How Can I Manage My Knee Arthritis?

There are 3 types of Knee Arthritis:

• Osteoarthritis (gradually wear and tear)
• Rheumatoid Arthritis (caused by an inflammatory condition and can be present at any age)
• Post-Traumatic Arthritis (this can occur after injury such as a meniscal tear)

What is Knee Arthritis?

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis in the knee and is generally associated with “wear and tear” of the cartilage of your knee. The cartilage is the substance that helps protect and cushion our bones when we bend and straighten the knee joint.

When the cartilage “wears away” the space between the bones can become narrowed and this results in pain, stiffness and often swelling of the joint.
The stiffness and pain experienced can make daily activities such as walking and climbing stairs difficult.
You may also experience symptoms such as heat, clicking or locking of your knee, redness or pain that is worse after long periods of rest such as sitting or first thing in the morning after sleep.

Knee arthritis does progress over time which is why it is more common in older adults and the pain experienced can often be intensified as we age. The good thing we know that especially in the early stages keeping active and doing the correct exercises can help manage the pain it causes.

Knee Arthritis Cause

There is no one or specific cause for Arthritis but there are some risk factors that we do tend to see in people we see in the clinic who develop Osteoarthritis in particular.

Arthritis is more common as we age due to repetitive strain on the joints for example lifting, bending prolonged standing. I do tend to see Arthritis more frequently in people who have had repetitive strain through work for example builders or roofers tend to complain of having “dodgy knees” however I also see it in people who may have had a sedentary desk job for most of their lives and their symptoms and pain experience can be very different.

Weight can also influence our likelihood of developing Arthritis as we age due to the increased pressure placed on our joints.

Previous injury such as an ACL or meniscal injury has been shown in the research to be associated with the risk of developing Osteoarthritis later in life as the ability of the cartilage to repair itself slows down.

How Can I Manage My Knee Arthritis

Flare ups are a natural part of having Arthritis and I find when this happens our natural instinct is to rest and protect everything – but we know Arthritis doesn’t like rest! Movement helps promote synovial fluid and lubrication of our joints just like oiling a stiff door – if you just leave it it’s just going to get stiffer!!

As I discussed looking at the other structures the muscles etc and targeting any imbalances there can help to significantly reduce symptoms and improve daily tasks such as walking.
Exercises which help strengthen your core and hip muscles can take a lot of pressure of the work your knee has to do. Massage can help reduce pain and stretching exercises increase the range of movement available.

Cardio based exercises such as cycling , swimming or aqua aerobics can help you maintain your fitness if you find running is no longer an option. Keeping active will also help with weight management – if we reduce the weight on the joint we reduce the pain!!

Other things that can help with Arthritis is pain management and this is something I do suggest to my clients explore with their GP’s, anti-inflammatory medications short term can help reduce pain which gives you the perfect platform to exercise and strengthen so you can reduce the frequency and intensity of flare ups when they do occur keeping you happier and healthier.

If your Arthritis is particularly severe your Doctor or specialist may suggest a cortico-steroid injection to help with pain relief but again I also stress the importance of movement and exercise after this.

Ultimately Arthritis does not have to stop you doing the things you enjoy everyone is different and different exercises work for different people but I still have clients doing Marathons, hill-walking and playing tennis even with their “dodgy knees”.

Why Is My Arthritis Causing Me So Much Pain?

The pain associated with Arthritis often worsens as we age this is because the degeneration or the ability of the cartilage to heal slows down.
Pain can occur in more severe arthritis due the narrowed space and the bones “rubbing”.

More commonly I find pain occurs due to how our muscles respond to the changes that are happening inside.

Take a recent client of mine for example : Michael* had knee pain and arthritic changes from years of playing rugby, he had a classic swollen knee with reduced range of movement and found the morning time to be his most problematic time of day.

When we looked a little closer at how his muscles were working we found that he was not using his hamstring or groin muscles very well. As a result the muscles at the front of his leg were overused and tired. As I explained to Michael our joints rely on a support system and whilst we cannot necessarily “change or stop” what is happening in the joint itself we can definitely help influence muscle strength and function to take some of the pressure off. By correctly loading the right tissues we were able to improve his walking tolerance and reduced his morning symptoms. An assessment to see how you are moving and how well you are using other tissues can identify and correct these imbalances.