Many people experience knee pain from time to time when bending it.Sometimes there is pain in the knee 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, to too intense sports, from injuries of various types, to diseases that affect one of the many structures of the knee joint.
How does knee pain manifest?
Pain in the knee 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, aching pain in the knee begins to appear at night, or minor pain develops during physical exertion.However, a little later, a person may begin to be bothered by constant severe pain, both in the knee and behind.Therefore, it is important to determine the causes of aching pain at the initial stage.Sometimes, in order to relieve the pain, it is enough just to carry out 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 very bad knee pain, one should not expect the symptom to disappear on its own.But before deciding what to do and how to treat the pain, you should make a correct diagnosis and tell the doctor about all the features of the pain.First of all, you need to report whether the knee hurts when bending, whether pain or discomfort bothers you at night, whether pain occurs below the knees, etc.
When does knee pain develop?
The causes of knee pain can be varied.Severe knee pain often develops after ligament damage due to serious injury.However, severe pain in the knee joint can manifest itself in different ways, since 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 area that was injured.This most often happens in athletes.In this case, the pain bothers the person for a long time when walking, and while running the discomfort remains even longer.
Two more ligaments are intersected inside the knee.These two cruciate ligaments, anterior and posterior, join at the front of the lower leg.When the anterior ligament ruptures, a crunch occurs in the knee.Then a sharp and severe pain occurs, after which a tumor develops in the knee area.After receiving such an injury, you must stop immediately, since the damaged areas hurt so much that the knee loses stability.
If the posterior cruciate ligament in a leg joint is torn, the pain is usually less intense.With such an injury, pain appears in the knee on the back side and a feeling of instability.
Knee pain also develops when the tendon is damaged.This disease is called tendonitis.In this case, an inflammatory process and irritation of the tendons develops.The reasons for this phenomenon are injuries, mainly in sports.Most often, such an injury, both in the left knee and in the right knee, occurs in skiers, runners, and those who engage in 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 ointment to relieve pain.Treatment for pain in the knee joint should be prescribed only after its cause has been accurately 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, which is the cartilage that bends at the knee joint.Such damage can occur in different parts of the meniscus, but in any case the person develops a tumor.
Sometimes when the knee is injured, the fluid sacs that allow the ligaments and tendons to glide smoothly become inflamed.In this case, we are talking about bursitis, which can cause both pain under the knee in front and behind.With bursitis, swelling and redness appear in the area where inflammation develops.A person feels pain when squatting, kneeling, and also when straightening the affected knee.Bursitis can develop under the knee cap (called precap bursitis), and when it becomes infected, it causes very severe swelling, general malaise, and fever.If the infection affects the area under the left or right knee at the back, then the pain on the inside of the knee becomes intense when a person walks up or down the stairs.
When trauma, wounds, or degeneration of cartilage or bone occur, parts of the cartilage may become detached and loose within the cup.A person does not think about how to treat this condition until the loose body begins to interfere with the movement of the joint.In this case, pain appears.
When the kneecap is displaced, a 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.A kneecap displacement that occurs once often occurs again in the future.Therefore, doctors advise doing special exercises aimed at supporting muscles.
When the knee joint expands 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 is also bothered by pain on the inside of the knee.This injury is also dangerous because it leads to partial or complete rupture of the ligaments.
Chronic diseases are a separate group of ailments that lead to pain in the knees.With 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 malaise.With arthritis, both knees are affected at once; exacerbations and periods of calm occur periodically.Septic arthritis is a consequence of infection.Its symptoms are pain, redness, swelling.A person may feel that the pain is localized in a vein.This condition often leads to fever.
In osteoporosis, which is commonly called degenerative arthritis, pain under the knee behind and in front develops due to wear and tear of the cartilage.The disease develops gradually; as a rule, pain in the knee initially worries when the weather changes, in the morning.Later the condition worsens.Since this disease develops less frequently in men, osteoporosis is often the cause of knee pain in women.
At the same time, the causes of acute pain in the knees may be the development of gout.This disease manifests itself suddenly with redness, swelling and intense pain.The joints in the knees remain in this state for about 10 days, and the discomfort goes away only after a few weeks.
However, sometimes knee pain is a consequence of ordinary overexertion.People who are not used to sports training may notice that their legs below the knees and the knees themselves hurt after running long distances, as well as when walking if the person is already very tired.To prevent this, you need to avoid overload and increase the pace of training gradually.
In addition to the diseases and conditions described, pain in the anterior part of the knee joint can accompany chondromalacia of the patella.Osgood-Schlatter disease is most often diagnosed in young people who are actively involved in sports.In this case, the pain can be of varying intensity.Often, a person is bothered 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 makes it possible to reduce the risk of developing diseases and conditions leading 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 tend to be overweight are more likely to develop osteoporosis, leading to problems with cartilage.
It happens that a person has pain on the side of the knee when bending or in another area after he has strained the muscles too much under excessive load.This can be physical labor, cycling, or too intense exercise.In this case, it is important not only to give the body adequate loads, but also to provide enough rest so that the muscles can recover.
Answering the question of why knees are damaged, experts note insufficient muscle flexibility.If the muscles are too weak or tense, then during physical effort and even when walking, the tension on 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 are necessary to develop and strengthen muscles.
In addition, pain in the knee when bending and when walking develops with flat feet, in the event that one leg is shorter than the other.Such defects must be corrected with the help of special shoes, otherwise over time the pain can develop into chronic pain, and it will not only be painful for the person to bend the leg at the knee, but also difficult to walk.
There is no need to take risks and take part in sports competitions in which there is a high probability of overload.If a person is involved in skiing, athletics, basketball, or other sports where the risk of falls, injuries and overloads is increased, he must calculate his strength extremely correctly.
The risk of injury also increases if the knee has previously been injured.Therefore, if after an injury you feel pain above the knee, below the knee, or directly in the joint, you should immediately consult a doctor.
At the first signs of pain in the knee joint, you should definitely give your legs a rest for as long as possible.You can try to relieve pain using topical pain medications.But if the pain does not disappear, then you should definitely consult a specialist.Knee pain should be treated if signs of serious injury or illness appear.So, you should go to the doctor if 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 sore knees immediately if redness and fever develop, as this is a sign of infection.
But before starting direct treatment for pain in the knee joint, a specialist must conduct a diagnosis.Initially, a complete physical examination and detailed questioning of the patient is carried out, and special tests are used.Next, the doctor prescribes an X-ray, CT or MRI.If an infection is suspected, a blood test is required.Only having the results of all the studies in hand can the doctor determine how to treat a sore knee.
If your knee is injured, you need to apply a bandage.However, a regular bandage is only sufficient 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 sprained, special bandages or plaster are often required.
To prevent the development of a tumor during injury, you need to apply ice to the site of the injury.You can keep the ice for no more than 15 minutes, and to prevent frostbite, you must first wrap it in a cloth or towel.
Painkillers are used as anti-inflammatory therapy for pain in the knee joints, and sometimes a course of antibiotics is required.
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 gym at 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, polymers and plastics.Also in modern medicine, when treating knee pain, some non-surgical methods are used that allow you to get the desired effect relatively quickly.