Do you have a stiff knee? If so, then you’re really not alone, especially since almost 20 percent of Americans report that they experience things like knee pain in the morning on a daily basis. To tell you the truth, when your knees hurt after sitting, it can put a serious damper on your daily life. The stiff knee is never comfortable.
That’s why it’s so important to get a handle on what’s causing your knee stiffness for effective treatment before it’s too late. Intrigued? From Osgood-Schlatter disease to knee arthritis, read on to find out how to cure a stiff knee after sitting and more!
For those of you that are sick and tired of googling” stiffness knees after sitting,” we’ve got everything you need to get you back on your feet. While it might be hard to discover the symptoms of knee osteoarthritis before it gets too late, there are a few ways that you could spot the signs. And the best part is that the sooner you see a professional about your stiff knee pain symptoms, the better.
You might not be surprised to find out that knee pain is one of the most popular forms of knee pain. For example, your knee pain could be super intense at first, fade away, and come back again with a vengeance.
In other cases, your knee pain may continue has a low, dull, throb that irritates you day and night. Sharp and intense, the pain that comes with knee pain only gets worse over time. If you’re someone who spends a lot of time on your feet at work, chances are that wear and tear or a minor workplace injury could be to blame for your arthritic knee joints.
Are you wondering if your hard labor has caused your knee injury? Surprisingly enough, doctors are still unsure of what exactly causes knee pain, particularly since the reasons change from patient to patient.
What we can say for sure is that the symptoms that you’re experiencing with knee pain are real and should be treated seriously, including swelling and stiffness. Let’s take a moment to talk about swelling.
For those who are feeling totally clueless, swelling in the knee happens when your cartilage, tibia, and femur scrape together, causing a lot of irritating friction. In addition, this friction causes extra fluid in your joints to be produced, which is what makes your knee swell up.
Besides knee swelling, there are a few more tell-tale symptoms of knee pain to look out for, such as extreme stiffness. For the uninitiated, this happens when the bones in your knees rub against each other, causing them to feel ultra-stiff.
Not only that, but sitting for a long time throughout the day will also make your knees extremely stiff. As you may or may not know, swelling and reduced range of motion along with knee pain are common side effects as well. Since slip and fall accidents are pretty common, do yourself a favor and get to know the other signs of any osteoarthritis.
Otherwise, you could end up with a huge medical bill on your hands that will bring you to your knees (no pun intended). Moving forward, be sure to phone a doctor anytime you’re experiencing the following symptoms after recent workplace-related injuries:
First of all, whenever you feel warmth and redness over the skin of your knee, it could be a major sign of infection. Shockingly enough, this alone is enough to send it to the hospital. And if you’re not sure why you have a knee warmth and redness, as well as swelling, we highly recommend that you hightail it to the emergency room right away.
You might be wondering what to do if you’re experiencing a decreased range of motion in your knee after a workplace-related injury. Luckily for you, we’ve got the answers that you have been looking for. When this happens, your knee will become much less bendable than before.
For instance, advanced and moderate osteoarthritis in the knee can make it almost impossible to fully straighten your knee. If you spend a lot of time on your feet, that’s a big no-no!
If you’re nervous to schedule your appointment with your doctor after a car accident or a work-related knee injury, join the club. Here are more symptoms to keep an eye out for the next time you’re experiencing severe knee pain:
For those whose symptoms are gone worse after inactivity, that’s often the case when you’ve been sitting or sleeping for extended periods. However, people that have already been diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis know that their stiffness will last from the moment that they get out of bed in the morning to the moment that they lie down in bed at night.
As if that’s not enough, crunching or popping in the knees can occur when you do things like getting down into a deep squat position to lift equipment at work. If this happens to you frequently, then friction in your knee joints is basically a no-brainer. Also known as crepitus, crunching and popping in the knees can also be accompanied by other painful symptoms.
Raise your hand if knee-buckling sounds like an everyday occurrence in your life nowadays. Just in case you’re not in the know, whenever your knees lock up or buckle up after a work-related incident, it can be a red flag for advanced or moderate knee pain.
As a matter of fact, this happens when the flaps or the grooves in your cartilage become uneven, break off, and get lodged inside of your knee joint. Of course, if you’ve ever had a sports injury, this could be responsible for your minor meniscus tear or ligament damage as well. Naturally, spending hours doing hard labor can only make this type of injury even worse.
