What Is The Prognosis For A Knee Injury
The goal for treating knee injuries is to return the patient to their previous level of activity. The prognosis for an individual injury depends upon the type of injury, the underlying health of the patient, and their willingness to work with their care provider and therapist to maximize their outcome.
Can Knee Pain Come Back After Treatment
Frequently, knee pain will occur for a short period of time and then resolve. Sometimes it can return a few weeks or months later. For chronic knee pain, it is important to get it evaluated to avoid further damage to cartilage, bones, or ligaments. Prognosis depends on the underlying causes of the pain.
With modern surgical techniques, it’s possible to relieve many of the knee pain syndromes and return to an active lifestyle.
Causes And Treatment For Knee Pain In Children
Knee pain may indicate a number of issues. Here are some of the most common causes.
1. Growing Pains
What causes growing pains is not clear, and there is no evidence that child’s growth is painful. Some experts believe that growing pains are linked to restless leg syndrome, but it may also happen due to overuse from activities such as climbing, running and jumping during the day.
Symptoms: The most common symptom is throbbing feeling in the legs. The pain usually occurs in the calves, in the front of the thighs or behind the knees. Some children also experience headache or abdominal pain during episodes of growing pains.
Treatment: While there is no treatment for these pains, they improve on their own within a couple of years. Even if they do not go away, they become less painful after the first year. Massaging your child’s legs may help ease some discomfort.
2. Jumper’s Knee
Kids that play sports with lots of jumping and squatting may overuse the patellar tendon, which results in the development of Jumper’s knee. Excessive squatting puts serious pressure on the patellar tendon and causes injury to the fibers of the tendon. This leads to inflammation and pain. Abnormal alignment of the lower limbs may be a cause of Jumper’s knee. It means that kids who are flat-footed or knock-kneed may develop this condition.
Doctors may also prescribe anti-inflammatory medicine to reduce knee pain in children. Your child may even have to wear knee straps and sleeves for support.
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Tendonitis Versus A Tear
Its possible to tear tendons, ligaments, connective tissue or muscles around any of your joints. This type of injury can seem similar to tendonitis, as both can present with swelling and pain and can occur during or after physical activity.
Its very difficult to differentiate between these 2 types of issues. One way that helps us to diagnose a tear is to determine if there was trauma to cause the injury. If someone fell or was hit and the person suffered an injury, then wed suspect it was a tear and not tendonitis. Tendonitis is usually due to repetitive movements and not due to trauma.
What To Expect At Your Office Visit
Your provider will perform a physical exam, and look at your knees, hips, legs, and other joints.
Your provider may do the following tests:
- MRI of the knee if a ligament or meniscus tear could be the cause
- CT scan of the knee
- Joint fluid culture
Your provider may inject a steroid into your knee to reduce pain and inflammation.
You may need to learn stretching and strengthening exercises. You also may need to see a podiatrist to be fitted for orthotics.
In some cases, you may need surgery.
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What Is Knee Pain
Pain is a common knee problem that can originate in any of the bony structures compromising the knee joint , the kneecap , or the ligaments, tendons, and cartilage of the knee. Knee pain can be aggravated by physical activity, as well as obesity, affected by the surrounding muscles and their movements, and be triggered by other problems . Knee pain can affect people of all ages, and home remedies can be helpful unless it becomes severe.
Why Does My Knee Hurt
If you are experiencing knee pain when walking, knee pain when bending, knee pain when resting, or are hearing popping/clicking in your knee, etc., it may be a minor concern or indicator of a serious issue.
Knee pain is usually caused by traumatic injuries, repetitive motion injuries, long-term wear & tear, or tissue disorders. Below are injuries that are common causes for knee pain, but it is best to enter your symptoms into our Knee Pain Diagnosis Symptom Checker to gain a better understanding of your injury.
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Physical Therapy For Knee Pain
One of the major components of rehabilitation for knee pain is physical therapy. Our app has a series of exercises to help you work on all the muscles that stabilize the knee joint. In fact, at some point, it should become your mainstay to treating your knee pain.
Start SlowYou dont have to go do it all at once. Straight leg raises and quad sets while lying down should be good enough while you deal with pain. Once the pain eases, you can do more complex exercises. This is particularly important if you havent been active for a while. The goal here is to ease your joints into exercise. Dont push yourself too hard. By doing so, you will overwork your muscles, strain the joint and worsen the knee pain.
