Many people experience knee pain from time to time when they bend it.Sometimes there is pain in the knee when walking.This is quite logical, because the knee joints almost always bear a high load.As a result, 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 to get rid of it.
Knee pain is a common symptom.It can occur during an illness or under the influence of other traumatic factors that affect the knee both externally and internally.
The causes of knee pain are many: from simple fatigue, to too intense sport, from various types of injuries, to pathologies that affect one of the many structures of the knee joint.
How does knee pain manifest itself?
Knee pain can manifest itself in several ways.First of all, their intensity depends on the type of damage and its severity.Sometimes a person complains that after intense sports training, aching pain in the knee begins to appear at night or a slight 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 in the back.Therefore, it is important to determine the causes of aching pain at the initial stage.Sometimes, to relieve pain, it is enough 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 suffers from severe knee pain, one should not expect that the symptom will disappear on its own.But before deciding what to do and how to treat pain, you should make a correct diagnosis and inform the doctor about all the features of pain.First of all, you need to report if your knee hurts when you bend, if the pain or discomfort bothers you at night, if the pain occurs below the knees, etc.
When does knee pain develop?
The causes of knee pain can be various.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 breaks, severe pain is felt in the injured area.This happens more often in athletes.In this case, the pain bothers the person for a long time while walking, and when running the discomfort remains even longer.
Two other ligaments intersect on the inside of the knee.These two cruciate ligaments, anterior and posterior, join at the front of the lower leg.When the anterior ligament tears, a creaking sound occurs in the knee.Then sharp, severe pain occurs, after which a tumor develops in the knee area.After suffering such an injury, you need to stop immediately, as the damaged areas hurt so much that the knee loses stability.
If the posterior cruciate ligament of the leg joint is torn, the pain is usually less intense.With such an injury, knee pain appears in the back and a feeling of instability.
Knee pain also develops when the tendon is damaged.This disease is called tendinitis.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 to the left knee and to the right knee, occurs in skiers, runners and those who practice cycling.This inflammation sometimes develops in both knees at the same time.The patient suffers from discomfort and pain in the kneecap or front of the knee.Most often, discomfort and pain are felt when bending.In this case, it is not necessary to resort to traditional treatment or try to use an ointment to relieve pain.Treatment for knee joint pain should be prescribed only after its cause has been precisely 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 time.
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 pockets of fluid that allow the ligaments and tendons to slide 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 the inflammation develops.A person feels pain when squatting, kneeling, and also when straightening the affected knee.Bursitis can develop under the kneecap (called precapsulated bursitis) and, when infected, causes very severe swelling, general malaise and fever.If the infection affects the back area under the left or right knee, pain on the inside of the knee becomes intense when a person goes up or down stairs.
When trauma, injury, or degeneration of cartilage or bone occurs, parts of the cartilage may break off and become 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 moved, 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 shift that occurs once will often recur in the future.Therefore, doctors recommend performing 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 a tumor, and the person is also disturbed by pain inside 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 disorders that cause pain in the knees.With rheumatoid arthritis, which affects all ligaments, including the knee, a person suffers not only from pain in the back and front of the knee, but also from general stiffness of movements.Deformation of the knee joints occurs gradually, the patient suffers from constant malaise.In arthritis, both knees are affected at the same time;exacerbations and periods of calm occur periodically.Septic arthritis is a consequence of the 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, commonly called degenerative arthritis, pain under the knee in the back and front develops due to wear and tear of the cartilage.The disease develops gradually;as a rule, knee pain initially worries when the weather changes, in the morning.Subsequently the condition worsens.Because 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 appears 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 a consequence of normal overexertion.People who are not used to sports training may notice that the 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 overload and gradually increase the pace of training.
In addition to the diseases and conditions described, pain in the anterior part of the knee joint may accompany chondromalacia of the patella.Osgood-Schlatter disease is often diagnosed in young people who actively participate 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 allows you to reduce the risk of developing diseases and conditions that lead to knee pain.One of the causes of such diseases is excess weight.After all, in this case, the tension on the knee joints increases with any physical exertion.People who tend to be overweight are more likely to develop osteoporosis, resulting in 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 excessive load.This may be physical work, cycling or too intense exercise.In this case, it is important not only to give the body an adequate load, but also to ensure sufficient rest so that the muscles can recover.
Answering the question of why the knees are damaged, experts note insufficient muscle flexibility.If the muscles are too weak or tense, during physical exertion and even when walking, the tension on the knee joint is not relieved.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.
Also, knee pain when bending and when walking develops with flat feet, in case one leg is shorter than the other.Such defects must be corrected with the help of special shoes, otherwise over time the pain can turn into chronic pain and not only will it be painful for a person to bend the leg at the knee, but it will also be difficult to walk.
There is no need to take risks and take part in sports competitions where there is a high probability of overload.If a person practices skiing, athletics, basketball or other sports where the risk of falls, injuries and overloads increases, he must calculate his strength extremely correctly.
The risk of injury also increases if the knee has been previously injured.Therefore, if after an injury you experience 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 rest your legs for as long as possible.You can try to relieve the pain using topical pain medications.But if the pain does not go away, you should definitely consult a specialist.Knee pain should be treated if signs of serious injury or disease appear.So, you should go to the doctor if acute knee pain does not go away for several days, if there is swelling and vascular pain, if there is knee deformity.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 of pain in the knee joint, a specialist must make a diagnosis.Initially, a complete physical examination is carried out, detailed questions are asked of the patient, and special tests are used.Next, the doctor prescribes an X-ray, CT scan or MRI.If an infection is suspected, a blood test is needed.Only by having the results of all the studies available can the doctor determine how to treat a painful knee.
If the knee is injured, you need to apply a bandage.However, regular bandaging is only sufficient if the injury is not serious.If a person hurts to kneel, he cannot bend and straighten it without pain, then a more serious injury may be suspected.When ligaments are damaged or sprained, special bandages or plasters are often needed.
To prevent the development of a tumor during the injury, it is necessary to apply ice to the site of the injury.You can store ice for no more than 15 minutes, and to avoid freezing, 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 necessary.
Physiotherapy is also practiced.Some exercises can be performed at home, but during intensive recovery, the doctor will prescribe a visit to a physiotherapy office or a gym at a medical facility.
Sometimes the nature of the damage is such that it is impossible to eliminate 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 metal, polymer and plastic prostheses.Even in modern medicine, in the treatment of knee pain, some non-surgical methods are used that allow you to achieve the desired effect relatively quickly.