Pain in the lower limbs can be intrusive, inconvenient and restricting. More specifically, joint pain including hip, knee and ankle pain can make it difficult to move, work, run errands or do the activities you enjoy.
And while more chronic forms of pain can be difficult to treat effectively, committing to pain relief and management can help pain sufferers improve their quality of life. Understanding that this process is about more than just relying on medication is an important first step.
So, where do you start? Recognizing and identifying your symptoms is a solid first step towards finding what method of pain management and joint relief suits your needs. Keep reading to learn more about the causes of joint pain in the lower limbs and to discover methods for joint pain management.
Hip Joint Pain
The hip joint plays a major role in one’s mobility and at the same time, it withstands a large amount of the body’s weight; this makes the hip joint very susceptible to wear and tear, injury and degeneration. Some of the most common causes of pain in the hip joint are:
- Arthritis; the most common cause of hip pain. Age is a risk factor for developing arthritis.
- Acute injuries, fractures, tears and dislocation.
- Conditions including bursitis and tendinitis that wear down tissues surrounding the joint.
Tip for Hip Joint Relief: Strengthen and Exercise Safely
When you’re dealing with hip pain that can already make movement painful, stretching or exercising is probably the last thing you want to do. However, refraining from movement may actually be making your pain worse by encouraging stiffness and preventing blood circulation. Proper circulation is thought to help your bloodstream deliver oxygen and nutrients to damaged tissues, encouraging healing.
Staying mobile despite your pain can help you improve your flexibility and range of motion, and strengthening the surrounding muscles through exercise can reduce the stress on your hip joint over time. A crucial part of this is ensuring that you’re moving safely so as to not worsen your pain or cause a flare-up. Follow these tips to stretch and exercise with caution:
1. Start with light, gentle movement: Ease yourself into exercise with a warm-up, every time. We recommend starting with a full-body stretch that helps you loosen up before going into strengthening or aerobic exercises.
2. Keep the impact low: Try low-impact exercises with the help of stationary equipment such as an elliptical or recumbent bicycle. Water aerobics can also help lessen physical stress on joints while you exercise.
3. Use ice post-workout: Apply ice to the hip joint after exercise to prevent swelling and discomfort.
Try these tips when looking to get active while dealing with knee and ankle joint pain, too. Check out our video featuring exercise moves for those dealing with pain in the knee joint:
Knee and Ankle Joint Pain
Pain in the leg joints including the knees and ankles often starts from repeated motions or acute injuries, especially if you work or enjoy hobbies that require lots of time on your feet, or if you are particularly physically active. Other conditions can also cause pain in these areas; continue reading to learn more.
Knee Joint Pain
- Arthritis: A common cause of joint pain including the knee joint.
- Bursitis: Also known as “preacher’s knee”.
- Tendinitis and the degeneration of other tissues surrounding the joint.
- Acute injuries, fractures, tears and dislocation.
Ankle Joint Pain
- Sprains or “rolling” the ankle, causing damage to surrounding cartilage and tendons.
- Gout: A condition that can cause joint swelling.
- Arthritis.
Tip for Knee and Ankle Pain Joint Relief: The P.R.I.C.E Method
Both knee and ankle pain can benefit from the P.R.I.C.E method of pain management. Let’s dive into what each letter stands for in this acronym.
P: Protection
When pain strikes, immobilize the area with a device such as a wrap, brace or splint so as to prevent further pain and discomfort.
R: Rest
Not only is high-quality sleep important to recovery from pain but taking a break from activities and movements that trigger pain can help as well. This often means staying off your feet, avoiding any bending motions and avoiding the flexion of the knee or ankle.
I: Ice
Apply ice to the pain-affected area for 10-15 minutes at a time to reduce swelling and inflammation.
C: Compression
Use a wrap as a compression device to find support and to minimize swelling.
E: Elevation
Elevate the leg higher than the heart to keep fluid from building up in the painful joint and to find relief from inflammation.
It’s clear that joint pain in the lower limbs can derive from many different sources. The cause of your joint pain may even be entirely unknown; the bottom line is, it doesn’t have to control your quality of life. Hip, knee and ankle joint pain can be successfully managed from home.
TENS Therapy for Joint Pain Relief
Regardless of what kind of lower limb joint pain you’re experiencing, TENS Therapy (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) can be beneficial and meaningful in your pain management routine.
TENS Therapy is a versatile pain therapy that is found in DR-HO’S devices including the Pain Therapy System 4-Pad. It works to deliver gentle electric currents through the nervous system to “prevent” pain signals from reaching the brain, thus helping joint pain sufferers find temporary pain relief when they need it the most.
Learn more about TENS here:
Take action now to start feeling better, sooner.
We hope that this information helps empower you with knowledge to take meaningful steps towards alleviating your joint pain. Upgrade your pain management routine to keep pain at bay and to get back to the things you love.