When you’ve got achy knees, taking a long road trip can be a real pain – literally! Sitting motionless for lengthy periods of time will often aggravate any stiffness and soreness you experience in your precious joints, whether due to arthritis, runner’s knee, or any other conditions. Fortunately, your achy breaky knees don’t need to keep you from traveling altogether.
Read on to find out how to manage and prevent knee pain during long rod trips. And visit KneeSafe.com to learn more about everything from knee health tips to the best volleyball knee pads.
Stop and Get Out for a Walk
If you are traveling by car, periodically pull over and get out of your vehicle to stretch your legs. Similarly, if you are on board a train, leave the train compartment and walk up and down the aisles a few times. This will help ease any stiffness or added pain that comes from being cooped up in a cramped seat for a long time.
Stretch Out
Push your seat back to the maximal extent possible and stretch out your legs beneath the seat ahead of you. You may not be able to stretch your legs completely, but you will probably get a little bit of relief. Driving is better than taking the train or an airplane in this respect, as they are more ways to alter your seat position in a car, enabling you to stretch your legs out to a greater extent.
Take Shorter trips, or Break Them Up
To reduce the possibility of knee pain and stiffness, plan shorter road trips, or break them up into pieces by booking overnight accommodation somewhere along the way.
Use the Cruise Control
If you are taking a road trip in your car, make use of the cruise control option. After all, placing your foot on the accelerator pedal demands that you bend your knee. Staying in cruise mode on the flat open highways will enable you to keep your leg stretched out.
Wear a Knee Brace
Wearing a knee brace on long road trips will help stabilize the kneecap, compensating for damaged or weak cartilage and ligaments. This will in turn result in reduced knee pain.
About the Author
Mathew Foster is the owner of KneeSafe.com, a blog about all things knee health and protection. As an avid sportsmen he knows firsthand the pain of a knee injury, which is why he dedicates his time to blog about knee injury prevention and how to keep your knees as health as possible.
FTC Disclosure: We received monetary compensation for this post. If you do have bum knees, take it easy and check out Mathew’s blog for more advice.
