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  • Home
  • About
  • What we treat
    • Back Pain
    • Knee Pain
    • Neck & Shoulder Pain
    • Aquatic Therapy
  • Wellness
    • Aquatic Fitness
    • Massage Therapy
    • Small Group Fitness
    • Essential Oils and CBD
    • Juice Plus+
    • Newsletters
  • Blog
  • Contact
    • Talk to a PT
    • Free Consultation
    • Availability and Cost
  • Hiring

Why Do I Get Knee Pain When Walking and What To Do About It?

11/3/2022

 
Suffering with annoying knee pain when walking, finding it harder and harder to do the weekly shop, and missing out on weekend strolls around or festivals?

Knee pain is an extremely common problem for people over 50, and we understand how frustrating it can be.

A lot of patients visit our clinics after seeing their GP and being told to take painkillers and rest, or that it’s just something that they will have to live with as they age…

But what if you don’t want to rely on painkillers, and you don’t want to miss out on spending quality time with your friends and family in your retirement because of nagging knee pain?
That’s where we can help…

In this blog article we will cover:
  • The most common causes of knee pain when walking
  • Simple advice to ease knee pain
  • Quick and easy at-home exercise to help reduce knee pain
  • Natural, drug-free solutions to your knee pain
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The Most Common Causes of Knee Pain When Walking
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Knee pain when walking can be caused by many reasons, but generally the pain will fall into two categories:
  • A sharp, shooting pain behind the knee when walking.  This type of pain is commonly associated with a pulled muscle following a sporting injury, a trip or fall, or an accident. The severity of the pulled muscle will vary, and it may heal by itself, or you may need professional support to recover fully.
  • A dull ache, or throbbing pain behind the knee when walking.  The second type of pain is commonly caused by a condition called Osteoarthritis which causes joints to become painful and stiff. It usually affects people over the age of 50, and it’s the most common type of arthritis.​ After a period of walking (approximately 30 minutes onwards), the knee pain will typically flare up and cause discomfort behind the knee and surrounding area.  If the knee pain is caused by Osteoarthritis, and aggravated by walking, the pain will usually subside after a few hours once you have stopped.  However, if you have a particularly busy day (relative to your normal life), then the knee pain may last for several days.  For example, if you do the weekly shop, have a lot of housework to do, and then take the grandchildren out to the park, you may find knee pain lasts for days afterwards.

​Fast Knee Pain Relief

There are some simple things you can do for fast knee pain relief that don’t involve reaching for the painkillers.

When you are suffering with knee pain, especially stiffness, the application of heat can be incredibly beneficial – Use a heat pack to the affected knee for 15-20 minutes which should reduce stiffness, and will likely provide fast knee pain relief.

If you are having sharp pain with each step or swelling in the joint, and ice pack to the front and/or back of the knee for 10 min should decrease pain.

Another important thing to remember is that pain behind the knee when walking will be made worse, and occur more often if you go through long periods of inactivity – so an effective tip can be to keep active (during the day, and throughout the week).

For example, try to avoid sitting for long periods of time each day and aim to move every hour if you find that knee pain and stiffness is a problem for you.

If you feel like you need to increase your activity level, we recommend doing this gradually which will help avoid making the problem worse.

Finally, there are a number of exercises which can be very powerful at reducing knee pain, and minimizing the severity and frequency in future…

​Quick And Easy At-Home Exercise If You Suffer With Knee Pain When Walking
Watch Catherine demonstrate a quick and easy at-home exercise that you can do if you suffer with knee pain when walking. This exercise is very safe for people of all ages, and helps to stretch tight muscles, and loosen stiff joints which should reduce discomfort behind the knee.
  1. To start, sit on a chair
  2. By bending one knee, bring your heel under the chair as far as you can
  3. Hold the position for one second (you may feel a stretch on the top of your leg)
  4. Gently straighten your knee with a focus on pointing your toe toward you
  5. Hold the position for one second (you may feel a stretch on the back of your lower leg, or the back of your knee/upper leg)
  6. Return to the starting position
  7. Repeat for 10 repetitions, and do the same for the other leg​​

If your condition or injury is relatively minor, then applying the advice of keeping active, and regularly exercising may be enough to strengthen the muscles surrounding the knee, and avoid the knee becoming stiff and painless.
However, if your condition or injury is more severe and the discomfort is getting worse, you may benefit from some more advanced pain relief techniques, and more specific exercise tailored to your individual needs…

Start Your Journey To A Life Without Knee Pain
If you realize that your knee pain is only getting worse, and you are missing out on creating treasured memories with your friends and family and you want expert help for your knee pain in the New Orleans area, take advantage of  a FREE taster consultation today.
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A taster consultation is the first step to a happier, healthier and more active life so click the link below to arrange your Free Discovery Visit!

Whoever Said These Were the “Golden Years”....Did They Know What They Were Talking About?

4/22/2021

 
We are getting older every day, whether we like it or not, and aging frequently brings on new aches, pains, and changes in our bodies that we aren’t very keen about.  But with the right type and amount of physical activity, we can help stave off many age-related health problems and continue to do the activities we love.  Research done in the Louisiana Healthy Aging Study in 2013 shows keeping active outside the home with social activities and clubs directly correlates with long term physical health.  So the two mirror each other... staying physically fit keeps us doing things we enjoy, and doing things we enjoy helps keep our physical independence and mobility. 
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Here are 7 tips from a Physical Therapist to help you "Age Well" and enjoy the Golden Years.  