Build Over TimeYou dont have to go do it all at once. Straight leg raises and quad sets while lying down should be good enough while you deal with pain. Once the pain eases, you can do more complex exercises. This is particularly important if you havent been active for a while. The goal here is to ease your joints into exercise. Dont push yourself too hard. By doing so, you will overwork your muscles, strain the joint and worsen the knee pain.
Initially, you may be asked to simply flex your knee multiple times. This may seem silly but its a gradual step up. Once youve learned the basics and have established a foundational routine, you can step up through the program, but you will need some hand-holding in the beginning.
Medical History And Physical Examination
Your doctor may ask specific questions about your activities, symptoms, and prior injuries. He or she may also want to know whether your symptoms appear immediately after an injury or in the days afterward. This helps the doctor determine if pain is a sign of osteoarthritis of the knee.
Your doctor may ask you to stand and walk to assess whether an injury affects your gait or causes a limp. He or she may also ask you to bend and straighten your leg while you sit on the exam table in order to evaluate the range of motion in the knee.
During a physical exam, your doctor can often determine which type of knee injury you have. He or she may recommend imaging tests to confirm the diagnosis and to distinguish between knee tears that affect the ligaments and those that affect the smooth layer of cartilage composed of two menisci.
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F Pain Below The Knee
- Patellar Tendonitis: Most common. Damage to the patellar tendon, thickening of the tendon, pain worse with repetitive activities e.g. jumping. LEARN MORE>
- Osgood Schlatters Disease: Affects adolescents and children typically after a growth spurt. Pain is felt at the top of the shin bone and there is often a hard bony lump. LEARN MORE>
- Infrapatellar Bursitis: Inflammation and swelling of the bursa forming a squashy lump just below the kneecap. LEARN MORE>
- Osteochondritis Dissecans: Decreased blood flow to the knee bones leads to degeneration, thinning and tearing of the knee bones and cartilage. Most common between the ages of 10-20. LEARN MORE>
- Sinding-Larsen-Johansson Disease: Affects adolescents and children. Pain similar to OSD but slightly higher, just below the kneecap.
What Causes Knee Pain
The knee is one of the most vulnerable joins in the body. If youre suffering from knee pain, the discomfort is usually attributed to injury, age, or repeated stress on the knee. This type of stress includes kneeling, lifting, and walking as well as higher impact activities like running or training.
The knee joint connects the shin bone , the thigh bone , and of course, the knee cap. Your knee is the connecting point of your leg bones, with cartilage to absorb shock from movements. Tendons, ligaments, and muscles hold everything together to keep you walking, running, swimming, etc. without damage to the legs. In a nutshell, your knee is the connector and shock absorber of the legs, protecting you from injury.
But what happens when the knee is in trouble?
Because of the knees role as connector and shock absorber, if it becomes damaged, pain is sure to follow.
Depending on your lifestyle, age, and activities, your knee pain could be caused by a number of factors. Lets go through the common types of knee pain and their causes, so you can determine how to address these underlying issues.
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Knee Pain From Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is at the root of chronic joint inflammation, and the American College of Rheumatology estimates it affects over 27 million Americans aged 25+. Knee pain caused by osteoarthritis is one of the top reasons people receive knee transplants. Osteoarthritis also happens to be the #1 underlying cause of knee pain in people over the age of 50.
What is osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis happens when the cartilage that protects and cushions the bone ends wears down over a long period of time. This is why osteoarthritis is more common in people aged 50+, as the natural ageing process and years of stress on the joints take its toll.
Knee pain from osteoarthritis is often accompanied by pain in the hands, back, hips, or any other major joints.
While you cannot undo the damage to the joints caused by osteoarthritis, many can manage knee pain with some simple lifestyle adjustments, including lower impact exercises, anti-inflammatory diet, and over-the-counter pain medications. Promising natural remedies for knee pain from osteoarthritis include various anti-inflammatory herbs and plants like CBD oil and turmeric.
If youre under the age of 50, you can help prevent osteoarthritis by:
- Preventing joint injury by warming up prior to exercise, doing low-impact exercise, etc.
