The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that close to 54.4 million or 22.7% adult Americans suffer from knee pain due to various causes. In addition to the pain, difficulty in movement, and lost days at work, patients may also have to deal with the costs of getting knee pain treatments. While insurance does cover most doctor recommendations like physical therapy and medications, patients end up carrying some of the cost by way of copay or other out-of-pocket expenses. And, these expenses can run up to thousands of dollars.
You May Want to Look at Other Options
If this is you, chances are that you’ve been exploring different options to help you with knee pain so you can continue to live a normal life. Of course, it is advisable that you start caring for your condition in the initial stages and take the necessary steps to prevent the progression of the disease to a point where you might need knee replacement surgery. Healthline reports that a typical Total Knee Replacement surgery could cost you around $49,500. However, aside from these expenses, you’ll incur several other charges that your insurance provider may or may not cover.
Take Care of Yourself and Prevent these High Costs
A wiser option is to take care of your joints and prevent the eventuality where you may need surgery. Interestingly, there are various natural knee pain treatments that can help you with relief from the discomfort and assist in making movement easier. As a feature in Reader’s Digest describes, you may only need to make some simple lifestyle and dietary changes that can actually help you avoid having to take drastic measures. These options help by lowering the inflammation levels and lubricating the joints so that the ends of the bones don’t rub against each other.
1. Add these Foods to Your Diet
Many knee pain treatments are found in the grocery aisles of your local supermarket. By adding them into your diet, you can not only add visual appeal, taste, and flavor to the food, but also help with knee discomfort. Here are some of them:
- Ginger in any form whether in a tea or as a food additive
- Green tea
- Spices like turmeric, curcumin, garlic, cloves, and cayenne pepper
- Vitamin C rich foods
- Foods and cooking oils rich in omega-3 fatty acids
- Calcium-rich foods
2. Make Some Lifestyle Changes
You will be surprised to know that a few simple, no-cost lifestyle changes can act as effective knee pain treatments. Here are some of them:
- Lose weight after checking with your doctor
- Spend at least 10 to 15 minutes each day in the sun
- Check with your doctor for the simple exercises you can do to strengthen the muscles in the knee joint so they support movement better.
- Yoga
- Take up meditation
- Walk barefoot around the house for some time each day, wear socks if you must
3. Try Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy
Did you know that your body has all the necessary elements needed to repair the damaged knee joint? During PRP therapy, your doctor extracts these elements from your blood and injects the concentration into the knee joint. The plasma, chondrocytes, platelets, mesenchymal stem cells, and cytokines are only some of the healing factors already present in your blood. The chondrocytes and stem cells serve as building blocks for cartilage while growth factors replace the lost synovial fluids for better lubrication.
Over the next few weeks, the serum works to repair the eroded joint tissues so that the pain starts to ease and you can move better. As for the expense, while insurance does not cover the entire cost of this knee pain treatment, you’ll find that the sessions are far more economical than the out-of-pocket charges you pay for other options. You can also work with your doctor and the insurance agent for affordable PRP therapy and get coverage for some of the costs.
4. Alternative Healing Methods
Several alternative healing methods work as knee pain treatments. Consider these options:
- Water therapy by signing up for swimming or getting warm baths at home to ease the stiffness
- Massage therapy with essential oils, learn how to perform it on your knee from a trained therapist
- Aromatherapy with fragrances like lavender that acts as a pain reliever and mood enhancer
- Acupuncture
- Music therapy
5. Heat and Cold Packs, and Poultices
The Arthritis Foundation talks about the effectiveness of heat and cold packs for knee pain.
- Heated pads or gel packs can provide heat to the affected joint to help relax the stiffness in the muscles.
- In case you see swelling in the knee, applying cold packs can calm the inflammation.
- Application of poultices made from grated ginger, capsaicin paste, or chamomile tea
- Knee joint rubs made with a combination of ½ a cup of olive oil, rosemary or thyme paste, and some cayenne pepper
By using these easy techniques as knee pain treatments, you can get relief from the pain and discomfort of knee pain. Among them, PRP therapy can also work to repair the causes of arthritis and other similar conditions so you can delay and possibly even eliminate the need for expensive knee replacement surgery.