Many people feel pain in their knee from time to time when they bend it.Sometimes knee pain occurs when walking.This is quite logical, because the knee joints almost always bear a large load.Consequently, they are one of the most vulnerable joints in the human body.But you should still know when and for what reasons knee pain occurs and how you can get rid of it.
Knee pain is a common symptom.It can occur during illness or under the influence of other traumatic factors that affect the knee both externally and internally.
There are many causes of knee pain: from simple fatigue, through too intense sports, from injuries of various types, to diseases that affect one of the many structures of the knee joint.
How is knee pain manifested?
Knee pain can manifest itself in different ways.First of all, their intensity depends on the type of damage, as well as its severity.Sometimes a person complains that after intense sports training, knee pain starts to appear at night or minor pain occurs during physical exertion.However, a little later, a person may begin to suffer from constant severe pain, both in the knee and behind.Therefore, it is important to determine the causes of painful pain in the initial stage.Sometimes, to relieve pain, it is enough just to perform some procedures.But in case of rupture of ligaments or tendons, as a rule, surgical treatment cannot be avoided.In any case, if a person has severe pain in the knee, one should not expect the symptom to disappear by itself.But before you decide what to do and how to treat the pain, you need to make a correct diagnosis and inform the doctor about all the characteristics of the pain.First of all, you should report if your knee hurts when you bend, if you have pain or discomfort at night, if the pain occurs below the knee, etc.
When does knee pain occur?
The causes of knee pain can be different.Severe knee pain often occurs after ligament damage due to a serious injury.However, severe pain in the knee joint can manifest itself in different ways, because the structure of the joint is very complex.There are a total of four ligaments in the knee that connect the femur to the fibula and tibia bones.When one of these ligaments ruptures, severe pain occurs in the injured area.This happens most often with athletes.In this case, the pain bothers a person for a long time while walking, and during running the discomfort remains even longer.
Two more ligaments cross inside the knee.These two cruciate ligaments, anterior and posterior, join at the front of the lower leg.When the anterior cruciate ligament ruptures, there is a crunch in the knee.Then a sharp and severe pain occurs, after which a tumor develops in the knee area.After such an injury, you must stop immediately, because the damaged areas hurt so much that the knee loses stability.
If the posterior cruciate ligament in the leg joint is torn, the pain is usually less intense.With such an injury, there is pain in the knee from the back and a feeling of instability.
Knee pain also occurs when the tendon is damaged.This disease is called tendonitis.In this case, an inflammatory process and tendon irritation develop.The reasons for this phenomenon are injuries, mainly in sports.Most often, this kind of injury, both to the left knee and to the right knee, occurs in skiers, runners and those who practice cycling.This inflammation sometimes develops simultaneously in both knees.The patient suffers from discomfort and pain in the kneecap or in the front of the knee.Most often, discomfort and pain are felt when bending.In this case, there is no need to use traditional treatment or try to use an ointment to relieve pain.Treatment of pain in the knee joint should be prescribed only after the exact cause has been determined.Only then can we draw a conclusion about what to do and how to treat the disease.Otherwise, the disease drags on for a long period.
Another cause of knee pain is damage to the meniscus, the cartilage that bends in the knee joint.Such damage can occur in different parts of the meniscus, but in any case a person develops a tumor.
Sometimes when the knee is injured, the sacs of fluid that allow the ligaments and tendons to slide smoothly become inflamed.In this case, we are talking about bursitis, which can cause pain below the knee in front and behind.With bursitis, swelling and redness appear in the area where the inflammation develops.The person feels pain when squatting, kneeling, as well as when straightening the affected knee.Bursitis can develop under the kneecap (so-called precap bursitis), and when infected, causes very severe swelling, general weakness and fever.If the infection affects the area below the left or right knee at the back, then the pain on the inside of the knee becomes intense when the person walks up or down stairs.
When trauma, wounding, or degeneration of cartilage or bone occurs, parts of the cartilage can separate and loosen within the cup.A person does not think about how to treat this condition until the relaxed body begins to interfere with the movement of the joint.In this case, pain occurs.
When the kneecap moves, the person notices the abnormal position of the kneecap: it becomes perpendicular to the correct position.Symptoms of this phenomenon are pain, swelling in the affected area, severe discomfort when stretching the legs and when walking.Displacement of the patella that occurs once often occurs again in the future.Therefore, doctors advise performing special exercises aimed at supporting the muscles.
When the knee joint is widened due to injury, the knee is stretched and can bend in the opposite direction.Such damage is characterized by the appearance of a tumor, and the person also suffers from pain on the inside of the knee.This injury is also dangerous because it leads to a partial or complete rupture of the ligaments.
Chronic diseases are a special group of diseases that lead to knee pain.In rheumatoid arthritis, which affects all ligaments, including the knee, a person suffers not only from pain in the back of the knee and in front of the knee, but also from general stiffness of movement.Deformation of the knee joints gradually occurs, the patient suffers from constant weakness.In arthritis, both knees are affected at once;exacerbations and periods of lull occur periodically.Septic arthritis is the result of an infection.Its symptoms are pain, redness, swelling.A person may feel that the pain is localized in the vein.This condition often leads to fever.
