Treating Chronic Knee Pain Without Pain Killers

Knee pain is something that is often overlooked in the arena of chronic pain - that is until it happens to you. When your knees are hurting, it can radiate up and down your leg to where you feel as though your entire body is on fire. The most common solution to this knee pain is to treat it with pain killers until the pain passes. Like many other types of chronic pain, this is dangerous and ineffective because the pain does not go away for very long. The more pain killers you take, the more dangers you introduce into the situation and the cycle of addiction begins. For this reason, alternate ways of treating chronic knee pain have been introduced over the years. While they are far from perfect, they are much better options than the pain pill addiction cycle.

Chronic knee pain is often treated with something called physical therapy. This is when you regularly visit a therapist who can work your knee into various positions to relieve pain, all while strengthening the muscles and building up recovery potential in the knee. Sometimes these sessions actually cause flare ups, but they are long term necessities in the chronic knee pain battle. Having a good physical therapist can work wonders for your chronic knee pain.

Another common alternative to pain killers is meditation. Learning to control the pain receptors in your brain is a skill that is life changing. Not everyone will take to meditation the same, but for those that find peace it is well worth the efforts. Anyone can benefit to some degree from learning to meditate and go elsewhere in their mind. Take a class or two and see if it helps with your chronic knee pain. You will have fun either way and might find a solution you never expected.

Effective use of hot and cold can do wonders for chronic knee pain as well. Some chronic knee problems respond better to hot and some to cold. Consult your doctor about yours to see which one would help the most. Compresses can ease sore knees quickly and safely, so do not hesitate to give this a try.

Oddly enough, exercise can sometimes help with chronic knee pain. Depending on the injury or knee problem you have, working the muscles can sometimes ease the tension in chronically painful knees. Consult your physician about this before trying it though.

Lose a few pounds to ease the chronic knee pain. The more weight on your knees the more pain you will feel. This is a documented fact. Lose a few pounds and you are sure to feel the difference. While not an immediate fix, it is a good long term strategy if you are overweight.

Increase your vitamin D intake. This has long been a home remedy for knee pain (as well as other bone related pain) and it is easy to do. Simply talk with your doctor about an increase in vitamin D and make certain there are no risks for your situation.

Look into corrective surgery options. Surgery is scary to many, but the benefits can be huge. Find out if there are any surgical methods of relieving your pain and research them extensively. If the results are largely positive, then look into doing this for yourself. Not all surgeries are major invasive, so you may just need a little procedure to feel better.

All of these chronic knee pain options are viable alternatives to pain medication. Pain pills are effective in the short term and work great for post operative procedures and short term pain. The problems start when someone depends on them to handle a long term problem. Instead of that, try these other pain options to solve your chronic knee pain.

Source:

-Personal Experience
-Treatment Tips That Helped Me to End Years of Chronic Pain in My Knees