Are you finally ready to do something about the knee pain that’s been holding you back? Unfortunately, you may have been told that pain medications, shots, and surgery are your only options for getting rid of knee pain. This can be discouraging news to hear if you don’t like the idea of using an invasive treatment that comes with its fair share of risks.
The good news is that those aren’t your only options. People are increasingly turning to chiropractic solutions for healing knee pain. While knee pain has many causes, we know that symptoms like pain, tenderness, and loss of range of motion are all telltale signs of a knee injury. When you seek a holistic option like chiropractic care to heal your knee pain, you’ll enjoy a tailored approach to care that looks at your body from a “holistic perspective” that takes into account how the joints, muscles, ligaments, and bones surrounding your knee could be creating pain and inflammation.
Why Chiropractic Care Is Effective for Treating Knee Pain
In studies, chiropractic care has shown positive results for treating pain and dysfunction related to conditions like knee osteoarthritis (OA). Chiropractic care can also assist with aches and pains caused by falls, sports injuries, strains, car accidents, and more. Here’s a look at the different factors looked at by chiropractors when treating knee pain:
- The Spine: Yes, the state of your spine could be contributing to your knee pain. That’s because spinal misalignments disrupt the function of the entire central nervous system.
- Joint Mobilization: If you’re struggling with reduced range of motion and pain, a chiropractor will focus on mobilizing the joints using manual adjustments that restore alignment while reducing pressure.
- Posture: Posture is one of the biggest causes of bodily misalignment. While you may not be paying attention to how you’re standing and sitting, it’s possible that your posture is shifting your weight in a way that is creating blockages and pressure. Once your posture is corrected, your body weight can be more evenly distributed to take pressure off of your knees!
- Exercises: While each chiropractic session can produce benefits, chiropractors are also focused on empowering patients to learn how to do exercises at home as part of a long-term, long-lasting therapeutic process.
- Lifestyle: Chiropractors don’t just focus on knee pain. They are interested in discovering the underlying causes that are triggering pain for you. This can include focusing on weight loss to help take pressure off of your knees.
Using a positive, patient-focused approach to rehabilitation, chiropractors pull from many different disciplines and areas of health to help patients achieve whole-body wellness. This is very different from “quick fix” options that only focus on stopping pain without addressing why pain is there to begin with. This is why so many patients are able to rehabilitate their knees without the need for pain medications, shots, or surgeries. However, it should be said that patients who have tried those avenues for pain relief can still benefit from chiropractic care. In fact, many people who have already undergone knee surgery find that they are able to speed up healing while restoring range of motion with commonly used chiropractic therapies.
What Methods Do Chiropractors Use to Treat Knee Pain?
Chiropractors use many different methods and therapies to treat knee pain! While a patient may find relief using just one method, many patients find that exploring different options for healing the body naturally through a combination of manual adjustments and therapeutic exercises helps to restore joint strength and function. Take a look at some of the common knee treatments offered by chiropractors.
Cold Laser Therapy
Cold laser therapy is an innovative therapy that uses energy from light beams to reduce pain and inflammation. The laser device is held directly over your skin for several seconds during treatment. This is a gentle, painless therapy that does not involve any incisions. What’s more, there is no downtime needed following treatment. It is believed that laser therapy helps generate cell activity, improve circulation, and trigger endorphins that help with pain relief.
Chiropractic Adjustments
Classic chiropractic treatments can be helpful for bringing down swelling to reduce pain immediately. In fact, many patients feel a difference after one session. The primary goal of manual adjustments is to stabilize joint function in the knee. We can also focus on surrounding joints to help improve function throughout the knee and leg. Manual adjustments provide a great place to start if you’re dealing with reduced movement in your knee.
Trigger Point Therapy
Trigger point therapy is increasingly becoming a go-to treatment for knee pain. What’s more, this therapy is helping people dealing with issues like headaches, back pain, neck pain, and general muscle pain find relief! A trigger point is an area of your body that is “knotted” due to the muscle’s inability to relax. When a trigger point forms, you’ll get a tight band of muscle that irritates all of the tissue around it. This creates nerve pain that can actually spread throughout the body to create something called referred pain. With this in mind, it’s important to consider that your knee pain could be originating in another part of the body. This is something that is completely overlooked by many care providers that simply prescribe pain medication for knee pain. While the medication may numb the pain, you will never get to the root of why your knee was hurting in the first place. If your knee pain is caused by referred pain, it’s likely that you will continue to injure or damage the part of your body that is suffering from a knotted trigger point until serious damage has occurred.
Exercises and Stretches
In the world of chiropractic care, there are no gatekeepers when it comes to giving patients what they need to heal their own bodies. This is why stretching exercises for knee pain are commonly shared by chiropractors. Based on the specifics of your knee condition, your chiropractor can instruct you on how to carry out various stretches and strengthening exercises. Here’s a look at some common exercises that are used for knee pain:
- Heel and calf stretches.
- Quadriceps stretches.
- Hamstring stretches.
- Half squats.
- Calf raises.
- Hamstring curls.
- Leg extensions.
- Straight leg raises.
- Side leg raises.
- Prone leg raises.
What should people who are suffering from knee pain keep in mind before beginning stretches at home? When your knee is already vulnerable to pain due to an underlying injury, it’s very important to be careful when trying exercises at home. First, not all stretches will be appropriate for you based on the capacity of your knee’s range of motion at the moment. It’s possible that performing a stretch when you don’t have the proper range of motion could create an injury. What’s more, you may not be performing the stretch properly. This can reduce the impact that stretching can have on you. Getting one-on-one instruction as part of a larger plan for healing that involves manual adjustments and therapies can prime your knee to be more receptive to stretching to create better results.
Should I See a Chiropractor for Knee Pain?
If you want lasting relief for knee pain that helps you get to the root of the issue, chiropractic care is an empowering choice. Modern chiropractic care integrates many aspects of healing to help restore tissue health, spur cell activity, restore joint stability and improve range of motion. If knee pain isn’t going away on its own, it’s time to book an appointment to get your body back in balance.
