Last month I was talking to a guy named Tony in Cleveland. Thirty-one years in the trade. Started as an apprentice at nineteen, now runs his own shop.
“You want to know why my knees hurt?” He laughed—one of those laughs that isn’t really funny. “Come watch me work for a day.”
He wasn’t kidding.
The anatomy of plumber’s knee
Here’s what happens when you kneel eight hours a day, five days a week, for three decades: Your prepatellar bursa—that little fluid-filled sac that cushions your kneecap—gets angry. Real angry.
Doctors call it prepatellar bursitis. Plumbers call it Tuesday.
But that’s just the beginning. The meniscus—that C-shaped cartilage that acts like a shock absorber—starts to fray. Think of a rope left out in the weather. Year after year, it breaks down.
And the kneecap itself? It grinds against the femur every time you get up and down. Plumbers average about 80 to 100 knee bends per day. Multiply that by 250 work days. Multiply that by thirty years.
Let that sink in.
What actually helps
Tony tried everything. Gel pads. Foam pads. Those expensive knee pads with the straps that cut off your circulation.
What made the difference?
First, actually wearing the pads. “I used to think I was too tough for knee pads,” he told me. “Turns out I was too dumb.” Most guys don’t wear them consistently—especially on quick jobs where it seems like overkill.
Second, getting up differently. Physical therapists call it “power positions.” Instead of rocking back onto your heels and pushing straight up, you step one foot forward first. Takes the load off your kneecap.
Third—and this surprised him—glucosamine and fish oil. He’d been skeptical. “Sounded like something my wife’s yoga instructor would recommend.” But his doctor suggested it, and after about eight weeks, he noticed the morning stiffness wasn’t as bad.
“Not a miracle,” Tony said. “But I’ll take anything that gets me through the day.”
The bottom line
Your knees are paying a tax for every under-sink repair, every crawlspace squeeze, every time you drop down to check a valve. The bill comes due eventually.
The question isn’t whether it’ll hurt. The question is what you’re going to do about it.
PS. Tony’s still working. Still hurts. But he’s smarter about it now—and that’s made the difference between retiring early and staying in the game.