Acupuncture for knee pain

I treat a lot of runners here in Upwey who have developed knee injuries from running in the hills.

Knee osteoarthritis is painful and often develops from a previous injury or with ageing.

There is significant evidence that acupuncture can help to reduce the inflammation and pain caused by knee osteoarthritis, perhaps delaying the need for surgical intervention.

In general, because of its good analgesic effects and little or no side effects, acupuncture has been widely accepted all over the world for acute and chronic painful conditions such as osteoarthritis.

Research has shown that acupuncture uses several mechanisms within the body to achieve relief from pain and inflammation. This includes:

• The periphery, such as immune cells and neurons, purinergic pathway, nociceptive ion channel, cannabinoid receptor and endogenous opioid peptide system.
• The central nervous system, such as TPRV1, glutamate and its receptors, glial cells, GABAergic interneurons and signalling molecules.

If you have knee issues you can book an acupuncture appointment with Amanda at Upwey Acupuncture.

Self-care for your knee pain

Between treatments you might find that self-massage with application of herbal linaments such as tiger balm, po sum on oil or zen spray may offer some relief. Applying heat packs can also relieve pain.