In osteoporosis, commonly called degenerative arthritis, pain below the knee behind and in front is caused by wear and tear of the cartilage.The disease develops gradually;as a rule, knee pain is initially a concern when the weather changes, in the morning.Later the condition worsens.Since this disease develops less often in men, osteoporosis is often the cause of knee pain in women.
At the same time, the causes of acute pain in the knees can be the development of gout.This disease manifests itself suddenly with redness, swelling and intense pain.The knee joints remain in this state for about 10 days, and the discomfort disappears only after a few weeks.
However, sometimes knee pain is the result of simple overuse.People who are not used to sports training may notice that their legs hurt below the knees and the knees themselves after running for long distances, as well as when walking if the person is already very tired.To prevent this, you must avoid overloading and gradually increase the pace of training.
In addition to the diseases and conditions described, chondromalacia of the patella can also be accompanied by pain in the front of the knee joint.Osgood-Schlatter disease is most often diagnosed in young people who are actively involved in sports.In this case, the pain can be of different intensity.Often a person is tormented by pain in the legs below the knee.
How to get rid of knee pain?
There are a number of general recommendations, the implementation of which allows reducing the risk of developing diseases and conditions that lead to knee pain.One of the causes of such diseases is excess weight.Indeed, in this case, the tension on the knee joints increases with any physical effort.People who are overweight are more likely to develop osteoporosis, which leads to cartilage problems.
It happens that a person has pain on the side of the knee when bending or in another area after overstraining the muscles under an excessive load.It can be physical work, cycling or too intense exercise.In this case, it is important not only to give the body adequate loads, but also to ensure enough rest so that the muscles can recover.
When answering the question of why the knees are damaged, experts note insufficient flexibility of the muscles.If the muscles are too weak or tense, then during physical effort, and even when walking, the tension in the knee joint is not smoothed out.As a result, it may initially be painful for a person to bend and straighten the knee, and later the pain may even become constant.Therefore, in this case, proper training and regular performance of specially selected physical exercises for muscle development and strengthening are required.
In addition, knee pain when bending and walking develops in flat feet, in case one leg is shorter than the other.Such defects need to be corrected with the help of special shoes, otherwise over time the pain can turn into chronic pain, and the person will not only find it painful to bend the leg at the knee, but also difficult to walk.
There is no need to take risks and participate in sports competitions in which there is a high probability of overloading.If a person is engaged in skiing, athletics, basketball or other sports where the risk of falls, injuries and overloading is increased, he must calculate his strength extremely correctly.
The risk of injury also increases if the knee has been injured before.Therefore, if after an injury you feel pain above the knee, below the knee or directly in the joint, consult a doctor immediately.
At the first signs of pain in the knee joint, you should certainly rest your legs as long as possible.You can try to relieve the pain by using topical pain relievers.But if the pain does not go away, then you should definitely contact a specialist.Knee pain should be treated if signs of serious injury or illness appear.Therefore, you should consult a doctor if the acute pain in the knee does not disappear for several days, if there is swelling and vascular pain, if there is deformity of the knee.It is important to treat painful knees immediately if redness and fever appear, as this is a sign of infection.
But before starting direct treatment of pain in the knee joint, a specialist must carry out a diagnosis.Initially, a complete physical examination and a detailed examination of the patient are performed, and special tests are also used.Next, the doctor prescribes an X-ray, CT or MRI.If infection is suspected, a blood test is required.Only with the results of all the studies at hand, the doctor can determine how to treat the painful knee.
If your knee is injured, you must put a bandage on it.However, a simple bandage is sufficient only if the injury is not severe.If it hurts a person to stand on his knee, he cannot bend and straighten it without pain, then a more serious injury can be suspected.When ligaments are damaged or stretched, special bandages or casts are often required.
To prevent the development of a tumor during an injury, it is necessary to put ice on the site of the injury.You can keep the ice for a maximum of 15 minutes, and to prevent frostbite, you must first wrap it in a cloth or towel.
Painkillers are used as anti-inflammatory therapy for knee joint pain, and sometimes a course of antibiotics is needed.
Physiotherapy is also practiced.Some exercises can be done at home, but during intensive recovery, your doctor will prescribe a visit to a physical therapy office or a gym in a medical facility.
Sometimes the nature of the damage is such that it is impossible to get rid of knee pain without surgery.For this purpose, arthroscopic surgery can be used, the use of which allows the operation to be performed through minimal incisions.If the damage is significant, it is sometimes necessary to replace some parts of the knee with special prostheses.Total knee replacement involves the installation of prostheses made of metal, polymer and plastic.Even in modern medicine, in the treatment of knee pain, some non-surgical methods are used that enable the desired effect to be achieved relatively quickly.