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

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

The Most Common Causes of Knee Pain When Walking
​
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.
​
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!