Whether you’re living in an assisted living facility or someone younger who’s tweaked their knees one too many times for comfort, it’s important that people with vulnerabilities to their knees know how to best protect them. Otherwise, you could wind up in a lot of pain, having to sit out from certain activities, or needing to undergo surgery to correct things.

To help ensure that you’re able to live your daily life in a way that’s as active and pain-free as possible, here are three ways to better protect your knees on a daily basis. 

Make Smart Shoes Choices

To have knees that will feel good all day long, you’ve got to consider more than just your knees. In fact, your feet can have a huge impact on how your knees feel throughout the day. 

To make sure that your feet and knees feel great, even if you’re going to be walking or being active, you’ll want to make sure that you wear shoes that will give your feet and legs adequate support. The shoes you choose should make it so that the joints in your feet and legs are in proper alignment as you’re walking or standing. This way, you won’t be putting undue pressure on any part of your feet or legs, including your knees. Additionally, having a soft cushion to walk on can help to cushion your knees more, too. 

Think Before Using Your Knees

Even when setting yourself up from success with your knees by wearing the right shoes, you also need to teach yourself how to stop and think before you do something that could be harmful to your knees. Because if you make sudden movements or put too much strain on your knees unexpectedly, you could severely injure them. 

To keep this from happening to you, you should learn how to best prepare your body and your knees when doing things like lifting heavy loads, going up or down stairs, exercising, and more. Using the right techniques can make movement much easier on your knees. 

Deal With Pain And Injuries Quickly

When you do something that causes you to experience pain or injures your knees, the best thing to do is to deal with these problems as quickly as possible. This way, you won’t allow the injuries to persist and potentially get worse on you. 

For small injuries, resting, elevating your knees and legs, and applying ice can help with things like pain and swelling. And if you notice that these measures aren’t helping with the pain, you should schedule an appointment with your doctor to see if there might be something else going on or something you can do to get some relief. 

If you need to better protect your knees on a daily basis, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you learn how this can best be done.