Your knee is a complex area, so lots of things can wrong with your knee and lead to you getting knee pain and irritation.
You’ve got lots of tendons around your knee, and ligaments outside and inside and little shock absorbers that reduce friction around your knee than can all become irritated and cause you pain, so it can be hard to know when you should see someone about your knee.
Why do you need to see someone?
- To find out what’s wrong
- To prevent further knee damage
- To make a plan and start addressing the root cause of the pain
- To get yourself the best treatment
What knee conditions do we help people with all the time in clinic?
Tendonitis
This is an overuse injury, So it generally develops when you do more than your body is used to. We all have periods of time where life gets in the way and your activity level drops. Then after a bit you feel motivated again and you want to make up for lost time and you want to pick up where you left off and really push yourself. But during the rest your body has got a little deconditioned. Your tendon isn’t as strong and now when you push yourself it gets damaged and “angry”, and you’ll get some knee pain. Sometimes people haven’t had time off, but they’ve increased running distance or simply ran more hills which massively increases the demands one the knee tendons.
Tendon injuries are something that often gets a lot worse if you ignore it, but the good news with expert advice you can usually continue to train and work around the injury while the problem gets solved with physio.
Pain on inner side of knee
Pain in this area can commonly be a ligament sprain, tendonitis, or arthritis. Knee arthritis often starts off as an ache on the inside of the knee. The good news is, even if your knee has some arthritis, you can do physio exercises to build up the muscle around you knee in a way that doesn’t irritate your knee. So your muscles get stronger, your knee is more supported and your pain reduces or completely goes away and you get back to enjoying being active.
Throbbing knee pain
Having a throbbing pain in your knee is a real sign your knee has a lot of inflammation. So it’ll feel like a throbbing pain like similar inflammatory pains like a toothache or hangover. It’s important to find out the root cause of that inflammation, so you can find a way to control it and get back to doing the things you love.
Bursitis
This often looks like dramatic localised swelling, if you get a swelling, you should have this assessed, its often a little red and feels a little warmer than the surrounding area. This swelling/redness can be a sign of an infection which is super important to get on top of early. This can usually be resolved without any kind of surgery.
Sprains
Sprains are often caused by twists or sudden impacts. Ligament tissue is tough so it’s pretty hard to rip so these injuries often happen in sports or if someone twists quickly or has a slip on the stairs. And you can sometimes even hear the pop when it goes. A sprain can leave your knee feeling unstable and swollen. This means you knee can feel like it gives way when you’re preforming everyday tasks like turning around in the kitchen or stepping in and out of the bath.
Torn cartilage
You have little shock absorbers in your knee. These lumps of cartilage are a little like the breastbone in chicken. Its softer than bone but tougher than muscle. This can be ripped with a knee twist. Often, we see people who have slipped on the stairs caught their legs and torn their knee cartilage. The knee cartilage does also slowly get worn over time and wears with arthritis. So, it can be a sudden injury with a tear or can be worn slowly over time. Either way this usually respond well to physio and most patients recover with just physio and no surgical intervention required.
Other Causes of Knee Pain
Loose body
You can have a little bit of cartilage floating around in your knee like a stone in your shoe. This is often a real on/ off pain that suddenly randomly kicks in for no apparent reason and then suddenly goes.
Fracture
Lots of people can crack a bone in their knee during a fall, often their knee cap when they slip on ice and drop to a knee suddenly hitting the knee cap on the floor. You need to get this checked stair away if you’ve had a big impact with severe pain, swelling and often deformity where the break is.
Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome
A little-known fact is your kneecaps are soft until you’re 2-6 years old. This is why you often see kids slide off the sofa and land on their knees and they seem fine after and why you know never to attempt this yourself.
You’ve got a little joint behind your knee cap, and this can get injured over time. People often have pain that’s hard to put their finger on around the front of their knee. And this pain is often irritated by prolonged activity like long walks or jogs, or by prolonged sitting in one position or driving.
Kneecap Dislocation
Most people never dislocate their knee. But some people are prone to this. Generally, when someone dislocates their knee even for the first time they know exactly what they’ve done and they can tell us on the phone when they first ring up “I think I’ve dislocated my knee”.
Typical signs you should see someone ASAP are
• If your knee feels hot
• If your range of motion is reduced (you can’t fully flex or extend your knee)
• You struggle to put your full pressure on your knee
If your knee pain is hanging around for more than a few days or few weeks then it’s worth finding out what’s wrong so you can start doing the right things for your long term knee health.
