Two tips for treating kneecap pain when bending the knee

The knee is one of the most mobile joints in your body, but this mobility also makes it a target for many types of injuries. Feeling pain under or around your kneecap when bending your knee can be a sign of such an injury. This type of pain can make it difficult to move normally, and it can interfere with your ability to do routine tasks like sitting down. If bending your knee is causing you pain, here are two tips that can help treat it: 

1. Protect your knee

Many injuries that cause kneecap pain when bending the knee occur while playing sports. This type of sports injury is usually caused by a sudden change of direction. It could also be related to a sudden stop or an impact to the front of your knee. When the injury first occurs, you might hear a sound like a pop from your knee. Also, people tend to feel moderate to severe pain immediately after the injury happens. 

However, some people will ignore it and keep playing. The better course is to stop what you’re doing and take steps to protect your injured knee. This may involve wrapping the knee or wearing a brace. It could also involve using crutches so that you can move around without putting strain on the injured knee. 

2. Let your knee rest

Resting your knee is an important step to take when you have an injury that’s causing kneecap pain when bending your knee. This is an important tip because it allows your body to focus its energy on healing. Resting the knee is typically most helpful in the first few days after the injury happens, and your doctor or physical therapist might want you to alternate resting and specific movements after a few days. This combination can help maintain the range of motion of your knee as you’re healing. Also, you might have to refrain from doing strenuous exercise for a while after a knee injury. That means no running or jumping. So, sit back and find a good show to binge-watch while your knee is getting its rest. 

Whatcom Physical Therapy can help treat kneecap pain from knee bending

After you rest your knee, your doctor might recommend that you seek physical therapy to help treat your knee pain. Whatcom Physical Therapy has an experienced team of therapy specialists who can help. We offer free screenings, and these allow us to determine how your knee injury is affecting you. Using this information, our team can then build you a personalized treatment plan to fit your specific needs. This plan can include multiple beneficial therapy methods, and some methods we can use to help your knee are: 

• Kinesio Taping^®
• Therapeutic exercises
• Instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM)

Are you ready to take the next step to get our help with your kneecap pain when bending your injured knee? Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment. 

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