Overview

To prevent and ease knee pain during work, play, and daily activities:

• Stay at a healthy weight.
• Wear kneepads when kneeling on hard surfaces. Avoid prolonged kneeling.
• Strengthen and stretch your leg muscles. Pay special attention to your front and back thigh muscles (quadriceps and hamstrings).
• Avoid deep knee bends.
• Avoid running downhill unless you are fully conditioned.
• Try changing what activities you do or how you do them. For example, if running caused the injury, try swimming some days.
• Wear shoes with good arch supports.
• Remember these tips about specific sports activities:
  • Experts recommend getting new athletic shoes every 3 months or after 500 miles of wear.
  • Whenever possible, avoid wearing shoes with cleats when playing contact sports. Cleats help your performance in some sports by keeping your feet from slipping during acceleration, turns, or contact. But wearing shoes with cleats increases your risk of injury.