Knee pain at night can be quite a challenge for anyone trying to sleep soundly. The best way to help relieve the discomfort is by performing some simple stretches that help prevent the knee from swelling, getting stiff, and allowing blood to flow all around your muscles.
Before we get to all of the ways to help relieve knee pain at night, let’s assess why you have knee pain at night in the first place.
Why Do You Have Knee Pain at Night?
The knee is a complex joint made up of a number of bones, ligaments, and muscles. These tissues form an intricate pinwheel joint that helps your knee bend inwards and outwards. Unfortunately, severely arthritic knees can cause pain during the night as the ligaments thicken and become stiff. Sometimes people stop taking their medications or gradually reduce what they’re taking to let things calm down naturally, but don’t do this because the situation may get worse!
You might have burning pain in your knee at night if one of the ligaments that support the joint has been overused. Common activities that may increase stress on this line include running, jumping, and dancing. So try to reduce these activities before you get up at night and take a break if it feels like something isn’t normal.
A burning feeling in your knee can lead to sciatica or pudendal neuralgia because it can spread to another region of your body’s nervous system (also called pudendal nerve). The pain is usually worse when you’re sitting down or lying down, and when you wake up in the morning.
Situations that cause burning pain in your knee usually involve excessive stress to the bones and joints of the legs, as well as to the tissues around them. This includes injuries such as cartilage damage, ligament tears, and rashes.
The area-specific pain you feel is most likely referred from a nerve near your knee joint. For instance, if you have an injury in your back or a lower extremity it may travel to your thigh or upper leg, causing severe burning sensations at night. This is similar to what happens when people feel pain in their arm or shoulder when they have heartburn or reflux disease.
5 Real Ways to Help Relieve Knee Pain at Night
1) Use a knee pillow and get a better mattress
Whether you’re a side or back sleeper, you need good support in the lower portion of your legs. If you’re using a pillow in this area and still experiencing knee pain at night, it may be time to upgrade.
Mattresses and pillows can work together to provide support for your knees. But if you don’t have individual pillows for your knees, get some. You’ll be glad you did! Knee pillows can help provide support for your knees if you sleep on your side or back.
Be sure to check the mattress and the knee pillow below:
2) Do yoga poses for knees and legs before bedtime or in the morning
This is especially good if you have pudendal neuralgia. It can be very helpful in relieving chronic knee pain at night that radiates down the legs.
While you’re lying on your side, grab your knee with your hand and gently pull it across your body to stretch out your leg. Be sure not to force it too far – too much stretching can actually cause more harm than good in this area of the body! You can also do gentle hip flexor stretches while you’re lying on your side or back.
Check the articles below to read more on yoga:
7 Poses in Yoga for Neck and Shoulder Pain
8 Amazing Poses in Yoga for Posture
9 Poses For Losing Fat: Yoga Asanas for Weight Loss
3) Try a heating pad for the night
Be careful with this, though: you don’t want to overheat your body and cause circulation problems throughout your entire system. If this happens, you may just feel like you have no energy throughout the day.
That’s why it’s important to use a low-wattage heating pad for your knees – and only for short periods of time (30 minutes each). Be sure to check the product below:
4) Take pain relievers
If night-time knee pain is the reason you wake up in the morning with a headache, take some painkillers before going to bed. Then try to get back to sleep as soon as possible.
5) See a doctor
If you have pudendal neuralgia, you’re likely dealing with it on a daily basis.
If you’ve tried the above recommendations and you’re still finding your knees are painful at night, see a doctor for other options for relief.
Summary
Knee pain at night is a frustrating experience that can really put a damper on your ability to get a solid night’s sleep. Anyone who is trying to sleep through the night but has burning sensations in their knee may want to try out some of the recommendations listed above.
One step you don’t want to take is simply going through the process until it fixes itself. While waiting for it to go away on its own can seem tempting, do not do this! In most cases, severe knee pain at night means you have serious issues with your knees that need to be addressed right away.
Please consult a doctor when you need. Also, be sure to read the articles below for similar issues:
How to Get Rid of Knee Pain While Squatting?
Get Incredible Results With Using Massage Gun For Knee Pain
5 Eye-Opening Ways To Treat Shin Pain While Running
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