What causes knee bursitis?
Some common causes of knee bursitis include:
Trauma or injury: This can occur during sports with lots of knee-to-ground contact, such as football, gymnastics, and martial arts. It can also occur with a particularly hard fall or blow to the knee.
Overuse: Excessive straining of the knee, especially with repetitive movements like climbing and descending a ladder and picking up and putting down items throughout the day, can cause inflammation in the bursae. People in physical jobs, such as tradespeople, warehouse workers, and retail staff, are all at increased risk of bursitis.
Other conditions: complications from arthritis and other issues already affecting your knee can lead to bursitis.
When will my knee bursitis go away?
Generally, it will go away after 1-6 weeks, provided you are proactive with treatment. The less severe your case is and the quicker you take steps to see a specialist and treat the condition, the shorter your recovery will be.
Knee bursitis treatment
- Rest: Avoid doing anything that may overstress your knees.
- Ice: Icing your knees can help reduce inflammation.
- Compress: Compression, in the same way as ice, can help reduce inflammation; a knee brace is an excellent option as it not only provides support but also relieves the stress on your knee.
- Elevate: Raising the injured leg whenever possible (e.g. when you’re asleep) helps reduce swelling.
In general, the best approach to knee bursitis is to manage and prevent it. This will keep the inflammation to a minimum and allow the knee to fully recover. In addition to using the above RICE method, avoid straining your knee. A doctor may also advise you to take anti-inflammatory medication to manage the pain and irritation.
Unfortunately, Bursitis can be persistent and difficult to manage with these methods alone. A gel support brace, such as the GenuTrain P3, is able to soothe the irritation and provide medical-grade compression to the knee.
This type of knee brace will also help to keep down inflammation, especially after cortisone injections or surgery.
Wearing the right support can make all the difference in speeding up your recovery and getting you back to work and playing sports. Any brace that uses medical-grade compression, with the addition of gel support that targets the patellofemoral tendon (just below the knee), is ideal for coordinating with your treatment.
Preventing knee bursitis
Here are a few tips to help prevent this condition from occurring in the future.
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Avoid kneeling on hard surfaces for a period of time.
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In high-contact activities like skateboarding, rugby or wrestling, wear knee pads or some kind of cushioning.
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Practice good lifting, ensuring you use your knees and hips, and avoid lifting anything too heavy without support.
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Make sure you rest and ice your knees after high activity levels whenever you feel pain or irritation.
and manage symptoms using the RICE method (see below). For some patients in a lot of pain, a cortisone injection may help. If the pain is particularly bad, surgery may be necessary.
