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You may first feel it when attempting to bend down to pick adropped item or possibly you experience it as morning stiffnessthat you feel when you first get up out of bed. But wheneverit hits you knee pain will undoubtedly get your attention.

The good news about knee pain is that it responds well to selfcare measures.

There are a number of factors that can put you at risk for kneepain. Some of them are:

Overweight: If you weigh more than you should, you put morestress and pressure on your knee joints. Over time this excesspressure can cause pain.

Overuse: An inflammatory response can occur when a repetitiveactivity, causes a muscle to get fatigued. This inflammatoryresponse can damage surrounding tissue. This can be furthercompounded when you don't give the knee enough time to fullyrecover thereby making it prone to re-injury.

Lack of muscle strength: Experts site lack of strength andflexibility as the leading cause of knee injury and pain. Weakor tight muscles offer less support for the knee joint.

Mechanical problems: Having misaligned knees, one leg that isshorter than the other or other structural abnormalities cancontribute to knee pain.

Previous injury: If you have previously injured your kneechances go up that you will injure it again. Possibly becausethe knee was not given enough time to properly heal or becausethe knee doesn't return to the condition it was in prior to theinjury.

Age: Some knee related conditions affect young people moreoften than old, for example Osgood-Schlatter disease or patellartendonitis. Other conditions such as gout and osteoarthritistend to occur in older people.

An injury to the knee can affect any of the ligaments, tendonsOr bursa (fluid filled sacs of the knee)or a combination of theseareas of the knee.

Some of the most common causes of knee pain are:

- Bursitis - An inflammation that comes from pressure on theknee. The pressure may be from repeated overuse, kneeling forlong periods of time or other injury.

- Tendonitis - Pain that occurs in the front of the knee. Itusually gets worse when going up and down stairs. This is acommon injury of skiers, runners and cyclists.

- Torn ligaments or cartilage - This injury can cause severe painand lack of stability of the knee joint.

- Strain or Sprain - A minor injury to the ligaments cause bysudden or unnatural twisting.

- Hip disorders - May cause you to feel pain in the knee area.

- Osteoarthritis - a condition affecting the joints characterizedby pain and stiffness

- Gout - A metabolic disorder caused by an accumulation of uricacid in the joints.

As mentioned above knee pain responds well to self care. Someof the things that you can do if you experience knee pain are:

- Apply ice 15 minutes at a time, initially and then about 4times a day thereafter until the pain subsides.

- Rest and avoid the activities that contributed to the initialinjury

- Elevate your knee to bring down the swelling

- Over the counter medications can provide pain relieve frompain.

- Sleep with a pillow underneath the affected knee

- Gentle compression, such as with an Ace bandage may reduceswelling and provide support

It is not always possible to prevent knee pain but there aresome things that you can do to lessen the likelihood that kneeproblems will occur.

- Keep off excess weight. Maintaining a healthy weight willkeep your knees from having to support more than they weredesigned to support.

- Stay flexible. Weak muscles make you more prone to injuriesof the knees. So do stretching exercises, daily to maintainflexibility

- Exercise wisely. Don't exercise when you have pain or you'retired. If you have chronic injuries consider switching tosports or exercise that put less stress on your joints. Forinstance swimming instead of basketball.

- Get good fitting shoes. When shoes fit poorly we maycompensate in the knees and hips, causing them to be misalignedand making them prone to injury.

- Proper supplements: There are supplements that can help thebody keep the ligaments and joints lubricated, and actually helprebuild cartilage.

Like Phosoplex' is a supplement that is recommended forosteoarthritis and joint pain. It is a powerful, all naturaland safe solution for joint lubrication, pain relief and therebuilding of healthy cartilage.

If you follow the above suggestions you will go a long way toknockout knee pain before it begins.