April 28, 2009

Water In The Knee

Posted in Category : Bone, Joint & Muscles Disorders

Are Your Knees Giving You Trouble? Maybe you find it difficult to walk or find a swelling and redness around your knees and there’s immense pain. All these are symptoms of water in your knees. Water in the knees is a condition in which excess fluid builds up in and around the knee joints due to trauma, overuse or abuse of the knees, injuries, or any underlying disease.

What Causes It? Your difficulty could be because of injuries which build fluid in the knees. The injuries could be fractures, ligament or meniscus tears, or overuse of the knees from playing sports. The other reasons may be osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, knee cap bursitis, cysts, and tumors. The treatment for this problem needs to be based on the specific cause. The treatment can be in the form of simple medication or even lead require surgery. However, there are easy home remedies which will relieve you of the pain and reduce the severity of the problem.

What are the Remedies? When you have water in the knees, you need to rest your knees and avoid strenuous activities like carrying heavy weights. When you rest keep both your legs elevated. This will reduce the pain, disrupt fluids from collecting on the knees, and also increase blood circulation.

You can try cold therapy to control pain and reduce swelling. Apply ice on your knees for 15 to 20 minutes every two to four hours. You can use a bag of ice or keep iced towels in your freezer; even iced vegetables can be used. Keep your feet elevated during the therapy.

At times even a warm compress will relieve the pain. You can also tone your muscles through mild exercises. This will strengthen your knees and stop them from being wobbly. If you are overweight try to lose weight. Obesity is one of the leading causes of knee problems and a host of other ailments.

Try to cushion your knees with cushioned knee pads to reduce stress. Take short breaks to rest your knees. Avoid squatting as this causes enormous strain and could cause cartilage tears or tendon ruptures. Repetitive squatting can also aggravate the pain.

If water in the knee is caused by injuries, you can try a rice and turmeric hot pack. You need to boil two to four teaspoons of rice flour with one to two glasses of water. Add a little turmeric. Heat it until it becomes a paste, but not too thick. Remove and let it cool for few minutes. Apply it on the knees while it is still hot. Let it dry and wash after one or two hours. This will help alleviate the pain, and reduce fluids.

You can also boil garlic cloves and add a little milk and sugar to flavor it. Mash the cooked garlic and drink it before you go to bed. You should ingest this concoction twice or thrice a week. This is a useful remedy for the problem.