Knee pain can have a variety of sources, including bone spurs. When bone spurs occur in the knee, it can be quite annoying to put it mildly. Apparently, bone spurs just happen. Physicians don’t have a good explanation as to why they appear; I’ve asked. In my situation it literally kept me on needles and pins. Caution: If you are experiencing any continuing pain in your knees, always consult with your physician to determine the cause.
About five years ago I spent several days on my knees staining and refinishing an oak floor. After that, whenever I knelt, it felt like I was kneeling on needles and pins. I could tolerate the occasional pain, but in Church, I was reminded weekly. My orthopaedist took x-rays and pointed out multiple bone spurs on the backside of each patella. He said there wasn’t much he could do and it would eventually end my running. Oh joy!
Being the adventurous type, I bought a bottle of joint supplement containing Glucosamine HCl and Boswellia. To my surprise, it took away the needles and pins in about a week. I could kneel again. I was healed! When the bottle was finished, I stopped taking it to verify the supplement actually worked. After a week, the needles and pins returned.
The glucosamine and boswellia helped but made my joints feel “loose” even “slippery”, so I wanted to try something else. A co-worker mentioned her friend’s husband couldn’t function without MSM (methyl-sulfonyl-methane) for his joints. I tried the MSM; it worked; and my joints felt more normal. I asked my orthopaedist about the MSM. Curiously, he responded “What’s that?” It surprised me that he wasn’t aware of other supplements his patients might be taking to help with joint pain.
Currently I’m taking a supplement containing glucosamine and MSM (1500 mg each, one tablet per day). I can kneel and currently run about 10 miles a week. To date, the needles and pins have not returned. Several times I have landed hard on my knee and the resulting pain reminds me that the bone spurs are still there, waiting. Perhaps in the future I may need to up my dosage or try other products containing chondroitin to keep the bone spurs in check. Until then, I’ll stick with what works for me.
Knee Pain and Body Basics
I have been researching the effects of differences in leg and foot lengths to learn if they can cause problems, especially knee pain, while running. I’ve found several websites that discuss these issues but nothing that clearly states it will or won’t cause problems.
Knee Strengthening Exercises: A Must for Athletes, Seniors, and Invalids
Knee strengthening exercises stretch and strengthen the surrounding muscle groups to prevent injury, decrease recovery time from an injury, and maintain alignment of the joint. These exercises help athletes, seniors, and invalids increase support of the knee joint and help reduce or eliminate knee pain.
Are You Causing Your Own Pain?
When our joints or muscles ache, our first reaction may be that we worked too hard at some physical task and “it will go away”. Later when it hasn’t, we may visit the doctor to identify the cause of our pain. Unfortunately the doctor has many patients to treat and doesn’t always have the time and patience to discover the underlying problem of which the pain may be only a symptom. The doctor can help us to understand where the pain is and what hurts but many times it is up to us to figure out what is really causing the problem.
