From my personal experience, I have six remedies to solve knee pain. I was told that I have what’s known as Bilateral Patellar Instability. This was a complex condition to be rehabilitated. Bilateral Patellar Instability is when the patella, also known as the kneecap, slides out of place. Usually, the cartilage keeps the patella in place but in my case, the cartilage was very damaged and unrepairable. I had popping, cracking, and creaking sounds coming from my knee and sometimes even locking of my knee when bending which was followed by loud painful cracking sounds coming from my knee.
Physical activity
I know what you are going to say, “My knee hurts when I walk!” I went through this experience and I know that this can cause pain but I used to bear it and go for long walks. When I used to walk to the local supermarket, for the first 200 meters I was in deep pain and slowly I was relieving my pain. On the way back home I had significantly fewer cracking, popping, and creaking sounds coming from my knee. This was because the muscles within and surrounding the knee were active so the pressure on the knee is reduced as the muscles are taking some of the weight. I know that some people may also have pain walking a few steps but believe me if you try walking a few steps more than usual and increase it over a large period of time, you will reach success. Follow the phrase “baby steps”. This worked for me but please consult your doctor before doing any activity.
Reduce weight
From my experience, if you try to change your diet, cut your calories, and do some cardio, it will contribute to weight loss. I have been through the struggles of changing my diet. Cut down all those sugary and saturated fatty foods and replace them with carbs, protein, and unsaturated fatty foods. Try and find out your personal BMR (basal metabolic rate) which is the amount of calories burnt while at rest. If you track your calories using calorie tracking apps e.g. My Fitness Pal, etc, and try to eat fewer calories than your BMR for a large period of time without cheating you may be able to reduce your weight. When I say eat less than the amount of calories, I mean, for example, if person X has a BMR of 1700 calories. Person X should eat 1600 calories. This is a completely random example. Everyone is different so please consult your nutritionist.
Try cycling on the cycling machine or if you don’t have that use a bicycle. This puts less weight on your knees because the seat is holding your weight and it may burn calories. Please consult your doctor before doing any activity.
R.I.C.E.
From my experience, I have used the acronym R.I.C.E. which stands for:
Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation
From my experience, I have rested my knee regularly to reduce swelling and pain. I have used ice to reduce swelling and pain, compression helps to keep the knee in place which helps to reduce swelling and pain and elevation may help reduce swelling which in turn may reduce pain. Therefore R.I.C.E. may help to reduce swelling and pain. Please consult your doctor before doing any activity.
Strengthening surrounding muscles
From my experience, I know that strengthening the muscles surrounding my knee helps reduce knee pain. This was my most effective remedy for my knee. I know that this may cause pain to do the exercises but remember this and don’t forget it, do these exercises but you don’t have to complete it you can do it until you get pain. If you get pain you can stop immediately. These short parts of exercises will strengthen the muscles and therefore slowly relieve weight and pressure off the knee and put it on the strengthened muscles. From my personal experience, I recommend you strengthen your quads (quadriceps), hamstrings, calves, glutes, and abs. Don’t expect that this is a quick solution! None of these remedies are quick. I personally took 9 months to strengthen my muscles. Please consult your doctor before doing any activity.
Medication
Medication such as painkillers and anti-inflammatory tablets may be helpful in reducing pain and swelling. From my personal experience, I was prescribed anti-inflammatory tablets which didn’t help reduce my pain or swelling. As I am not a doctor I cannot give you any advice on any medication. Please consult your doctor.
Surgery
From my experience, this is usually the last resort to knee pain and swelling and the type of surgery depends on the problem and the person. Before surgery, your doctor may tell you to take an X-ray or an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). As I am not a doctor I cannot give you any advice about surgery and surgery options. Please consult your doctor.
Three Shifts or I cannot take any responsibility for injuries or other problems when doing any activity that is displayed in this blog.