Joint pains, Prevention & Physical Therapy Treatments

Over 60% of people in US experience joint pains. It may be a resultant symptom of many conditions like arthritis, sprains or accidents. For people with joint pain, stiffness and arthritis, physical therapy can be a crucial part of symptom management. In physical therapy you will learn different ways to exercise so that it will help you maintain your good range of motion and flexibility.

Gentle ranges of motion exercises are helpful for relieving mild joint stiffness and to improve your flexibility. Your physical therapist will show you the correct way to do the exercises and give you a daily exercise program to follow at home. 

To relieve and prevent knee pain and its causes, try these recommendations

1. Strengthen your weak butt & hip muscles through hip extension exercises

Our butt muscles are weak in nature. When the main butt muscle (gluteus maximus) gets weaker, it causes our pelvis to drop and the upper thigh bone (femur) to fall inwards. This imbalance creates a painful downward stress on the hip, knee and ankle every time you make a step.

2. Stretch the muscles that support your knees

As you strengthen naturally weak muscles like the glutes, take care in also stretching your supporting muscles like the inner thigh muscles.

3. Tone your core muscles through crunches

Strengthening the core helps to keep your back in a neutral spine position and places the lower extremities specifically the knees, in the best possible position for movement without joint compression.

4. Maintain a healthy weight

Fat decreases muscle strength, and excess body weight adds strain to knee joints. In fact, the higher your body weight, the weaker your knee muscle strength.

5. Mind your feet

High-heels increase the compressive force on your knee joints by 23%. Wearing heels also encourages tight calf muscles, another common cause of knee pain. A tight calf can pull the foot inward to a position called pronation, which essentially becomes the reason for collapse of the foot arch and causes the lower leg to roll inward, placing stress on the ankle and knee.

For more related information visit our website Optimum Rehab NYC and make an appointment with our team of experienced physical therapy professionals.