When we think of going to the chiropractor, most of us are thinking neck and back, not knees or other parts of the body. But you may not realize how common knee pain is becoming. This is due in large part to the fact that so many of us have bad posture and that’s only getting worse as we age. This poor posture causes misalignment of the spine and that can seriously affect the leg joints and muscles around the knee. So many of us are working jobs now that demand hours on end of sitting at a desk, slumped over or propped up on our elbows while we stare at a computer screen all day. These sedentary jobs are a big problem when it comes to neck, back, and yes—even knee pain! Knee pain is also a problem when manual laborers don’t properly lift heavy weight.
How Your Chiropractor Can Help Knee Pain
Knee pain often comes together with back pain and can be felt either with a sudden strain or injury by jarring the knee joint, or it can come on gradually through posture problems. So, if this is you, what can you do? Well, most of us will grab some pain relievers and hope it works to let us get busy again. The issue with this is that while pain pills, whether over-the-counter or otherwise, may dampen the pain and bring some temporary relief; they don’t actually treat the main issue. So, you will no doubt be back where you started in short order. After taking them for any length of time, they become less effective, causing people to want to take more to get relief. This is problematic for your liver and kidneys, which have to process and flush out these chemicals. It seems to be the case with most medications—they require higher doses after certain lengths of time, due to the fact that your body just gets dependent on them and it takes more medicine to work the same way it did when you first started taking it. This is obviously not a good solution.
Enter chiropractic care! You probably don’t realize how connected your spine is to your knees, if you have knee pain. Any kind of strain or dysfunction of the joints around your knees can show up as back pain, or along side of back pain. The nerves in your lower back can easily travel down to your knee and cause severe pain to the joints and ligaments, even causing you to think you have pulled muscles in and around your knees. Most of the time you simply need a chiropractic spinal adjustment to restore the correct alignment of your spine. It most often will bring relief to the knees as well.
See Your Chiropractor for Knee Pain!
Your chiropractor can find the exact source of the knee pain and treat it safely and effectively. He will get the proper imaging, whether it be x-rays, a CAT scan or an MRI, and decide on the right plan for you. They may also utilize alternative therapies such as massage or exercises designed to strengthen your knee. Between exercises, stretching, massage therapy, and chiropractic adjustments, your chiropractor will help you focus on good posture and restoring balance to your entire body. Knee pain can most often be treated without major joint surgeries, which cause the need for more medications and down time. Should you need surgery, it should be done only when other alternatives have been explored. Your chiropractor is not just good for neck and back pain—they treat the whole body, which keeps the whole person healthy and active!