  1. Chronic Pain Doesn't Have To Be The Boss of You.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2016, an estimated 20.4% (50 million) US adults experienced chronic pain. We focus our treatments to address chronic pain without addictive pain medicines or medications that make so drowsy you can’t function.  A physical therapist-supervised exercise program addresses mobility, strength, and pain management while moving and at rest, improving your overall quality of life.  We help you be the boss over your symptoms.
  2. You Can Still Build Muscle Strength When You Are Older.   Just because you have gotten weaker or lost muscle mass with age doesn’t mean you can’t build strength with what you have.  Multiple research studies have shown increased strength and actual muscle cellular growth with resisted training.  Sometimes, the biggest challenge is getting over our own belief that you are “too far gone” or “too old”.  Our physical therapist and personal fitness trainer can get you started at the right place and give you the right amount of push to build strength. 
  3. Surgery is Not Always the Answer.  The phrase “At some point, you will need surgery” is probably overused by physicians.  If you aren’t at the point where you need surgery now because you can’t function, there are always non-invasive, non pharmacological options.  We can help you figure out what might work best for you. 
  4. Exercise and Strength Decreases the Risk of Falls. According the the CDC, approximately 1 in 4 adult over the age of 65 had a fall last year.  Falls can affect someone physically and well as decrease confidence in one’s own safety which leads to more inactivity.  But falls are not a normal part of aging, they are a part of deconditioning, therefore - they are PREVENTABLE!!  
  5. Bone Strength DEPENDS on Physical Activity and Weightbearing.  Osteoporosis or “frail bones” are a result of many factors, but without tension placed on the bones you can be confident that they will decrease in density.   According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation it affects more than ½ of American women and ¼ men over the age of 50.  
  6. Our Hearts Desire Exercise.  Heart disease is the #1 cause of death in the US, and exercise has been proven as the top way to prevent it.  For those who are already suffering from heart disease or high blood pressure, appropriate exercises guided by a physical therapist or exercise physiologist is one of the treatments to improve your health. 
  7. Our Brains Crave Exercise.  This past week, one of my patients spoke of her previous visit and exclaimed “My brain felt clearer than it has in months after I finished my session !” Yes!  Increased blood flow to the brain helps us think more clearly as well as regulating mood.  In addition, people who are physically active, including in the later years, have a decreased risk of dementia and Alzheimer's.  

So what’s the common denominator here?  Exercise and Physical Activity.  

If you need some guidance to get started, keep active, or just need a push to the next level, call for help at 504-313-6502 or leave us some information and we will call you!  Physical Therapists are Movement Experts and our fitness trainers can also set you up with a program and some accountability!
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Knee Arthritis Doesn’t Mean the End Of An Active Lifestyle, It Means You HAVE to Stay Active

3/16/2021

 

Knee pain is one of the most common diagnoses that I see in the clinic and more often than not it is due to arthritis.  One source states that up to 2 million of the 14 million people with knee pain from arthritis are UNDER the age 45 when diagnosed.  But getting that diagnosis doesn’t mean you have to stop walking, running, or living an active life, it means you have to be active to take care of your knee joints.  You have a lot of years of road life left on the knees and taking care of them now can prolong or avoid any future disability or discussion of surgery.  

So what exactly is Osteoarthritis (OA)? It is a progressive disease caused by inflammation and degeneration of the knee joint that worsens over time.  The inflammatory process affects the entire joint: bone, cartilage, and ligaments and muscles.  Progression of arthritis is affected by many factors: body weight, bone structure, genetics, previous injuries, muscle strength, and activity level.  I highlight the last two on the list because that’s how you (with the help of your friendly neighborhood physical therapist) can best manage the symptoms and progression of OA.  Weakness and inactivity only speed the progression of the joint degeneration and lead to more pain. 

Obviously, each person experiences pain differently, but there are a few common themes that I hear from our clients.  Pain is usually triggered with standing or walking for long periods of time,  stiffness after sitting in a chair or in the car for a prolonged period, or frequent popping or cracking when moving the knee.  Because the knee is a weight bearing joint, the pain is usually worse when going up or down stairs or standing on hard surfaces (think tile floor in the kitchen without shoes).  

Knee OA is diagnosed by imaging: X-ray or MRI, but a physical therapist or physician can identify the symptoms with a clinical exam and by asking about medical history, looking at your strength, flexibility, swelling, and performance of activities.  

So back to what you can do… strength is super important to manage the symptoms of OA.  Strengthening the muscles around the knee gives you better stability and less joint forces going through the arthritic areas.  Less joint pressure usually means less pain and more activity.  Many clients tell me “My knees are strong, they just hurt”, but when I test them I usually find weak hips, tight hamstrings, and tight ankles.  All those joints are essential to good movement mechanics and decreasing joint forces that can further progress OA.

The biggest challenge is getting started.  If your knee hurts, the last thing you feel like doing is exercising it, right?  That’s where a physical therapist can help.  We find the balance of exercises and activity duration that will begin to lubricate the joint, restore muscle activation around the joint, and improve muscle balance for more efficient movement without irritation and additional inflammation.    

We have many tools in our bag besides exercise to get you started without irritating the knee. We frequently use Kinesiotape to provide some extra support until your own muscles kick in.  We also use manual techniques, stretching, and all natural topical pain relievers to manage pain symptoms until tolerating strengthening exercises.  My favorite tool of course is the pool, where we can take away up to 90% your body weight off the knee and hip joints in order to allow for pain free walking and exercise.  

If you want more information about effects of OA, the basic exercises to start managing knee pain, and how to become active again, give us a call!
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    We help active adults get back to exercising, feeling fit, and participating in the activities they love without medications, injections, or surgery.

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    Catherine Courtney, PT

    Specialist Physical Therapist

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