I have had knee issues in the past, but it gets especially bad in the cold months. Will a hot compress before I go outside help or just make it worse?

This is a very good question! First of all, when you say you've had knee pain in the past, what type of knee pain? Is it above the knee, below it, around it? Is there swelling with the pain? From an LMTs standpoint, I'd want to know if it's something that, perhaps, your quads or your lower leg muscles are contributing to. Then, I'd also want to know if there's a doc's diagnosis with this pain.

Will a compress make it worse? Warmth is soothing, it also works to heat up sluggish fluids. If there's inflammation, however, then that could be contraindicated. Without more information to work with, it's difficult to give you a cohesive answer; my apologies for that. If you can answer some of these questions, we might be able to give you a better answer.

Best of luck!

Have you tried the warm compress? What else have you tried? Can you describe more about what is going on with the knee? Chronic pain calls for warm, however inflammation generally responds better with cold compress or alternating of warm and cold to create a flushing effect on the surrounding tissue.

One thing to consider, although it may seem unrelated is the following. If you have scar tissue anywhere on the body, get dome Wheat Germ Oil or if sensitive , get Sesame Seed Oil. Massage topically in the scar tissue for about a minute per day. This can have a major impact on circulatory related tissue problems.