Many people who come into our office are looking for things they can do in addition to coming in for treatment to more efficiently heal their knee pain. Our office is completely supportive of such individuals because we believe that healthcare really should be in the hands of the patients. After they are equipped with advice on how to best manage their bodies, they are prepared to take charge of their own healthcare. We were pleased to partner with Dr. Ally Cox, Doctor of Physical Therapy, last night in our office summer lecture series. She and I taught on how patients can take an active role to naturally heal their knee pain. Here are some healthful hints of things to do in and out of the office to get you back into the activities you love.
1. Kinesiology Tape
If you've watched any sports over the last few years, chances are you've seen an athlete wearing what may look like some sort of weird tattoo. What you're actually seeing is called Kinesiology Tape. In the past, athletes and non-athletes alike have widely used braces to restrict motion of joints. While this is sometimes called for in helping a recovery process, braces used for too long can cause muscle atrophy. Kinesiology tape not only encourages normal motion, but also helps to retrain the brain on where our joints are supposed to be in space, a process called proprioception therapy. In our office, we show patients how to tape their joints for their specific injury and invite them to maintain this when they experience similar symptoms.
2. Eat Pineapple
What? Why pineapple? Funny you should ask. Pineapple is loaded with an enzyme called bromelain. This enzyme has an inhibitory effect on inflammation in your joints if you have a recent injury or even if you're dealing with osteoarthritis. In fact, a study has found that bromelain was just as effective as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs with treatment of pain in osteoarthritis (1). You’ll want to up your intake of pineapple, especially the core of it, when you’re trying to manage your pain naturally. One easy way to do this is by blending the pineapple core and drinking it with other anti-oxidant berries, such as blueberries.
3. Correct movement
Pain in our knees is often caused by repetitively moving it in ways it’s not supposed to move. When this happens we can eat all the pineapple we want, and it still won’t stop the pain and inflammation that occurs. These symptoms do a great job of letting us know there’s a problem in our body, but without helping the joint move back to its original motion, the pain will stay. When restricted motion occurs in our joints, chiropractic adjustments can be very helpful in restoring normal movement and reducing your pain.
4. Exercise
As simple as it sounds, proper exercise will help hold your joints in the correct place and will reduce the amount of wear and tear on the soft tissues inside your joints that lead to early osteoarthritis. Our office gives exercise routines to each of our patients to take home with them. Seeing a physical therapist for specific muscle retraining can also be very important in helping to retrain muscle groups to correct muscle imbalances or inefficiencies you may have.
Well that’s the short list to get you started on how you can heal your knee pain. If you have additional questions about pain you may be experiencing, please feel free to contact us through our office number here on our website.
Here’s to your health,
Dr. Joel Dayton
Chiropractic Physician
(1) Klein G., Kullich W., Schnitker J., Schwann H. Efficacy and tolerance of an oral enzyme combination in painful osteoartritis of the hip. A double-Blind, randomised study comparing oral enzymes with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology. 2006;24(1):25–30. [PubMed]