Bad Knees

Do you feel like you’ve been suffering with “bad knees”? Many people get achy knees as they get older and think it’s something they just have to live with. Initially, it starts off with an ache now and then that is manageable. Understandably they don’t do anything about it and then it progresses to good days and bad days. Eventually it stops them doing the things they love, like exercise classes or walks around the beautiful hills and trails around Glossop. Typically, people have been given painkillers and someone has told them it’s “wear and tear”. And slowly over time their knees are getting just a bit worse. They can feel them on the stairs, and they can feel stiff after sitting a while. And they get told its age related so they presume there’s nothing that can be done. They often struggle walking the dogs over the hills around Glossop and can’t do the things they want to do. They feel frustrated but can’t see a way out. Sometimes they’ve been told different things, by different people, so it is confusing to know exactly what to do. And they don’t know what to do to stop the pain getting worse or what they can do to make the pain better.

This confusion leaves people feeling stuck and then they procrastinate and put off making a decision about what to do to help fix their Knee Pain. Or even worse, many people just end up accepting it as “part of life” – as if it’s normal, as if it “has” to be that way.

Luckily, there’s tons than can be done, knee arthritis is one of the most common conditions we help people with in clinic. We love helping people suffering with knee pain from arthritis because we can make such a big difference to their lives. Which is what we’re all about. We have a patient who was on massive amounts of strong painkillers for knee arthritis and could no longer walk his dogs despite being on 3 different drugs at one time for pain relief. He’d given up hope, but his friend told him to call us. After a couple of months of loosening the tightness around his knees and building up the strength he has completely turned his life around, he’s no longer taking any painkillers and he’s back doing 1-hour walks over the hills in Glossop with his dog, who I’m sure is equally happy to back out walking. We also have patients who have built their knees up to be able to be top 5 in the park run in Glossop despite having knee arthritis.

5 Reasons The Pain Hasn’t Gone Away

1. You thought it would just get better

2. You didn’t know when to exercise and when to rest it

3. Different people gave you different advice, one person told you to do “this exercise” and someone else mentioned “that exercise”

4. You’ve asked some in healthcare, but they didn’t have much experience and didn’t know how to help

5. You’ve tried some “YouTube” exercises, but they just made things worse and you’ve stopped them.

Knee Arthritis and Cardiovascular Health

There are knock-on effects of poorly managed knee arthritis. Having that angry knee that stops you keeping active, so it’s not surprise this has knock on effects to your overall health.

1. With Osteoarthritis you’ll get inflammation as they go hand in hand. It’s believed that this extra inflammation in the system isn’t good for your heart health.
2. Because knee joint pain can limit movement this can limit fitness and, the over-sedentary lifestyle can cause accumulation of fat, increasing the production of inflammatory chemicals and the risk of more heart problems.
3. NSAIDs like Ibuprofen, can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Prolonged NSAID use is known to cause sodium retention, narrowing of arteries, and clot formation, all of which are red flags for stroke and heart failure.

What Can You Do To Get Rid Of Knee Pain?

You’ve had the pain long enough and you want to start getting on top of it and getting back to better health.

1. You have to make a decision, if you’ve had the pain a number of months and it’s not getting better on its own. It’s starting to hurt more and it’s starting to look swollen/ puffy. It’s time to get some real help to turn things around to keep yourself active.
2. Do the right exercises for the stage you’re at. If you see a physiotherapist, they can assess your knee and give you the correct exercises for your knee. Without expert input some exercises will be not the right ones, some will be too easy, and some will be too difficult making your pain worse. When you see a good Physiotherapist, they’ll adapt your exercises to match your ability so they’re just right to get you the results you need. And we can show you how to do them, and let you know how often to do them.
3. Get real physio, not just an exercise sheet, you want someone who’ll properly assess you knee and loosen things off and make a specific plan in combination with you. Get hands-on treatment to free off the stiff structures around the knee, and a specific exercise program tailored you will not only reduce the pain and stiffness but also increase function. So you can walk downhill with less discomfort.

Here’s How We Can Help

• We can assess your knee inside the first session to find out what’s wrong. And explain this to you in an easy-to-understand way
• We can start to loosen things off. People can often feel their knees move more within the first couple of sessions.
• We can reduce your pain so you’re sleeping better and have more energy.
• We can speed up your recovery by adjusting your exercises so they’re at the perfect level for you.
• We can help you get off painkillers by reducing your knee pain
• We can improve your quality of life by helping you get back to enjoying walks with the family.
• We can make you comfier on the stairs, so you don’t have that annoying knee pain when you’re going up and down the stairs.