Knee Osteoarthritis: Tips for Pain Relief

Knee osteoarthritis is caused by wear and tear of the cartilage that acts as a cushion between the knee joint. The loss of the cartilage increases friction within the joint and this is what causes the pain and the inflammation. For those suffering from knee osteoarthritis, here are some tips for pain relief. 

What is knee osteoarthritis?

Prevalence of osteoarthritis increases significantly after the age of 45 years with 1 in 5 Australians affected. This is due to prolonged degeneration of the cartilage because as you get older and wiser, your knees also clock a bit more mileage.

Knee osteoarthritis causes pain and stiffness of the joint, this can especially be felt first thing in the morning. Depending on the severity of your osteoarthritis, it can make day to day activities such as getting out of bed debilitating.

Can you get Knee Osteoarthritis at a young age?

Recent trends emerging are showing we are exposing ourselves to avoidable risk factors that can lead to developing knee osteoarthritis and at a younger age such as high intensity activities such as HIIT, CrossFit and F45 for example.

Although building lean muscle mass and reducing body fat percentage is crucial for strong supporting structures which support the knee joint, the issue with the HIIT craze, is that people who are structural unsound ie. Knock-knee, flat feet, muscle imbalances, are forcing their poor joints to absorb a tremendous amount of force, almost 8 times their body weight.

This combined with the instructors not correcting technique during the fast-paced classes is resulting in a rise of people severely and permanently damaging their joint from a younger age.

Can it be prevented?

This is not to be confused with put your feet up and not exercise, in fact movement is important in preventing knee osteoarthritis. It brings in synovial fluid to the cartilage in between the knee joint and synovial fluid is the only way to bring nutrition and lubrication to the cartilage as there is a lack of blood flow to this area.

This means more synovial fluid to the knee joint prevents cartilage degeneration which is why the right kind of exercise and crucial in prevention.

Excess body weight from a young age, as this means your knee joints have been overloaded with weight from an early age.

Did you know for each pound you gain; you add nearly 4 pounds of stress to your knees! This will accelerate the breakdown of the shock absorbing cartilage between your knee joints.

Knee Osteoarthritis: tips for pain relief

Losing excess body fat is always a good idea to reduce the stress on your weight-bearing joints.

If you are in severe pain understandably going out and exercising may be challenging. So, start of by focusing on healthy eating habits as it is also said that sugar foods make osteoarthritis symptoms worse.

This brings us on to exercising. Like we previously said exercising will be tough especially when you are in a lot of pain but it’s very important that you strengthen your quad and hamstring muscles so they can take the pressure off the knee joint.

First, speak to your doctor to make sure you aren’t doing more harm than good and get a physio to devise you a fitness programme with approved exercises that won’t leave you in excruciating pain.

Exercise is a proven therapeutic tool to reduce pain in knee osteoarthritis, however, to unlock these benefits you may need to look into getting a knee brace.

 

A knee brace can be worn in conjunction to your rehabilitation to instantly provide you with pain relief and elevate the pressure in your knees.

If you have mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis, then the GenuTrain A3 would be perfect for you as it actively compresses and massages the stabilising muscles around the knee joint.

This provides pain relief, reduces swelling in the area and the gently medical grade compression boosts blood flow.

For more moderate to severe knee osteoarthritis, the GenuTrain OA unloads (creates space between the joint) either the medial (inside) or lateral (outside) compartment of the knee to prevent the pain full bone on bone friction.

This provides immediate and lasting pain relief even for chronic and severe cases!

For more advanced stages of knee osteoarthritis, the SecuTec OA works to evenly distribute the load in the knee joint. It acts to support the knee joint during active movement and significantly reducing pain in the knee by unloading the joint exactly where you need.

If you require assistance selecting the right product for your needs, book a video consultation with a Bauerfeind expert: Book Video Call, or call us on 1300 668 466

Do you have private health? Most private health extras will cover Bauerfeind Products, check to see if yours is included. Bauerfeind Private Health Insurance inquiry. 

Bauerfeind products are developed at our innovation and manufacturing facility in Zeulenroda, Germany. Based on years of scientific research, our award-winning braces and support garments are highly recommended by medical professionals and athletes worldwide.