19 Best Home Remedies & Treatments For Knee Pain
Are you suffering with knee pain right now? Are you looking for treatments you can do at home, or home remedies for your knee problem? I’m going to share with you 19 of the best knee treatments, and home remedies that you can find around.
Before I cover all the treatments with you, I want to make sure I give you some guidance on how to approach these. You want to make sure to do some trial and error with these. They may not work the first time for you, you might need to try them a few times. And sometimes, most often than not, you’ve got to try a combination of things to get the effects that you’re looking for. Watch out for bad reactions or increased pain in your knee. That’s not a good thing. The whole No Pain, No Gain mentality does not apply to these things. It should feel good once you start doing the right thing.
Keep in mind that how you hurt your knee, and how long it’s been hurt, will influence the effectiveness of these treatments and home remedies. If you try all of these things on the list, and you’re not getting the results you’re looking for, and your knees are still bothering you, then I strongly urge you to contact a specialist. Get professional help for any problem so that you can avoid an unnecessary surgery, injections or pain medications.
If you have hurt your knee recently, and it’s just not getting better, over time, you might walk differently, or just not move the same. And oftentimes, this could affect other joints nearby, like the hip, the foot or make your other leg worse. So, it’s important that you get this problem resolved as quick as possible.
Now let’s get into the 19 best Treat-At-Home, and Home Remedies that you can try.
#1 Ice
This is a common, classic treatment. There are tons of different ways to do it, you can go get a bag at the store that’s specially designed to hold ice. Or you could just get a Ziploc bag and fill it with some ice cubes from your freezer and put that on your knee. Now the proper way to do this, is to put it on for about 15 to 20 minutes. This is generally enough time for the skin over your knee to go numb from the ice. Then take it off for about 15 to 20 minutes and put it back on again for another 15 to 20 minutes, then take it off again, and give it some time. You cycle like this for two hours.
That’s generally the right dosage to get the effect that you’re looking for. It is not a good idea to just keep ice on your knee for an indefinite amount of time. You can actually get burns from ice, and your skin can get affected. So just check your skin periodically and make sure that you are using common sense. Do not hurt your skin when icing.
#2 Heat
Follow the same steps that I outlined with Ice. 15 minutes on 15 minutes off. Repeat that for two hours. There are all kinds of different products out there to heat up your knee. You can get heating pads, electric heating pads and microwavable heating pads. Water bottles that you fill with hot water, those work really well as well.
You can try whatever you want, but putting heat over your knee, for some people that’s more effective than ice. There is a way to combine the two as well, where you alternate between putting on heat and ice. You can start with one or the other, it doesn’t matter. You have to figure out what works best for you.
I can tell you from the scientific research that the effectiveness of ice versus heat is mixed. They used to think that if you just hurt your yourself, that ice is the best thing. They are questioning that right now. So, what I urge you to do is find what helps you the best. Like I said earlier, once you do the right thing for yourself, you should feel like you get some relief immediately.
#3 Over The Counter Pain Medications
Over the counter pain medications might be something that you’ve already tried and can be helpful. Now there are different types of brands, and types of medications out there. Some of the common ones are Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and Naproxen. Just make sure you check with your physician to know that this is safe for you.
Long term use of these medications can be harmful. So make sure you have a plan to get off these permanent pain medications very soon. We know for sure that Ibuprofen, if you are using it around the clock, for weeks at a time, can tear holes in your stomach and cause internal bleeding.
It’s okay to use them for a few days, maybe a week at most, you just have to read the label and check with your doctor of course. But please avoid using medications for longer than just a few days. That way you can be safe and not depending on them for the long term.
#4 Pain Patches
There are all types of over the counter patches that you can buy. These patches stick to your knee and usually come in a package. Ceylon patches is a very common one. Other brands have their own version of it. Icy-Hot has their version of it. I think Begay makes one too. What you do is, you unwrap it and you stick it onto your knee, and you are supposed to be able to wear it for an extended period of time. It slowly releases the medication into your skin, and it passes into your knee.
The idea with this is to get some relief so that you can be able to walk around and move around better. These patches can be effective for a short-term pain relief.
#5 Pain Creams
These are actual gels, creams or lotions that you that have medication infused into them. Stuff like Bengay, Icy Hot, Tiger Balm, Asper Cream, are a few examples, but there are a ton of different options out there. You could rub those onto your knee and get some short-term relief as well.
#6 Epsom Salt Baths
Epsom salt comes in a in a container, usually the shape of a milk carton or some com in bags as well. There are different brands out there as well. You can usually find this at a corner store, like a Walgreens or CVS, even at the grocery stores as well. And what you do is you draw a bath, get it to the right temperature that is best for you, and you put in the Epsom salt. Read the instructions in the back of the cartridge or package to know exactly how much to put into the water. Then you soak in the Epsom salt bath. Some people get relief from this.
#7 Essential Oils
A big trend lately has been essential oils. There too are all kinds of different essential oils out there, and different concoction combinations that people make with them. I can’t speak on the research on this specifically, but I have had clients come in and tell me that they benefit from using certain essential oils.
