Having sensitive knees or knee pain can be a challenge but staying active and continuing to strengthen your body is a good way to reduce your symptoms. A regular walking routine can help reduce stiffness or inflammations and ensures that your knee joints maintain their functions.
If you have mild to moderate pain, walking and other exercises help mobilize your joint fluids and lubricates the joints. Stiffness, pain, and fatigue will lessen as you progress more with exercising.
If you have moderate to severe pain, start with shorter walks and at an easy pace for yourself. Or you can try other activities which do not place as much stress on your joints. But of course, if your pain remains severe, do stop immediately as it can be a sign of inflammation or joint damage that needs to be treated.
Some tips for your walking routine include incorporating cycling on a stationary bike or bicycle, adding a certain amount of steps per day to your routine, building your walk time, or choosing to walk on a softer surface such as dirt or pea gravel instead of concrete.
Other tips that indirectly changes your walking routine include choosing the right pair of shoes. You can refer to our post to find the right pair for you: https://www.cesphysiorehab.com/post/3-tests-for-choosing-appropriate-footwear. If you are overweight, losing excess weight can help reduce the stress that is placed on your knees and lessen the pain and discomfort you may feel. You can also try using walking poles or canes which help with stability and reduce joint fatigue when walking. Most importantly you should warm up before any sort of physical activity.