Having joint pain in the knees can be truly debilitating.
Whether you have an old injury, such as a previous dislocation, arthritis, or just inflamed knee joints in general, it can be really horrible because all of that pain and stiffness can keep you off your feet.
Some people will opt to just pop pain medications and anti-inflammatories, but those only go so far, and it’s probably not too healthy.
If you have inflamed knees, one of the best things you can do is to get a massage.
Of course, a massage from a pro means having to go somewhere and paying someone to do it for you.
However, you can actually massage your own knees in an attempt to get rid of that joint pain, so let’s take a closer look at exactly how you can do this.
Self-Massaging Your Knee Joints
There are a variety of massage types or strokes that you can use on your knees and upper thighs to try and help relieve some of the knee joint inflammation and pain.
What is interesting to note is that many of the massage techniques for knee joints that we are about to look at are actually performed on the thighs.
These are all very simple knee self-massaging techniques that you can do from the comfort of your home without having to pay any money.
As long as you have two functioning hands, you can perform all of these massage techniques on your own knees.
Simple Thigh Tapping
The first thing that you want to do is to perform thigh tapping. To do this, take your hands and ball them into fists. Now you want to rhythmically and systematically tap your thighs with your fists.
Start at the lower thigh, give it 10 or 12 good taps (using a good amount of pressure and force), then repeat this 10 times again, both for your mid and upper thigh. Repeat this a total of 3 times, all the while breathing deeply.
Outside Thigh Glide
Open your hand up, take your palm, and place the heel of your palm on the outside of your thigh (right hand, right thigh).
Glide your palm down the outside of your thigh, applying moderate pressure the whole time. Start at the top of the thigh and end at the knee. Repeat this 5 or 6 times, and then repeat it for your other leg.
Front Thigh Glide
For this exercise, be sure to be seated on a chair, with your hips forward, and your feet flat on the ground. Take the heel of your palm of your right hand and place it on the top/front of your thigh.
Starting at the top, glide your hand from the top/front of your thigh all the way down to the knee, applying moderate pressure the whole time. Repeat this 5 or 6 times and then repeat it for the other leg.
Inner Thigh Glide
For this one, you will use your opposite hands. In other words, take the palm of your left hand and place it at the top of your inner thigh on the right leg.
Applying moderate pressure, glide your palm down the inside of your thigh from the top down to the knee. Repeat this about 5 or 6 times, and then repeat it for the other leg.
Knee Friction Massage
When it comes to relieving knee joint pain, the other 4 techniques we looked at are great starting points, but this is the one that seems to offer people the most relief.
For this exercise, you want to take all 4 of your fingers and form a point with them.
With your pointed fingers, press the fingertips firmly into the tissue around the knee joint.
You want to use a good deal of pressure when doing this, and you want to move your fingertips in small and circular motions. Repeat the circles 4 or 5 times, and do this on both sides of the knee, on top, and below the knees.
The Finish
To finish this process off, sit on a chair with both feet flat on the ground.
Take the palms of your hands and place them at the top of the upper thigh, right at the front, and while applying a good bit of pressure, glide your hands down the leg, over the knee cap, and to the outside of the thigh. Repeat this up to 10 times.
Conclusion
There you have it — how to massage your own knee joints to reduce knee inflammation and pain.
These are all very simple techniques that you can do at home, and for the best results, repeat this on a daily basis.