The Most Common Treatments for Knee Pain… And What to Try If They Don’t Help

Knee pain is a common symptom of various knee problems, from sports injuries to arthritis. It can range from a nuisance that flares up occasionally to a debilitating condition that affects your ability to perform work and enjoy leisure activities. Here are some of the most common treatments for knee pain, plus one new innovative treatment you may not have heard about yet.

The old stop-what’s-causing-the-pain-and-put-your-leg-up method works… but it’s not practical unless you have knee pain that doesn’t come around very often. Rest and elevation relieve swelling and strain on muscles and connective tissue in and around the knee.

Compression can also reduce swelling, and in some cases, let you carry on with work and other activities with less pain. You can buy compression sleeves and wraps for your knee relatively inexpensively these days.

Heat and ice are two other age-old therapies. Ice is best applied when swelling is involved, such as immediately following an injury. Heat is great for stiffness and muscle tension and can alleviate pain while improving mobility.

Obesity puts more stress on your lower body, especially the knees (you may also have foot or ankle pain). Therefore, losing weight can help with pain from this source. While you’re at it, eating a cleaner diet can lower inflammation, which helps especially if you have joint pain from conditions like arthritis or fibromyalgia.

Standing better can affect knee pain, particularly if you spend the day on your feet. Orthotic inserts in your shoes, whether purchased over the counter or from your doctor (see below) can correct problems like pronation and create better alignment in your lower limbs. Working on your posture overall is a healthy goal and may improve pain or stiffness elsewhere, like in your hips and back.

While the practice of acupuncture used to be limited to traditional Chinese medicine clinics, it’s now much more mainstream. Acupuncture can relieve pain temporarily by placing needles along meridians on the body that correspond to certain nerves. Because it works for a short time, however, you have to go to sessions regularly for it to be effective for chronic pain.

Massage should probably be avoided with acute knee pain, such as that brought on by a sports injury or fall, for example. But if you have stiff knees, massage of the legs can be helpful. Massage also helps release natural chemicals within the body that quell pain.

Chiropractors work mainly on health issues related to spinal alignment. So, if your knee pain is related to problems higher up in your body, like irritation of the sciatic nerve that runs alongside the knee, chiropractic may be effective.

If a sedentary lifestyle is causing you knee pain, you may try yoga or tai chi to improve flexibility while getting some exercise. Both of these derive from ancient health habits and can be good options when your regular sports routine isn’t feasible because of knee pain.

A TENS unit is short for transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. It’s a small device about the size of a mobile phone that delivers a small electrical current to the knee area via attached electrodes. The current interrupts pain signals between your knee and your brain, thereby reducing or even eliminating pain. TENS units are available as both prescription and over-the-counter models based on their features.

Your doctor may recommend physical therapy if you need help with strength, range of motion, balance, or other things that influence your knee pain. Typically, you attend sessions with a trained physical therapist and then replicate the exercises at home. Physical therapy may or may not be covered by insurance.

Injecting cortisone into various parts of the knee can eliminate pain. Nevertheless, this treatment isn’t a long-term solution. It’s not advisable to use cortisone repeatedly, and it needs to be injected every few months to continue to provide relief.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs for short, can be purchased at your pharmacy. These medications, such as naproxen and ibuprofen, require no prescription, but they shouldn’t be used indiscriminately. They can cause high blood pressure, bleeding in the stomach, exacerbation of acid reflux, and even increased risk of cardiovascular problems.

Even worse than NSAIDs are prescription pain drugs. These medications, usually in the opioid class, are highly addictive and cause a long list of adverse events, including sedation, nausea, and constipation. They should only be taken when no other medications are an option and only for a short time, such as right after an injury.

If you have arthritis or another form of degenerative joint disease, your physician may have suggested surgery, such as arthroscopy or joint replacement. However, surgery has many negatives. Not all of it may be covered by insurance, and there’s no guarantee it will relieve your pain. You will need to take off weeks or months for recovery, and there are risks with anesthesia and the period just after surgery, like the formation of blood clots.