If that’s something that you’re knowledgeable about, or you know somebody who is, consult with them and see if that’s an option to help your knee problem.
#8 Homeopathic
Concoctions is what I call it. People coming in for knee problems report to me all the time that they have made their mix of apple cider vinegar, turmeric, ginger and all kinds of other herbs, and different things that they can consume, that has helped them with their knee problem.
I think generally this is safe, as long as you know that what you are putting into your concoction, your cocktail, that it’s not giving you any sort of stomach problems or other adverse effects. But some people report having a good outcome in relieving their knee problem with this.
#9 Diet
Managing your weight and changing your diet can also help. Some people feel like they need to lose some weight to find relief from their knee problem, and that might be the case. I do think it’s always a good thing to double check your diet, and take out the foods that aren’t the healthiest, and put more foods in that are healthy. That way you are overall healthy, not just as far as weight, but as far as your blood values and your tissues as well.
Another aspect of this is anti-inflammatory foods. There are certain foods out there that are inflammatory. Some of those are sugars, such as candy, table sugar, and all those other things that have sugar in them without even knowing it. High fructose corn syrup is a type of sugar. Lactose, which is in milk is a type of sugar as well.
Some people make big efforts to reduce their sugar intake so that they’re not causing inflammation in their joints. I’ve seen some people have some good outcomes with that as well.
#10 Supplements
There are tons of supplements out there. If you go to any drugstore or vitamin store, you’ll find lots and lots of joints and pain-relieving supplements. The most common joint supplements that I hear about and get asked about all the time are glucosamine and chondroitin. To my knowledge, I’ve looked at the research on this, it’s not harmful for you. So, if you want to begin to try that out, I’d say go for it. Follow the instructions on the bottle and you can try taking glucosamine and chondroitin tablets.
I think it comes in liquid form as well. There are all kinds of varieties of how you can consume it. But I’ve seen mixed results in the research. Some people in the research report that it helps her joints and others don’t notice a difference. The cool thing is I haven’t seen anything that says that it’s harmful. I haven’t seen anybody have any adverse reactions, but I’m not going to put it past you. If you find that it irritates you somehow, your stomach, or it gives you some other reaction, of course, stop taking it.
That goes for all supplements. Check with your doctor especially if you are taking other medications. You need to always check with your doctor that has put you on those medications to see if any supplements you are taking, are going to have some bad effects when they are combined with your medications.
#11 Self-Massage or Massaging Machine
You can put your hands on your thigh muscles, and your calf muscles, and massage your leg. I found clients have tremendous relief from this. I think this is very easy to do and doesn’t cost you a thing. Some people like to purchase a machine that vibrates or moves a certain way to massage their muscles around their leg. If you find that you get benefit from that, you can do that as much as you like. as long as you are not bruising yourself or irritating your knee.
Now with massage, just be careful. You don’t want to be massaging your actual joints, right where your kneecap is and everything, you generally want to stay where the muscles are at. If you’ve got a knee problem, oftentimes, the quad muscles and calf muscles, even the hamstring muscles will get stiff. They might even spasm at times and by massaging them, this can be very beneficial for your knee joint.
#12 Stretches
There are all types of stretches out there. If you Google knee pain stretches, you’ll find tons of options, tons of videos as well. You can try a variety of stretches and combinations. My advice to you is find two to three stretches that you can do on a consistent basis. I suggest you do them at least three times a day and do them for several days go up to a week. If that benefits your knee, that might be how you get some massive pain relief.
#13 Exercises
You can Google knee pain exercises or talk to a doctor or a specialist about it as well. If you want to get some more specific guidance, you can find tons of exercises out there that are helpful in relieving your knee problem. Just be careful when trying them out. Of course, like I said earlier, they should not hurt your knee. If you have a knee problem, the No Pain, No Gain mentality does not apply to knee pain problems. So, any exercise that you choose to do for your knee problem, it should not aggravate your knee during the exercise, or immediately afterwards, or even into the next day. You should feel some relief from doing the exercise.
Sometimes it’s a matter of modifying the exercise, as well as do an easier version of it, or find a way to offload your legs so that you are not bearing weight, especially if it’s a standing exercise, or one that involves weights. Just be careful with all the exercise out there. There are a lot of different types out there. You just have to pick the one that is safest for you.
#14 Sleeves and Braces
There are sleeves that you slide on to over your foot and ankle and up to your knee. Usually they have a hole for your kneecap. Those can give you some compression. Sometimes they are infused with certain things like copper and magnets. I see people come in with those knee braces all the time. They tend to be pretty helpful for them and can give them some compression.
There are braces out there that have brackets in them as well. The ones that have metal struts on the sides of the knee. There are all kinds of varieties, some that are have the brackets only on one side, or even both sides.
You can get lost in the store with all the different types of knee braces out there. Generally, knee braces are pretty effective at reducing pain, but they don’t solve the long-term problems. You would have to consider that, if you have had a long-standing knee problem. You might want to talk to a specialist about that, but if you just hurt your knee, getting a knee brace is not a bad idea at all, when you wear that knee brace so to speak.
