Knee pain in any form soon becomes the bane of your life. In addition to making you feel uncomfortable, it affects your sporting and working activities. Fortunately, tackling knee pain with a combination of physiotherapy services and self-care measures is simple.

Use cardio exercises to strengthen your knee

Knee pain isn't an excuse to stop moving. In fact, gentle cardiovascular exercises will strengthen the muscles that support your knee joint to reduce the pain. Activities to consider include jogging, swimming and walking. If you're looking for minimal joint impact, swimming is the best option.

Reconsider your high-impact fitness routine, for now

High-impact exercises such as HIIT workouts send shocks through the bones beneath your knee joint, which then reverberate upwards and worsen the pain. Similarly, squats and lunges make certain ligament weaknesses worse when you don't adopt the correct form. Avoid high-impact fitness routines for now and consider using a general physiotherapy service to assess potential form issues that could worsen your problem.

Adopt the RICE technique for acute injuries

Whether you're suffering from an arthritis flare or you've suffered a minor injury, rest, ice, compression and elevation (RICE) are useful. Although over-resting your knee is counterproductive, lessening the strain on it works wonders. You can achieve this through gentler actions or by using a supportive bandage. Ice serves to bring down swelling through vasoconstriction after an injury, as does compression. Elevation encourages smoother blood flow to the heart, which then results in less swelling.

Alternate between different temperatures

Immediately following an injury, use ice for 15 minutes a day, four times per day. Do this for the first 24 to 48 hours, then move onto heat patches or warm compresses. While ice reduces swelling in the initial healing period, heat promotes the enhanced blood flow that carries you through the remaining healing period. Additionally, it acts as an excellent form of natural pain relief.

Seek professional advice

When you no longer feel able to manage knee pain at home alone, using a physiotherapy service is wise. Your physiotherapist will perform a thorough assessment that allows them to identify the origin of your pain, and they will recommend targeted self-care measures accordingly. As knee pain sometimes relates to hip problems, a physiotherapist is also the best person for differentiating between the two.

Whether your pain is new or it's been there for a while, don't suffer in silence. Taking steps towards reducing it increases your quality of life. Contact a physiotherapy service today for more information or assistance.