Home Remedies for Knee Pain

Pain in the knee can be caused by injury (sprains, strains, torn ligaments or tendons, cartilage damage, etc.), by inflammation of various types (e.g. arthritis, tendonitis, bursitis) or by the build-up of uric acid in the knee (gout). Weak muscles and previous injuries can make knee pain more likely to appear. Below we discuss varius home remedies for knee pain. Well-known remedies are discussed first and lesser known knee pain remedies are discussed afterwards.

Note: If you develop fever or bruising in the knee (bleeding into the joint), you have severe pain, you can't move your knee, your knee is badly swollen, or you have any other reason to suspect serious injury or infection, you are adviced to see a doctor (A&E/ ER) urgently.

Acute knee pain caused by an injury. In the case of an injury, you should be seen by a doctor straight away to assess the damage and treat any urgent problems requiring medical care. The doctor may then advice you, for example, to use the following home remedies or medical interventions to reduce the pain and swelling:

• In the case of simple sprain or strain: 'PRICE Therapy': Protection, Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation.
• Damage to the cartilage or menisci (cushioning tissue pads) - pain, swelling, and/or locking the knee: Rest, physiotherapy, an operation may be needed.
• Arthritis: A doctor may recommend one or more of the following: Rest, using assisting devices (e.g. walking stick), losing weight, exercise, taking pain killers, other medication (e.g. steroids), physiotherapy, avoiding cold.
• Inlammation conditions (tendonitis - 'jumper's knee', bursitis - 'housemaid's knee') - swelling, tenderness, redness, warmth: Rest, ice packs, painkillers.
• Torn ligament or tendon: Orthopeadic specialist treatment, surgery.
• Gout: Rest and raise the limb, ice packs, keeping the joint cool, painkillers, dietary changes (avoiding purines in red meat, offal, oily fish, seafood, etc. avoid alcohol, avoid sugary drinks and snacks), drink water.
• Etc.

What Other Methods Are There for Easing Knee Pain?

Most types of knee pain are caused by inflammation. Inflammation can be caused by an infection, an injury, or by long-term conditions, such as arthritis. The typical signs of inflammation are redness, swelling and pain, but sometimes very little swelling or redness may be present. Inflammation may be acute (short-term) or chronic (long-term).

Short-term home treatments for inflammation-related pain in the knee are as follows:

Home Remedy for Knee Pain #1: Grounding. Grounding is an ancient pain treatment method which has recently brought back into fashion by David Wolfe and others. It sounds unbelievable but works for almost any pain condition, including pain in the knee. In the old days it used to involve burying the painful body part into wet ground. The connection to wet ground discharges static elecricity, provides negative ions (which act like antioxidants), and brings your body's electrical charge to balance with that of the earth. Today the most typical ways people ground their bodies are: swimming in the sea, putting bare feet on wet grass or on wet (natural) ground, or by using grounding pads, sheets or mousemats. More about grounding in our article here: Grounding for Health.

Home Remedy for Knee Pain #2: Anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants in their natural form reduce inflammation and pain. This is more of a long-term remedy than an immediate one. Increasing natural antioxidants in the diet to optimum levels will provide long-term benefits even for chronic inflammation conditions, such as arthritis. Antioxidants are generally the colourful pigments in plants, therefore eating colourful fruit, vegetables, and berries - ideally in their raw form - will provide you with these healing and anti-aging nutrients. For example, berries, chaga mushroom tea, green leafy vegetables (easily taken in juice form), broccoli sprouts, hibiscus tea, etc. are rich in antioxidants. Antioxidant supplements such as vitamin C, resveratrol, and quercetin, etc. may help treat knee pain also. Note, however, that some anti-oxidants are destroyed by heat, so raw foodists have an upper hand here. An in-depth article about antioxidants is here: Alkaline & Acid Foods

Home Remedy for Knee Pain #3: D-Vitamin: According to some reports vitamin D3 in large doses acts as a natural pain killer. Vitamin D3 is generally regarded safer than vitamin D2, but the best and safest source of vitamin D is from the sun. This article provides important information on how to gain maximum benefits from the sun: Vitamin D Revolution

Caution: controversial and possibly dangerous remedy: Some people report that a joint injury can be improved by very careful stretching or yoga moves. Performing stretches that are slighly on the limit of feeling painful, but taking care of not damaging the joint further, may help in some cases. According to the people who found relief from this method, keeping the joint still and stagnant was the worst option and resulted in pain. Obviously, this remedy may only work for certain types of injuries and for certain people who are in tune with their bodies' feelings, so proceed with caution and check with your doctor first.

In the case of arthritis, there are many home remedies, short term and long-term, that may help, all discussed in this article: Arthritis Home Remedy. These are: addressing the calcification and inflammation; overcoming acidity; raw foods; juice fasting; addressing the auto-immune part of arthritis; herbs and superfoods; apitherapy (bee venom); vitamins.

Acupuncture, glucosamine, boswellia herb, Wobenzym cream, and methol may also help with arthritis pain. Various herbs and vitamins that may be used to treat arthritis are also discussed at the above link.

Home Remedy for Knee Pain #7: Overcoming inflammation in the long term can help not only chronic knee pain but also provide youth, vitality, less water retention (bloatedness) and elimination of various diseases and complaints (minor and major). Chronic (long-term) inflammation may be caused by allergies; by not having a balanced, natural diet; stress; dehydration (not drinking enough water); mineral deficiencies; vitamin deficiencies, etc. Read more about inflammation here: Natural Health Remedies: Inflammation.

Home Remedy for Knee Pain #8: Sugar is one of the main culprits causing inflammation so reducing sugar in all its unhealthy forms: white and brown sugar, alcohol, soft drinks, fruit juices, cakes, etc. should begin gradually, over many days, to reduce the inflammation and any long-term knee pain you experience. Note that if you cut out all added sugar from your diet suddenly, you will feel very tired and unwell, and have cravings for some three days. After that you should begin to feel much better, with less cravings, provided that you eat enough healthy foods. Note that natural sources of sugar such as fruit are important for health and should not be cut out of the diet unless adviced to by a professional dietitian.

Home Remedy for Knee Pain #9: Cabbage leaf wrapped around the painful knee. This old folk remedy is still in use in some progressive hospitals, as cabbage leaf has been shown to reduce swelling and pain. Apparently savoy cabbage works best and the knee should be wrapped in cabbage leaves for the night while sleeping.

Infections: After you have spoken with your doctor you may find additional information on infections here: Natural Health Remedy: Infections.

Home Remedy for Knee Pain #10: The Egoscue Method, described on this site under 'neck pain', may also be helpful.

Home Remedy for Knee Pain #11: Mineral deficiency can very often play a part in knee pain, especially if you feel your knees are weaker than they used to be. Our joints and bones are made of all the minerals, not only calcium. As a preventive measure (not when you already have knee pain) weight-bearing exercise and taking ionic trace minerals can strengthen your bones and joints. (We have found Trace Minerals Research's ionic minerals (ConcenTrace) to be good.) Regarding exercise, don't overdo it, increase the weights gradually and with respect for your knees. Read: Natural Remedies for Mineral Deficiencies.

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