3 Simple Steps to Reduce Knee Pain While Walking

If you experience knee pain during or after walking, here are three tips that are simple to implement and could help reduce or eliminate knee pain.

Tip #1: Walk Quietly

Every time your heel hits the ground while you walk, a jolt of force travels up your leg and through your knee. Keeping the intensity of that ‘jolt’ to a minimum reduces the wear and tear and ultimately reduces pain.

A simple thing to focus on whilst walking is to walk quietly, keeping the noise of your heel strike to a minimum. If your heel strike is relatively quiet it usually means the force travelling through your knee is lower.

It's an easy tip to implement!

Tip #2: Walk Straight

People experiencing knee pain often adapt the way they walk to reduce knee pain. Turning their foot and leg outwards or adopting some strange ‘wiggle’ from their leg without really thinking about it.

In simple mechanical terms, your knee is a great big hinge which works best when being used in a straight line. When walking, try to make sure that your foot is pointing and your knee is bending in the direction in which you are walking.

Point everything where you are going! This often feels odd at first but persevere as optimizing your alignment can make a big contribution in reducing knee pain.

Tip #3 Walk Gently Downhill

Higher impact and shearing forces make walking downhill a challenging and often painful experience for people with knee osteoarthritis (OA).

However, there is a simple step you can take to reduce those forces and in doing so reduce your pain: try reducing your step length while descending.

Taking smaller steps when walking downhill in conjunction with the walking quietly and walking straight strategies described above is a great way to minimize discomfort.

References

• Relieving Pain in America – Institute of Medicine – 2011 – Washington, DC
• Arthritis.org - http://www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/exercise/workouts/walking/wow-of-walking.php