Just be sure to go and wash it every now and then. I’d say wash it daily. Because it can get stinky, especially if it’s hot outside.
#15 Wraps
There are those long, stretchy wraps you can wrap around your leg. Those don’t allow for much motion, especially if you wrap it real tight, you won’t be able to bend your knee very much. You can wrap it in such a way that your knee can bend. Generally, the way I’ve seen people use those is to use it in combination with the creams that you put on, like Bengay, or any of those other creams I mentioned earlier. Vicks is another thing that people rub on themselves. And then they’ll wrap it to get a compressive effect along with the cream. I’ve also seen people have some pretty good relief from that.
As far as getting relief, I love that people do these things because they might be skipping out on using medications, which can tear up your gut, and I’m all for them trying different things as it might be delaying getting an injection or having a surgery. That’s definitely worthwhile. Whenever people come into the clinic and tell me all the crazy things that they’ve used, I applaud them and tell them good job, you’re avoiding doing something that’s potentially harmful for your internal organs, your kidneys, your liver, all that.
Try out the wraps, and even the creams just make sure that you find a way to get that knee pain down.
#16 Knee Straps
These are thin straps that wrap around your knee. They’re often called jumpers, and these straps can be effective for reducing pain while still being active. The idea with these is that they are very minimal. They are not like a big giant sleeve or brace, it slides on so you can still be pretty active. I’ve used these myself in the past and I found that they can reduce pain, but they don’t solve the long-term problem. They did reduce pain for me in the short term, but I still had to go do some other stuff to make sure that my knee problem went away completely.
#17 Electrical Stimulation
Sometimes it’s also called TENs. This is often provided for patients in physical therapy clinics and chiropractic clinics as well. But there are units that you can purchase at the store for your own use. They are machines that are often battery operated, or you can plug them into the wall outlet, and they have wires that attached to some sticky electrodes pads, that you can stick onto your skin and then you turn the knobs on the machine to get the small electrical signals going through the pads on your skin.
If you turn it up high enough, it can make your muscles work quite a bit. Just follow the instructions on the packaging that comes with your machine. If you decided to buy one of these, they are pretty cool. I think that they can definitely relieve knee pain, but they don’t solve the long-term problem. So just be careful with thinking that this is going to fix your need pain for the long term. If you just hurt your knee recently, it might make the world of a difference, and prevent you from going to the doctor and having to get extra help. If you want to try it out at home, give it a shot.
#18 Getting New Shoes
Some people have had the same shoes for six months, twelve months, or even more than a year and their souls are so worn down, the cushioning is basically gone. And when they go buy brand new shoes, their knee pain magically gets better. For some people that can make the world of a difference. Now there are all types of support within the soul of shoes out there.
People use the words pronation and supination. That just means the way that your foot is tilting, which influences the position of your knee joined up higher. You would have to make sure that you get the right support. Usually if you find a pair of shoes, that have worked for you in the past, I would put those shoes on when you go shoe shopping, and look at the soles to compare them, as long as they’re pretty similar, especially if they’re the same brand of shoe, they likely will have the same soul.
It seems like shoe company’s use the same insides of the shoe and just change the outsides. If they have the same sole, then those are probably going to be good shoes for you to purchase to get some relief for your knee problem.
#19 Get Insoles
If you have shoes that are not going to be comfortable, let’s say you have a job where you must wear dress shoes, or you just don’t like wearing tennis shoes, instead you prefer shoes that don’t have as much support because that’s your preference. That’s ok. I encourage you to go get some insoles. They are the things that you can buy at a shoe store, or there are specialized stores for this as well, where you slip these insoles into your shoe, and it has a little art support or a heel cup that positions your heel.
Sometimes it will have a special padding around the front of the foot of the toes. These insoles can make a world of a difference for any problem.
There you go, I covered all 19 best at home knee treatments, and home remedies that you can try out. Like I said at the beginning you might need to try a combination of these, you might need to do some trial and error, but it’s definitely worthwhile so that you can figure out what works best for you, so that you can stay active, healthy and mobile and avoid having to take medications for the long term, even avoid having a knee injection, and of course, avoid having a knee operation sometime in the future.
I hope that you can sleep better tonight, I hope that you can walk better later today. And most importantly, I hope that you fully recover from your knee problem. If you just hurt your knee within the past few weeks, all of these options are great options for you to try out, and you should theoretically be able to fully recover from your knee problem.
But if your knee problem has been going on for months, years, maybe even decades, these options that I just covered are probably only going to get you so far. I would not look for any of these options to fully resolve your knee problem. You likely are going to need some specialist help to make sure that you get all the way back to normal. The good news is, in about 9 out of 10 severe knee problems, at least that we see here in the clinic, they don’t need surgery. And if they are already getting injections, or taking medications around the clock, they usually get completely off medications, and get active again. They are able to go up and down stairs, they are able to run, and they are doing exercises. We get them back to normal. If that’s you, I urge you to check out our website www.EPManualPhysicalTherapy.com to learn more about how you can get help for your knee problem.
I hope you have the best day bye
