Three treatments for stiffness and pain when bending knees

The knees absorb a lot of force every day. They bend to absorb it when you walk, and they absorb even more when you’re running or jumping. Even sitting down can stress this important joint. Over time, all this stress and force can lead to wear and tear in the knee. It can also lead to injuries while playing sports, and more than 6.6 million people with knee injuries entered emergency rooms between 1999 and 2008 (NIH, 2012).

If you’re dealing with pain and stiffness when bending your knee, physical therapy is an effective treatment option. Therapists can build you a personalized treatment plan for your symptoms. They also have many effective therapy methods at their disposal. 

Three therapy techniques that are effective for pain and stiffness when bending your knee

Therapy plans for pain and stiffness when your knee is bent don’t typically rely on only one treatment. Instead, they’re designed to incorporate multiple evidence-based therapy methods. Your therapist will decide which treatment options fit your need the best. But there are three techniques that are likely to make it into your treatment program. 

1. Joint mobilization — This therapy technique is one type of manual therapy. Being included in this category means therapists use their hands rather than tools or devices to manipulate your knee. A study from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports that joint mobilization is a treatment that has substantial benefits for patients with osteoarthritis. 

2. Instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM) — Unlike manual therapy techniques, IASTM uses specially designed tools. These tools allow therapists to place more therapeutic pressure on injured soft tissue. Studies have shown that this technique can offer benefits like reduced pain and improved function to people with sports injuries (NIH, 2017). It can even help treat old injuries. 

3. Therapeutic exercises — Getting your knee moving more is one goal of physical therapy for injured or arthritis knees. This might seem like the opposite of what therapists should do, but therapeutic exercises actually have several benefits. They can help improve the knee’s ability to bend. Such exercises can also reduce pain. An NIH study reports these two benefits. It also reports that they’re more likely when exercises focus on stretching and strengthening hip and thigh muscles that move the knee. 

Find help for stiffness and pain when bending your knee at Peak Performance

Are you wondering where you can find physical therapy to treat stiffness and pain when bending your knee? Our Peak Performance physical therapy team can help. We offer complimentary and comprehensive screenings. Our team can also build you a personalized therapy plan to tackle your knee symptoms. 

Don’t wait to start getting our help with your knee. Contact us today for more information about how we can treat the knee joint or to schedule your free screening.