Stiffness in joints is usually a combination of stiff surrounding muscles and tendons, a stiff capsule, and swelling. There are two types of swelling, inside the joint and outside the joint. The swelling I’m talking about is inside the joint, and is technically called effusion. 

Like swelling, effusion is handled by the lymphatic system. This system surrounds our bodies like our blood vessels do and have a role in evacuating a buildup of fluids. However, unlike blood vessels, it doesn’t have a pump (the heart). It’s a passive system and relies on movement to get fluids circulating.

Luckily, the issues that cause stiffness work together. The take home message is: movement.

Don’t rest it. That usually makes it worse. 

Here’s what to do:

1. Walk

Turns out your high school baseball coach was right; walk it off. As long as you can walk without high levels of pain, it’s worth it. Every step you take, the muscles of the legs pump fluid around. You will likely increase your breathing rate too, which is also involved in the lymphatic system.

2. Bike

Probably my favorite thing to do for a stiff knee is biking. This is particularly useful if walking is not an option. The reason this is great is the repetitive bending and straightening of the knee is like a pump and squeezes the effusion out of the knee. If you’re really stiff and can’t get all the way around on the bike, you can start off by just going back and forth with the good leg doing most of the work. You should notice that after a few minutes, you’ll get more range in the cycle and maybe even get all the way around. As you improve, lower the seat so that it requires deeper knee bending. 

3. Increase Range of Motion

There are lots of ways to do this. Below is my favorite way.

This works well because often, the muscles surrounding the joint can stiffen as a defense to a painful condition. We call this guarding and it’s probably an evolutionary relic. If you’re injured, you will slow the pack down when hunting, so it’s best to stay in the cave that day. That’s one of the theories behind muscle guarding. 

There you go, three easy ways to improve your knee stiffness. Just remember, movement is medicine. Rest rarely does anything.