pain and what you can do to improve it. Knee pain treatment is customized to your unique needs, but you may be doing some things that worsen your issue without realizing it.

1. You carry extra body weight

Almost 69% of Americans are obese or overweight. Carrying those extra pounds puts increased pressure on your knees. If you suffer from knee pain, losing weight can help reduce the pain. In fact, losing just one pound reduces four pounds of pressure on your knees.

2. You sit for long periods of time

If you spend a lot of time sitting or lying down, the muscles in your legs and around your knees can weaken, which contributes to knee pain. While severe knee pain may require resting more than usual, finding ways to get moving without adding stress to your knees can help reduce knee pain. Try walking at a slow pace or swimming.

3. You’re a fan of high-impact activities

If you like to participate in high-impact activities like running or kickboxing, or exercises like lunges and squats, you can put pressure on certain areas of your body that can jar your joints and make your pain worse. It’s important to maintain an active lifestyle, but learning about and using the right exercises can actually reduce knee pain. 

4. You try to push through pain flare-ups

You shouldn’t ignore or try to push through periods of increased pain from arthritis or a minor knee injury. Addressing and treating pain when it occurs help manage it and reduce the amount of pain experienced. 

Use “RICE” therapy at home: rest, ice, compression, and elevation, to calm a flare-up of knee pain. If your at-home treatments don’t relieve the pain, visit us at Summit Primary Care for pain management.

5. Your shoes aren’t supportive

What you wear on your feet affects your knees. Wearing high heels, flat shoes, and unsupportive shoes in general can increase your knee pain. You can try cushioned shoe inserts, custom orthopedic inserts, and supportive sneakers that help reduce stress on your knees by distributing your weight.

Regardless of the cause of your knee pain, the team at Summit Primary Care can help. We offer several options for pain management and knee pain relief including braces and splinting, medication management, cortisone shots, and hyaluronic acid injections.

You don’t have to live with knee pain. Let us help you get back to enjoying your active lifestyle. Call our Denver, Colorado Springs, or Pueblo, Colorado office, or book an appointment online today.