If you’re asking “how can I avoid seeing a knee doctor near me?”, then you probably need one. However, there are some things you can do to prevent going back. Knees see a lot of wear and tear throughout a lifetime, but it isn’t impossible to keep them feeling good. Here are a few things you can do to keep your knees healthy.
“How Can I Avoid Seeing a Knee Doctor Near Me?”
You shouldn’t be trying to avoid seeing a knee doctor if you have knee problems. Doing so is likely to make the problem worse, and will do the same to the eventual trip that you’ll need to take. When a problem goes unchecked, it will only fester. Don’t be afraid — your doctor isn’t going to yell at you. We only want what’s best for our patients, and what’s best for you.
However, if you aren’t experiencing a problem and are just a little concerned about a “knee doctor near me,” there are many things you can do to keep out of their office. Just like with your hips and other bones, even little things like stretching can do wonders for the health of your knees. Of course, you should be doing that stretching before and after some exercising.
How Exercising Helps Your Knees
Exercising can strengthen the muscles around your knees, which is everything when it comes to keeping them healthy. As with any joint, your knee is made up of bone and cartilage. As stress is added to the knee, this cartilage begins to wear down. When enough of it has eroded, it can slip, or your bones will begin to touch. Both of these situations are incredibly painful.
When the muscles around your knees are strong, it takes much more stress for this cartilage to begin to wear down. The muscles can take on more of the stress, thus alleviating it from the knee.
Similarly, you can use the exercise as a method for losing weight. Body weight is the major, and often only, cause of stress on the knees. When you weigh less, there is less stress being put on your knees. If you are experiencing minor pain and discomfort, losing a little weight could help alleviate it.
Not All Exercises Are Created Equal
While you can use a screwdriver to pound in a nail, it’s much easier to use a hammer. Similarly, you should choose the right tool for the job when it comes to keeping your knees healthy.
If you are worried about the health of your knees, or really any joint, you may want to try working out in a pool. The water can help to keep your weight off the joints, allowing you to focus on increasing your range of motion. While this may not be great for strength training, it is a good way to stretch out your muscles and keep them functioning.
There are a plethora of great exercises to try for your knees, in water or out. Single leg hamstring curls are fantastic for them, as it strengthens muscles without adding too much stress to them.
In general, any closed chain leg exercise will be good. These are exercises like squats and lunges that require full body motion. The full body motion prevents you from overworking a particular muscle and helps to give a more natural workout.
Of course, anytime you are working out your knees you should look to avoid locking them. If your knees are locked, the weight and stress can cause them to buckle. If you’re worried about this, you may want to try out slower exercises like leg raises and bridges. These exercises require you to maintain a pose for a minute or more, which can significantly increase your range of motion. Because they put little to no weight on the knee, it’s unlikely that you will do any damage to them.
Some Things to Keep In Mind
You use your knees a lot — you spend most of your day on them, in fact. Because of this, there is a lot of opportunities when going about your day to mess them up. If you’ve found yourself anxiously googling “how to avoid a knee doctor near me,” then you’ll be happy to learn that all it takes to keep your knees healthy is a little mindfulness while going about your day.
For example, one of the worst things that you can do for your knees is to stomp up and down the stairs.This is the most weight you can naturally put on them, and is often problematic. You should also avoid slippery surfaces when there is a more stable alternative. Wet grass only feels better than concrete until you twist your ankle or knee.
All it takes to keep your knees healthy is a little exercise and a lot of care. If you want to avoid the knee doctor, there’s nothing more to it. Of course, don’t let pain linger without help from a professional. It’s better to see a doctor for a twist than a tear.
