5 Common Reasons Your Knee Might Hurt

5 common reasons your knee might hurt

As the largest joint in your body, the knee takes on its fair share of impact. Not surprisingly, knee pain is a common complaint among people of all ages. The most common causes include inflammation caused by improper lifting of heavy objects, poor flexibility, bad shoes, muscle weakness, starting high-impact fitness routines without warming up and structural knee problems, such as arthritis, torn cartilage or ligament damage.

So how can you tell the difference between inflammation and structural problems? According to Bush-Joseph, people who are able to extend their knees straight without pain typically have less serious inflammation issues. Whereas people often have structural damage when their knees are visibly swollen or they cannot get into a squatting position with their knees at 90-degree angles.

Knee pain can happen to anyone at any age and here are five tips for preventing knee pain:

Don’t skip the exercise, even if you have a structural problem

The key is to know your limits. Strength training that focuses heavily on building up muscles in the quadriceps and hamstrings can decrease pain and help people tolerate arthritis and other structural knee problems. Staying active helps control weight and build muscle, both of which can help protect your knees from further damage.

The best exercises for people with structural knee problems include nonimpact aerobic exercises, such as walking on level ground, training on an elliptical machine, using a stationary bike, swimming and doing water aerobics. It’s also wise to avoid activities that put extra stress on the knees such as kneeling, deep knee bends and downhill running.

Whether you’re active or not, stretching is good for the knees

Stretches that focus on the calf, hamstring and quadriceps muscles take pressure off of the knees and kneecaps.

Some good stretches to protect the knees include step-ups, hamstring curls and straight-leg lifts. Additionally, stretches that focus on building flexibility in the hips, including a butterfly stretch and a standing hip flexor with a resistance band, can help alleviate knee pain.

People who do not like to stretch before a workout can still protect their knees by slowly ramping up to top speed rather than jumping full speed into their workout.

Losing weight can improve knee pain
Your weight plays a major role in knee pain. If you walked around all day with a backpack that had a 10-pound weight in it, you would feel how achy your back, hips and knees are at the end of the day. That shows you the impact extra weight can have on your joints.

With each step people take, two to four times their body weight is transmitted through the knee joint. Thus, the more you weigh, the harder the impact is on your knee joint.

Wearing the proper shoes is important for healthy knees
Supportive and comfortable shoes help take pressure off the knee joint by promoting proper leg alignment and balance. So it’s no surprise that wearing high heels is a common cause of knee pain.

When high heels lift your heel up, your weight bearing line tips forward so your quadriceps have to work harder to hold your knee straight, which then leads to knee pain. Whereas, if your heel is closer to the floor in low pumps or flats, your thigh muscles don’t have to work as hard to maintain stability, which is easier on the knees.

While strength training and stretching can help build up the muscles around the knees to minimize knee damage from heels, it’s best to save the stilettos for special occasions.

Stand up straight to feel better

When you slouch you are leaning forward and walking bent over at the waist – and that posture will lead to knee pain. You want your head centered over your shoulders and your shoulders centered over your abdomen and pelvis. The more your body is off-center; the more you have to compensate for that with muscle activity. Those muscles eventually fatigue, causing strain on your joints.

Having strong core muscles in your abdomen and lower back helps promote good posture and, ultimately, lessens the pressure on your knees. Exercises such as planks, back extensions, yoga and Pilates can help strengthen the core.