Tips For Managing Knee Pain As Women Get Older
As women get older, it’s very common to experience knee pain.
In my recent Facebook live I shared my experience with knee pain and some things I do to take care of my knees.
Below are some of the key points from my talk.
Did you know that knee pain is the number two cause of chronic pain?
I grew up having knee pain quite a lot - as a child, in college and then later in life too.
There are lots of causes of knee pain including injuries and osteoarthritis but also including simple things like muscle weakness and tightness, misalignment of the knee joint, sitting too much or overuse of joint.
Some tips to manage knee pain for women
Below are some key things we can be doing to help manage or prevent knee pain:
Slow and controlled movement, don’t stop moving
Strengthening the muscles of the legs especially the inner thighs
Stretching the muscles surrounding the knees
Check for back issues with your doctor or physical therapist- your knee pain could really be a back issue
Take breaks from sitting
Manage your weight
Wear sensible shoes 😊
Yoga - standing and balance poses helps to strengthen muscles around the knees
Strengthen core and hips too
Do yoga as often as you can, preferably a least 2/3 times per week
What if it hurts while you’re moving?
My physical therapist suggests that if you’re experiencing limited pain/discomfort while moving your knee joint, it is ok to keep moving and should in fact help. But pain of more than 5/10 would indicate that you need to stop and re-assess what’s going on. This assumes your pain is not from an injury. But please always check with your doctor to make sure that whatever exercise you’re doing is right for you.
Check out my Facebook live talk on YouTube and leave me a comment!
I love to read your comments to find out what you think!
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