How To Treat Runner's Knee With Lava Sand Heating Pad

by Bill Lantz February 6, 2022

There are many different injuries you can get while you are trying to exercise or playing sports.

One of those injuries is quite common and it is called "runner's knee".

You can actually treat your runners knee with a lava sand heating pad. The process to treat runners knee would include using the lava sand heating pad as a cold pack immediately after running, then treating the runners knee again as a heating pad in the days that follow, and then continue to treat with the heating pad until the problem goes away.

Read on to find out the exact process for treating your runners knee.

What is runner's knee

According to HealthLine.com:

"Runner’s knee is the common term used to describe any one of several conditions that cause pain around the kneecap, also known as the patella. These conditions include anterior knee pain syndrome, patellofemoral malalignment, chondromalacia patella, and iliotibial band syndrome.

As the name suggests, running is a common cause of runner’s knee, but any activity that repeatedly stresses the knee joint can cause the disorder. This can include walking, skiing, biking, jumping, cycling, and playing soccer."

https://www.healthline.com/health/runners-knee

As said above, runner's knee is a common side effect of people who are out running or any activity that involves some type of running.

I've done basketball and other sports without any issues, but once I started running, I did notice that I my knees started to hurt.

There are some common things that could cause runner's knee for someone.

According to WebMD.com:

"Several things can bring it on:

Overuse. Bending your knee again and again or doing a lot of high-stress exercises, like lunges and plyometrics (training that uses the way your muscles lengthen and shorten to boost their power), can irritate tissues in and around your kneecap.

A direct hit to the knee, like from a fall or blow

Your bones aren’t lined up (your doctor will call this malalignment). If any of the bones from your hips to your ankles are out of their correct position, including the kneecap, that can put too much pressure on certain spots. Then your kneecap won’t move smoothly through its groove, which can cause pain.

Problems with your feet, like hypermobile feet (when the joints in and around them move more than they should), fallen arches (flat feet), or overpronation (which means your foot rolls down and inward when you step). These often change the way you walk, which can lead to knee pain.

Weak or unbalanced thigh muscles. The quadriceps, those big muscles in the front of your thigh, keep your kneecap in place when you bend or stretch the joint. If they’re weak or tight, your kneecap may not stay in the right spot.

Chondromalacia patella, a condition in which the cartilage under your kneecap breaks down"

https://www.webmd.com/pain-management/knee-pain/runners-knee

I think in my case, when I started running, I was probably about 15 to 20 pounds overweight.

Being overweight, this puts more strain on the knees of my body.

My runner's knee eventually went away once I started to lose more weight.

Once you have runner's knee, the pain could be present when you go hiking, walking, kneeling, running, squatting, or climbing stairs.

You might also experience swelling or popping from your knee while moving around.

How to treat runner's knee with a lava sand heating pad

When it comes to treating your runner's knee, there is a process called RICE.

RICE stands for Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

If you knee begins to hurt while you are out doing an activity, like running, the first thing you are going to want to do is rest the knee.

This might mean you need to stop running and then walk the rest of the way home.

Or in my case, I called my wife to come pick me up and she drove me the rest of the way home.

There is no shame in calling for help when you need it.

You can't heal your runner's knee if you are still out there running.

So the very first thing you need to do is take a break from running.

Next, you need to ice the knee.

In our case, we are going to use a lava sand heating pad that we've stored in the freezer for a few hours.

When you get home from your running activity, go to the freezer and get your lava sand heating pad out of the freezer and immediately apply it to your knee.

Applying the cold pad to your knee immediately will help reduce swelling to the area.

You don't want it to swell, otherwise, you'll be limping around or might find it hard to get around.

When I got runner's knee, I was on mile 11 of a 13 mile run.

I wanted to finish my run, but my knee started hurting so bad that I couldn't go on any longer.

Soon after my wife brought me home after the run, we had to go out to an activity for our kids and I hadn't done a good job of icing my knee.

So I struggled to get around at the activity we went to.

And that was because I had allowed my knee to swell since I didn't treat it with a cold pack.

When you apply the cold pack, make sure not to do it for more than 10 minutes at a time.

In between each icing, put the lava sand heating pad back into the freezer.

After about 10 to 15 minutes, pull it out of the freezer again, and apply it to your knee.

Once 2 or 3 days have passed, if the pain has gone away from your knee, then you can start applying the lava sand heating pad to your knee as a heat pack.

In this case, go to the freezer and pull out your lava sand heating pad.

Then place it in the microwave for about 2 to 3 minutes.

You can then apply it directly to your knee for about 30 minutes or so.

And then take it off your knee for a break.

Next, you will want to put some kind of compress on the knee.

This could include an elastic bandage or some kind of compression sleeve.

Putting some kind of compress on the knee will additional help reduce the swelling to the knee.

So make sure you apply the compress and let it stay there for a day or two.

Lastly, make sure to elevate your knee any time you are sitting or lying down.

If you are lying down, it is important that your knee is elevated above your heart, as this will also help to reduce any swelling.

If your knee continues to hurt after you've used the RICE method, you can also take some kind of pain killer to reduce the pain and also reduce the inflammation and swelling.

This could include pain killers such as ibuprofen.

Also make sure to do adequate stretching before you run the next time and each subsequent times.

This will help stretch out the problem knee and hopefully help you avoid injury it any further.

If your knee continues to hurt after doing all of the above, consider seeing a doctor and see if he/she can give you any additional help.

In my case, treating it with cold and heat, and especially losing 20 pounds helped me get to the point where I could go on a run without worrying about runner's knee ruining the experience.

Why lava sand heating pad is the best for treatment

As we've mentioned above, you are going to move between applying a cold pack and a heating pad to your knee.

Cold packs are typically good to treat new injuries, while heating pads are used for treating long standing injuries.

In the case of runner's knee, the injury can quickly become a long standing injury if you don't treat it well.

A lava sand heating pad is great in this situation because it can quickly and easily go from cold to hot.

When you have heating pads filled with other substances (like rice, wheat, cherry pits, or flax seed), going from cold to hot to cold again can lead to the insides getting ruined.

You see, when the heating pad is filled with food, the food cannot easily adjust to the change in temperatures.

This might not be readily apparent, but you will eventually see the side effects of this.

Eventually the insides are going to rot or get burned from the constant change in temperature.

You don't have to worry about this will lava sand.

Since it is not food, you don't have to worry about it getting spoiled or rotten.

And lava sand is experienced in changes in temperature.

So this is nothing to lava sand.

And the lava sand heating pad is also very good at keeping the temperatures you need it to be.

When you heat a lava sand heating pad for 3 minutes, it can stay warm for up to an hour.

In the freezer, it can keep its cold for up to 30 minutes.

This are both a good amount of time compared to other heating pads, which typically can't stay warm for more than 30 to 45 minutes and don't stay cold for very long.

So a lava sand heating pad is your best bet for treating both the cold part and the hot part of runner's knee treatment.

Summary

Runner's knee is not always a serious situation.

But it can turn into a serious situation if not treated correctly.

So if you are out doing some kind of running activity and all of a sudden your knee starts to hurt, make sure to remember the RICE method (rest, ice, compression, and elevate).

If you do this, and make sure to have a lava sand heating pad available, you should be able to heal that runner's knee and get back out to your running activity in no time.