So many people have to live with painful conditions day in and day out. Sometimes, their pain isn’t obvious, but it’s still there. For example, someone with a bad back may experience ongoing pain and never say much about it. People whose lives are impacted by pain are often very brave and make a point of keeping their suffering to themselves. However, now and then, they may let it slip just how much they struggle to stay positive in the face of discomfort.  Many people end up taking painkillers as a solution. This can seem like the best way forward especially when you are in urgent need of pain relief.  These days it’s all too easy to buy co-codamol 30/500 and other strong prescription painkillers at online pharmacy sites without realizing that these are only short term solutions.

If you know someone who is living with a painful condition, you should be aware that you can help. While you might not be able to take that person’s pain away, you may offer them some advice or just be a supportive and loving friend, partner or family member. Sometimes, people who live with pain feel very alone with their pain. They feel like no one understands.

Suggest Some Alternative Therapies

In addition to providing the proverbial shoulder to cry on, you may want to ask the person if they have considered natural pain relief methods. For example, some people experience a lot of pain relief via acupuncture, which happens when tiny needles are stuck into the body’s pressure points.

When pressure points are stimulated with needles, a lot of people find that their pain eases or disappears. While every type of pain might not respond to acupuncture, a lot of pain does respond to it. Chinese medicine has been around for centuries and acupuncture is a drug-free way to explore alternative pain relief. Results vary, but those who use it and get good results definitely believe in it.

Also, there are a few natural supplements which are quite effective. Comfrey Cream is great for soothing pain topically and St. John’s Wort is available in capsule form and soothes pain as it also helps to boost and balance mood.

While you shouldn’t pressure someone in pain to do things that they don’t want to do, suggesting alternatives may, at the least, open up a good dialogue between the two of you and help the other person to know how much you care. In our busy world, taking the time to show someone in pain that you think about them, look for possible solutions to their problems and want the best for them is a powerful expression of friendship.

99.99% of the people that you come across on a daily basis are going to complain about having bad knees (or a bad back).

The sad truth of the matter is that 99.99% of all those people actually DO have terrible knees and a back that is everything but pain free.

Thankfully though, that doesn’t have to be the kind of life that you lead. You can create truly bulletproof knees with intelligent training, the kind of knees that can’t stand up to all kinds of pressure, stress, and fight back against injury – even if you’re knees aren’t exactly in the best shape right now.

Here’s how to go about future proofing your knees for life!

Focus on your posterior chain before you do anything else

A lot of people are going to dive right into training the muscles right around the knee and flexing the ligaments and tendons inside the knee, but that’s the very last thing you’re ever going to want to do if you are already dealing with knees that could pop at any point in time.

What you’ll want to do instead is focus on strengthening up your posterior chain – your hamstrings and your glutes – so that you can take a lot of pressure off your knees with these major muscle groups.

Kettlebell swings and deadlifts are fantastic for overhauling the posterior chain, and that’s where you’re going to want to start.

Always go through a full range of motion

If you are going to be training your knees over there something that you’ll want to do after your posterior chain is up to par) you’ll want to be sure that you aren’t doing half squats or partial lunges.

These halfway exercises seem like they put a lot less stress on your knee but the truth is they are devastating to the joint as it isn’t ever able to be properly exercised or two utilize all of the corresponding muscles.

You’ll overload portions of the knee while under loading others, and you’ll risk a tremendous amount of injury without even realizing it in the first place.

Switch up your cardio to something less impactful

Running, cycling, and rowing can feel great – and all of them are pretty easy to get into – but they are all going to put a lot of stress on knees that are already pretty stressed out.

Change things up by hitting the pool and lightning your load (so to speak) and your knees will eventually become bulletproof.