You may want to ignore knee pain, but as people age, exercise and stress on the knee joint can wear at its moving parts, making aches and pains more likely. The cartilage in the knee can incur significant stress over years of physical activities such as basketball. Knee pain doesn't mean you have to sit on the sideline, but it is something you need to monitor. Assuming you do not have a serious knee injury, several treatments can help you deal with knee pain while still playing basketball.
Step 1
Take a pain reliever or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug to cope with the pain and swelling in your knee. These can help combat knee pain while you play basketball. You aren't likely to see your symptoms and the pain itself fade entirely, but it could make it easier to manage pain without affecting your performance.
Step 2
Wear a compression sleeve on the knee to keep muscles and tendons in their place and warm. When the knee cools down from exercise, such as it would if you were to take a break and sit on the bench for a period of time, you could experience more pain and risk further injury by continuing to play. Compression sleeves hold in heat and offer support to structures in the knee that might be sore, strained or partially torn.
Step 3
Wear a knee brace. This is advisable if you have structural knee pain in the bones that can be treated with a brace to reduce the risk of significant injury. Knee braces hold the knee joint in place and offer support to the patella by preventing it from slipping out of position. You may suffer from a condition related to bones in the knee, and a brace can make it more difficult for these moving parts to fall out of alignment. You may experience some pain, but the risk of injury is much lower.
Things You'll Need
- Pain relievers
- Compression sleeve
- Knee brace
