There are few parts of the human body as important for everyday life as knees. They are needed when you sit, stand, walk, turn, drive and countless others. It is crucial for a happy, healthy life to keep them at its best for the longest possible time.
Whether you are recovering from a sports injury or suffer from a degenerative disease like arthritis or osteoarthritis, it is possible to reduce the pain and boost your life quality with massage therapy. Read on to find out why and how booking your next massage therapy session can literally change your life.
Knee pain
Your knees are complex articulations that work flawlessly only when all the little components inside of them work well. Because of this complexity, there are many distinct problems they can suffer from.
The first and most important thing when it comes to knee pain is to identify its type.
Acute Knee Pain
If the pain you started feeling in your knee was sudden or it occurred right after doing a quick movement, a knee twist, a forceful falling or maybe a kick to the side of the knee while practicing sports, then you have an acute injury. It is important to get medical assistance from a professional right away to have a quick diagnose on your knee´s most important components. For example, ligament injury, torn meniscus or muscle strain can be diagnosed immediately. If it happens and you have to wait for the professional to see you, it is important that you apply the RICE technique (Rest + Ice + Compress + Elevate). If you have a professional massage therapist around, he or she can gently massage the area promoting lymphatic circulation in an attempt to minimize swelling before it happens.
Insidious Knee Pain
If what you start feeling in your knee is a minor annoyance that comes and goes vaguely, then it might be a different kind of knee injury, an insidious one. This kind might come from old, unhealed or badly healed past injuries. For example, a minor knee sprain that happened long ago in high school or an old injury in your ankle as you were playing football at college, or a bad fall that happened some years ago and you thought had healed perfectly; even just bad posture. Another huge difference between this type of knee pain and the previous is that this is chronic and micro-trauma accumulates over time. With this we mean that if you don´t treat it properly, the condition could get worse. For example chronic inflammation and progressive muscle imbalance are two candidates to become an acute injury difficult to heal.
Knee-pain Specific Massages
The first thing after assessing your knee pain will be to try and release the structures right around it that could exacerbate it. Some of the more likely techniques to be applied might be:
- Effleurage
- Muscle stripping
- Petrissage
- Myofascial release
- Trigger point therapy
- Ischemic compression
- Cross fiber friction
After these techniques, a massage therapist who is orthopedic-trained will take time to do an assessment. Each knee is unique and so is each injury. Trained, professional massage therapists will put together an action plan specific for your injury and knee and build from it.
Besides the assessment about your knee specifically, massage therapists also gather info about other areas of your body and injury history. For example, pain patterns along with postural alignment and joint movements are crucial for the action plan on your knee pain.
Additionally, massage therapists also focus on the simple movements that recreate the symptoms to start reducing knee pain. Finally, they also perform myofascial work to address all the scar tissue that might be found around your knee.
Muscles Around your Knee
As we said in the beginning, knees are articulations and are supported by the muscle groups around them. If those muscles are strengthened by a professional massage therapist, the pressure might be relieved as the weight of the body is more evenly distributed.
If addressed properly, the muscle groups supporting your knees will be your best ally during treatment and recovery. These are the muscle groups that are most likely worked at during those knee-pain relieving massage sessions.
Quadriceps
Quadriceps is a four-muscle group; the strongest muscles in our bodies. They are located just above the knee and go all the way up to the top of the thigh. With some deep-tissue techniques as well as some stretching and gentle activation, massage therapists are able to relieve pain and tension around the kneecap
Hamstrings
This is a group of three muscles that has its origin at the sit bones and end by inserting just below the back part of the knee. This muscle group tends to be hypertonic and overpower the previous group, the quadriceps, causing pain. Stretching those shortened muscles along with deep-tissue work can be helpful. Also, other techniques like petrissage, trigger point therapy and compression can do wonders in this section.
Gastrocnemius
This is the muscle connecting the knee to the ankle. It is very often referred to as the calf. It can give pain or relief the back of the knee as well as the arch of the foot. Most massage therapists treat it with trigger point therapy, petrissage, muscle-stripping and myofascial release. These treatments are very intense for the patient but provide pain relief over the affected areas and the knee.
Conclusion – Massage Therapy for Knee Pain
As a conclusion, it is important to point out that massage therapy can not only relieve your knee pain, but also help you heal and accompany you through the entire process: from diagnosis to medical discharge. Even after that, in some chronic affection, massage therapy is very useful to keep tissue from swelling and pain from returning.
Get massage therapy for your knee pain at least twice a week and once you get the medical discharge you can turn it into once a week or once every two weeks. Book your session today and don´t suffer from knee pain in vain, massage therapy is a non-invasive, long-term solution for it.