Many people experience knee pain from time to time when bending them.Sometimes there is pain in the knee when walking.This is quite logical, because the knee joint almost always bears a large load.As a result, they are one of the most vulnerable joints in the human body.But you still have to know when and for what reason knee pain occurs, and how you can get rid of it.
Knee pain is a common symptom.It can occur during pain or under the influence of other traumatic factors that affect the knee 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 can knee pain be seen?
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 a small pain develops during physical exercise.However, a little later, a person may begin to be bothered by constant severe pain, both in the knees and back.Therefore, it is important to determine the cause of painful pain at an early stage.Sometimes, to relieve pain, it is enough just to carry out several procedures.But in the case of ligament or tendon rupture, as a rule, surgical treatment is unavoidable.In any case, if one has very bad knee pain, one should not expect the symptoms to go away on their 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 characteristics of the pain.First of all, you need to report whether the knee hurts when bending, whether the pain or discomfort bothers you at night, whether the pain occurs below the knee, etc.
When does knee pain develop?
The causes of knee pain can be varied.Severe knee pain often occurs after ligament damage from a serious injury.However, severe pain in the knee joint can manifest 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 is most common in athletes.In this case, the pain bothers the person for a long time when walking, and during running the discomfort remains 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 ligament ruptures, stiffness 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, because the damaged area hurts 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, pain appears in the knee in the back and a sense of instability.
Knee pain also develops when tendons are damaged.This disease is called tendonitis.In this case, the process of inflammation and tendon irritation develops.The reason for this phenomenon is injuries, especially in sports.Most often, such injuries, both in the left knee and in the right knee, occur in skiers, runners, and those involved in cycling.This inflammation sometimes develops simultaneously in both knees.Patients experience discomfort and pain in the kneecap or in the front of the knee.Often, discomfort and pain are felt when bending over.In this case, there is no need to use traditional treatment or try to use ointments to relieve pain.Treatment for pain in the knee joint should be prescribed only after the exact cause has been determined.Only then can we draw conclusions about what to do and how to treat this disease.Otherwise, the disease lasts for a long time.
Another cause of knee pain is damage to the meniscus, which is the cartilage that bends in the knee joint.Such damage can occur in different parts of the meniscus, but in any case the person has a tumor.
Sometimes when the knee is injured, the sac of fluid that allows the ligaments and tendons to slide smoothly becomes 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 even when straightening the affected knee.Bursitis can develop under the knee cap (called precap bursitis), and when it becomes infected, it causes severe swelling, malaise and fever.If the infection affects the area below the left or right knee in the back, then the pain on the inside of the knee becomes intense when a person walks up or down stairs.
When trauma, injury, or degeneration of cartilage or bone occurs, the cartilage may be torn off and loose in 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 joints.In this case, pain appears.
When the kneecap is moved, one sees an 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.Dislocation of the kneecap that happens once often happens again in the future.Therefore, doctors advise doing special exercises aimed at supporting the 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 tumors, and the person is also disturbed by pain in the inner part of the knee.This injury is also dangerous because it leads to a partial or complete rupture of the ligament.
Chronic diseases are a group of separate diseases that lead to pain in the knee.With rheumatoid arthritis, which affects all ligaments, including the knee, a person experiences not only pain in the back of the knee and in front of the knee, but also from general stiffness of movement.Deformation of the knee joint gradually occurs, the patient experiences constant malaise.With arthritis, both knees are affected at once;Exacerbations and periods of calm occur periodically.Septic arthritis is the result of an infection.The symptoms are pain, redness, swelling.One may feel that the pain is localized in the vein.This condition often leads to fever.
In osteoporosis, which is commonly called degenerative arthritis, pain below the knee in the back and in front develops due to wear and tear of the cartilage.The disease develops gradually;as a rule, pain in the knee is initially worried when the weather changes, in the morning.Later the situation worsened.Since this disease occurs less often in men, osteoporosis is often the cause of knee pain in women.
At the same time, the cause of acute pain in the knee may be the development of gout.The disease appears suddenly with redness, swelling and severe pain.The joint in the knee remains in this state for about 10 days, and the discomfort disappears only after a few weeks.
However, sometimes knee pain is a result of normal fatigue.People who are not familiar with 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 avoid this, you need to avoid overloading and increase the training rate gradually.
In addition to the diseases and conditions described, pain in the anterior part of the knee joint can accompany chondromalacia patella.Osgood-Schlatter disease is most often diagnosed in young people who are actively involved in sports.In this case, the pain can vary in intensity.Often, a person is bothered by pain in the leg below the knee.
How to get rid of knee pain?
There are some general recommendations, the implementation of which makes it possible to reduce the risk of developing diseases and conditions that lead to knee pain.One of the causes of the disease is excess weight.Indeed, in this case, the tension in the knee joint increases with any physical effort.People who tend to be overweight are more likely to develop osteoporosis, which leads to cartilage problems.
It happens that a person experiences pain in the knee when bending over or in other areas after he has strained the muscles too much under an excessive load.This can be physical labor, cycling, or too intense exercise.In this case, it is important not only to give sufficient load to the body, 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 exertion and even walking, the tension on the knee joint is not smooth.As a result, at first it may be painful for a person to bend and straighten the knee, and then the pain may 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, if 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 is not only painful for the person to bend the leg at the knee, but it is also difficult to walk.
There is no need to take risks and participate in sports competitions where there is a high probability of overload.If a person is involved in skiing, athletics, basketball, or other sports where the risk of falling, injury and overload increases, he must calculate his strength very 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 see a doctor.
At the first signs of pain in the knee joint, you should definitely give your legs a break as long as possible.You can try to relieve the pain using topical pain relievers.But if the pain does not go away, then you definitely need to consult a specialist.Knee pain should be treated if signs of serious injury or illness appear.Therefore, you should go to the doctor if the acute pain in the knee does not go away for several days, if there is swelling and vascular pain, if there is a deformity of the knee.It is important to treat a sore knee immediately if redness and fever develop, as these are signs 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 questions of the patient are carried out, and special tests are used.Next, the doctor prescribes X-ray, CT or MRI.If infection is suspected, a blood test is required.Only with the results of all the studies in the hands of the doctor can determine how to treat a sore knee.
If your knee is injured, you need to wear a bandage.However, a simple bandage is only sufficient if the injury is not severe.If it hurts a person to stand on his knees, he cannot bend and straighten them without pain, then a more serious injury can be suspected.When a ligament is damaged or sprained, a special bandage or plaster is often required.
To prevent tumor development during injury, you need to put ice on the injury site.You can keep the ice for no more than 15 minutes, and to avoid frostbite, you must first wrap it in a cloth or towel.
Painkillers are used as anti-inflammatory therapy for pain in the knee joint, and sometimes a course of antibiotics is required.
Physiotherapy is also practiced.Some exercises can be done at home, but during intensive rehabilitation, your doctor will schedule a visit to a physical therapist's office or a 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, its use allows the operation to be performed through a minimal incision.If the damage is significant, it is sometimes necessary to replace some parts of the knee with a special prosthesis.Total knee replacement involves fitting a prosthesis made of metal, polymer and plastic.Also in modern medicine, when treating knee pain, several non-surgical methods are used that allow you to get the desired effect quickly.