You might be shocked to find out how much your family’s medical history could come into play when it comes to receiving your knee osteoarthritis diagnosis. As we mentioned above, nobody really knows the cause of knee pain. But here’s the thing: what physicians do know for sure is that there are several risk factors that could be behind your knee pain issues.
First things first, advanced age could actually impact the amount of knee pain that you are experiencing on a daily basis. Obviously, the chances of having severe knee pain are much higher as time goes on. That’s because the cartilage in your knee will become less flexible and weaker.
Thus, it’ll be much more likely to be damaged or thinned out in your old age. So, if you’re over the age of 45 years old and you’ve experienced a pretty traumatic work-related injury, then getting your knee checked out by professionals is a must. Better yet, those that are over the age of 60 years old for experiencing the systems should see a physician right away as well.
And then, there is obesity. Since knees are made to bear a lot of weight, those that are living in larger bodies put a lot more pressure on their knee joints than the average person. As a result, they are actually two times as likely to be diagnosed with knee pain than those who are not overweight.
Also, people that are dealing with obesity often have widespread inflammation throughout their bodies, which doesn’t help to practice them against osteoarthritis of the knee either.
That being said, joint trauma, serious injuries, or broken bones that occur on the worksite can cause your aching joints to develop severe osteoarthritis at some point in the future. And nobody wants that, right?
Consider this: in the so-called distant future, physicians might be able to examine your joint fluid or test your blood for signs of knee pain before the symptoms take control. But sadly, this isn’t the case for it right now, particularly since there’s no standardized way to test if you have any osteoarthritis in the first place.
However, there are a couple of diagnostic exams that doctors use to see if you have osteoarthritis in the knee. For example, most appointments with your injury doctor about your knee pain will start out with an in-depth chat about your medical family history.
So, be prepared to answer questions about when you first started to feel pain in your knee. Not to mention that your physician will ask if you’re feeling any other stiffness in your joints. Also, talking about what makes the pain go away and what makes the pain intensify is an important part of the conversation with your doctor as well.
Next, your doctor will typically take a look at your knee, noticing any stiffness, pain points, and swelling along the way. After that, you’ll be asked to do something active like walk across the room or squat down low to see how flexible or inflexible your knee joints really are.
Once you’ve gone through the initial examination, it’s more than likely that your doctor will order a series of x-rays to see if you losing any space between joints such as your tibia and your femur. If this is the case, then you’re going to have to face the fact that you’ve lost cartilage in your knees.
On the bright side, x-rays can show something called a bone spur, which means your bone is trying to grow extra hard to make up for the lack of cartilage.
Besides traditional pain medications, treating knee pain from a work-related injury is normally going to take a lot of physical therapy. But the earlier you treat your knee osteoarthritis, the better.
If early detection is your goal, then you should definitely hire a physical therapist along with undergoing any surgery, injections, or other nonsurgical treatment that you may need. To put it simply, rehab for your knee joints should be your number one priority right now.
In spite of the fact that surgery is literally the last resort, this might be recommended when all other treatments fail. Moving on, physical therapy for chronic knee pain usually involves some sort of aerobic conditioning, stretching, and strengthening.
Plus, having your posture and your gait examined by a medical professional can figure out if you have any biomechanical problems going on too.
To combat this, your physician might introduce you to different ways of walking or sitting that might prevent this kind of severe knee pain from getting worse. Additionally, there are a few comfortable shoe inserts that you could put in your work boots to help you take a load off too. You’ll never know until you try it.
Contrary to popular belief, resting while you’re recovering from a big knee injury is probably one of the last things that you should do. As a matter of fact, this can make your muscles even weaker, which makes knee joint pain even worse. In order to heal the right way, try out a knee-friendly exercise routine that you can stick to.
Speaking of which, exercises that focus on building cardio strength are one of the best things that you can do for yourself right now. So, that includes anything from stretching, walking, cycling, and water aerobics. Don’t forget about stationary cycling too!
Whether it’s patellofemoral pain syndrome or knee arthritis, you don’t have to let your stiff knee defeat you. Yes, you read that right. No matter how badly you injured your knee at the workplace, you can recover.
Instead of avoiding putting any pressure on your knee, taking the time to get outside and walk around the block could be a lifesaver for your knees. When in doubt, try cycling and walking to keep your knee in shape. We promise that you won’t regret it!
Looking for a reliable physician that you can trust? Call 1-800-897-8440 to find an experienced knee doctor near you.
