Knee pain can be a debilitating condition and there are many causes for it. Fortunately, there are also treatments and ways to reduce the stress on your knees. In some cases, a sports medicine doctor or a podiatrist may recommend wearing an orthotic in your shoe to reduce the discomfort of certain types of knee pain. Is this an effective approach? First, let’s look at some of the most common causes of knee pain and whether orthotics can help you reduce knee discomfort.
Causes of Knee Pain
Knee pain can be acute (lasting weeks or months) or chronic (lasting for years). It can be triggered by various scenarios, including overuse and injury. Knee pain and stiffness can also come from arthritis and cause stiffening of the joints and difficulty in bending or straightening the knee.
Injury, either acute injury or overuse, is another common knee pain trigger. For example, you may have injured your knee and damaged the ligaments or cartilage while playing sports. Other causes of knee pain in athletes include tendonitis and ligament tears. Tendonitis is inflammation of a tendon, which connects muscle to bone, and can be caused by overuse or injury. Ligament tears are typically brought on by an injury that forces your knee out of alignment. Both issues can lead to future problems if you don’t treat them. In fact, Achilles tendonitis can cause tendinosis if it goes untreated for too long.
With tendinosis, the tendon becomes weak and damaged and may eventually tear. It’s important to treat these conditions as soon as they pop up, so you don’t end up with chronic problems in the future. You could also develop a less serious overuse or repetitive motion injury like runner’s knee, also known as iliotibial band syndrome. Regardless of the origin, knee pain can disrupt your daily life.
Those Achy Knees!
Symptoms of knee pain include swelling, redness, stiffness, and a popping sound when you move your knee. If your symptoms do not go away or continue to get worse over time, it is important to see your doctor as soon as possible. This will help them find the underlying cause of the problem so they can address it properly before damaging the knee further.
Treatment of knee injuries varies. For example, a meniscal tear will have a different treatment than chronic osteoarthritis of the knee. If you have mild osteoarthritis in a knee, it may respond to ice packs and anti-inflammatory treatments, although it’s not a good idea to take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications too often due to the potential health risks of these medications.
The Role of Orthotics for Treating Knee Pain
An orthotic in your shoe won’t do much to help a torn meniscus in your knee, but it may help correct misalignments that affect your gait and place added pressure on your knees. An orthotic is a device that helps control movement or correct a deformity. In the case of knee pain, orthotic helps stabilize the knee joint and take pressure off the surrounding muscles and tendons. This can help reduce pain and inflammation
Each time you take a step, your knees experience force. An orthotic distributes the force from each step you take more evenly across your knee joint. Plus, it has a cushioning effect that reduces total force on the knee joint. An orthotic may also be beneficial if you have a low arch or flat feet. With flat feet, your feet and joints experience more force with each step you take. A custom orthotic provides extra cushioning.
According to the Cochrane Database, orthotics have potential for treating patellofemoral pain syndrome, a common cause of knee pain in younger people but they emphasize that further research is necessary to draw firm conclusions.
Can an Orthotic Help Knee Pain Due to Osteoarthritis?
Another common cause of chronic knee pain is knee osteoarthritis, a degenerative disease of the joints that causes inflammation and joint pain. It is associated with aging, genetics, and obesity. Physical therapy can strengthen the surrounding muscles so they can better support the joint. Can orthotics help discomfort due to osteoarthritis?
One study found that lateral wedge insoles that slightly shift the foot to reduce force on the knee were not effective for reducing pain in medial knee osteoarthritis. Lateral wedge insoles are a type of orthotic since they shift the angle of the foot to reduce force on the knee. They are one type of orthotic.
However, this study didn’t focus on conditions like flat feet that orthotics can help. If you have knee arthritis and flat feet, you may derive more benefits than someone with knee osteoarthritis who has normal arches. If you have arch problems, like flat feet or very high arches, a podiatrist may recommend an orthotic to help correct this problem and, for some people, it’s beneficial.
Conclusion
Orthotics may be effective for some types of knee pain, but the evidence from studies is mixed. Some research shows that orthotics help prevent knee pain. But we need more research to determine if orthotics can treat knee pain caused by overuse or injury.
If you have chronic knee pain or keep getting knee injuries, see a sports medicine doctor. They can determine whether you have gait abnormalities or anatomical problems, like flat feet, which predispose to knee injury. An orthotic can be effective for correcting problems like flat feet. If you need an orthotic, they can design a custom one for you based on your anatomy.
Some people say that orthotics worsen their knee pain short-term. To avoid this problem, wear a new orthotic for short periods of time and gradually increase the time you use it. This will allow your body to adapt to the change slowly. An orthotic can change your posture in ways that feel strange at first, so it takes some time to adapt to wearing one. Give it time and you soon won’t notice you’re wearing it but you could have less knee pain.
References:
- D’hondt NE, Struijs PA, Kerkhoffs GM, Verheul C, Lysens R, Aufdemkampe G, Van Dijk CN. Orthotic devices for treating patellofemoral pain syndrome. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2002;(2):CD002267. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD002267. Update in: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2009;(1):CD002267. PMID: 12076444.
- “Orthotics for Patellofemoral Syndrome – Clinical Prediction.” http://www.clinicalprediction.com/orthotics-for-patellofemoral-pain-syndrome-vicenzino/.
- Brouwer RW, Jakma TS, Verhagen AP, Verhaar JA, Bierma-Zeinstra SM. Braces and orthoses for treating osteoarthritis of the knee. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2005 Jan 25;(1):CD004020. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004020.pub2. Update in: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015;3:CD004020. PMID: 15674927.
- “Osteoarthritis of the Knee: Symptoms, Causes and Treatments.” https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21750-osteoarthritis-knee.
- “Insoles no help for knee osteoarthritis – Harvard Health.” 21 Aug. 2013, https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/insoles-no-help-for-knee-osteoarthritis-201308216629.
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