Move With Ease Once Again

Ready to Get Moving Again? Physical Therapy Can Help!

Do your weight-bearing joints feel more like pain-bearing joints these days? If you have a hip or knee that just can’t support your body weight without causing annoying aches or agonizing pains, you may be unable to perform your job, play sports, handle household tasks, or even find a comfortable sitting or sleeping position.

These limitations and frustrations might have you reaching for painkillers or considering joint replacement surgery. Fortunately, many causes of hip and knee pain respond quite well to physical therapy – the natural approach to pain management.

Why should I choose physical therapy over pain medication?

While pain medication can be a good first step to managing symptoms, it doesn’t solve the problem and won’t provide lasting relief. Not to mention the potential side effects. The longer you take pain medications, the less effective they may become, meaning you will need higher doses to keep you comfortable. Long-term use of pain medications and NSAIDS can cause trouble for your stomach, liver, and kidneys as well.

Pain in the hips and knees – what’s causing it?

Your hips and knees do a lot of work over the course of a lifetime. These joints must withstand the majority of your body weight — not just when you’re standing still but also as you walk, run, climb or jump. It’s not surprising, then, that a variety of ailments and injuries can plague the knee and hip joints.

Your pain and stiffness may be caused by:

• Osteoarthritis – Osteoarthritis is a degeneration of the cartilage that normally keeps the bone ends in a joint from rubbing together. The resulting friction causes chronic pain and inflammation.
• Bursitis – Both the hips and knees have fluid-filled sacs called bursae that prevent friction between bones and soft tissues. Unfortunately, these sacs can become inflamed from overuse, a painful condition called bursitis.
• Strains, sprains, and ruptures – The knee and hip joints can move thanks to muscles, tendons and ligaments. Repetitive motion or acute injuries can cause a strain (damage to muscles or tendons) or a sprain (overstretch of a ligament). Athletes are vulnerable to ruptures of the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament).
• “Runner’s knee” – An unstable kneecap can lead to chronic knee pain. This condition is known as patellofemoral syndrome or “runner’s knee.”

Various health or lifestyle challenges can worsen a case of hip or knee pain. Carrying extra weight is a prime example. A musculoskeletal misalignment or postural imbalance can place unnatural stress on a hip or knee. Lack of exercise can cause the muscles to weaken, setting the stage for chronic strain and joint instability.

How can physical therapy relieve my hip and knee pains?

The goal of physical therapy is to not only give you relief from pain during your course of treatment, but also equip you with personalized strategies to help you keep your pain away for good. The various exercises and hands-on treatments they use with you will steadily improve your condition so that you experience less pain on a daily basis. As your body gets stronger and more mobile, you are likely to experience less pain in your hips and knees.

Your physical therapist can prescribe exercises aimed at addressing your specific condition, such as:

• Hip and lower leg flexibility and stretching
• Glute and lateral hip strengthening
• Balance and stability drills
• Functional exercises such as squats
• Core strengthening
• Quadricep Training
• Gait and running corrective exercise

Even an activity as simple as walking or cycling to help preserve mobility and reduce pain in arthritic knees or hips is common in physical therapy treatment.

Relieve your pain and get moving today!

The sooner you seek physical therapy for knee or hip pain, the better. Research shows that patients who rehab their hip or knee pain with physical therapy within 15 days of symptom onset have less need for pain injections, medications, or surgical intervention.

Whatever stage of pain you’re in, it’s never too late to benefit from physical therapy. Contact your local HealthQuest today to get started!