- Keeping your blood sugar in check
- Listening to your body
What Are Risk Factors For Knee Pain
Biomechanics: The knee joint is complicated in its operation and is used frequently throughout the day. Any change in the movement of the joint can cause subtle changes and cause pain and injuries.
Excess weight: The stress on the knee joint is increased with excess weight. Obesity also increases the risk of knee osteoarthritis as the cartilage breaks down more rapidly.
Overuse during repetitive motions as are found during certain exercises or work conditions can cause breakdown of cartilage and lead to pain.
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Proximal Tibiofibular Joint Dislocation
Proximal tibiofibular joint dislocation is one of the most unusual causes of lateral knee pain. It affects the joint between the top of the shin bone and the fibular, the small, thin bone that runs down the outer side of the shin, just below the knee joint on the outer side.
It takes a large force to dislocate the joint, e.g. a car accident, but it can also partially dislocate usually due to a fall when the foot is plantarflexed , which often also damages the tibiofibular ligament.
Symptoms usually include outer knee pain, instability especially during deep squats and sometimes an obvious deformity at the side of the knee. There may also be associated damage to the peroneal nerve leading to pins and needles or numbness around the outer knee.
Types Of Pain: How To Identify Pain And Take Action
According to the CDC, roughly 20.4% of adults in the US experience some form of chronic pain and an additional 8% suffer from high-impact chronic pain. Thats nearly 70 million people and this does not include other common types of pain like acute and neuropathic. Understanding and identifying your type of pain in order to communicate with your healthcare provider can be a difficult task for some, but is a vital step towards getting relief.
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How To Identify Tendonitis Bursitis Sprains & Tears
Tendonitis is inflammation of a tendon. A tendon acts as the cable that attaches the muscle to the bone. If the tendon gets overly stressed and strained, it may get irritated and inflamed. We often hear of tendonitis involving the knees, elbows, wrists, shoulders, or heels such as, tennis elbow, achilles tendonitis, or jumpers knee.
It can be easily confused with other conditions that involve the joints because they involve similar levels of pain and swelling and disability. We regularly diagnose and treat a variety of joint conditions in our .
Receiving an accurate diagnosis for a joint injury can involve:
- A complete and thorough physical assessment by a doctor or
- Having an x-ray depending on if there was trauma to cause the pain to rule out a fracture. If arthritis is suspected as the cause of pain, an x-ray can be useful to diagnose the presence or severity of cartilage loss
- Ordering an MRI to assess ligament or muscle damage if a major injury is suspected or if the persons pain is lasting longer than expected
Knee Pain Can Get Better
You dont have to live all your life with knee pain. At some point, somethings gotta give and it doesnt have to be your knee. You cannot be dependent on pain medications forever. At Injurymap, we work closely with doctors and therapists to create a program for individuals with joint pain. Since knee pain is so common, we designed the app to answer all your pain questions and make it easier for you to get physical therapy without breaking the bank.
At present, physical therapy is one of the cornerstones of therapy for knee pain. The Orthopedic Section of the American Physical Therapy Association lists physical therapy as a guideline in the treatment of knee pain. So much so they call them therapeutic exercises. Studies have confirmed that physical rehabilitation of the knee joint, improves the range of motion of the knee, quadriceps strength, reduces pain and functional disability.
Traditional physiotherapy, while great, is time constricted. Injurymap is quick, available and has programs designed by doctors with your knee pain in mind. So take the first step towards getting rid of that knee pain and sign up for a low cost program. Knee pain shouldnt last forever and we can help you do that.
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Evaluation Of Patients Presenting With Knee Pain: Part I History Physical Examination Radiographs And Laboratory Tests
WALTER L. CALMBACH, M.D., University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
Am Fam Physician. 2003 Sep 1 68:907-912.
Family physicians frequently encounter patients with knee pain. Accurate diagnosis requires a knowledge of knee anatomy, common pain patterns in knee injuries, and features of frequently encountered causes of knee pain, as well as specific physical examination skills. The history should include characteristics of the patient’s pain, mechanical symptoms , joint effusion , and mechanism of injury. The physical examination should include careful inspection of the knee, palpation for point tenderness, assessment of joint effusion, range-of-motion testing, evaluation of ligaments for injury or laxity, and assessment of the menisci. Radiographs should be obtained in patients with isolated patellar tenderness or tenderness at the head of the fibula, inability to bear weight or flex the knee to 90 degrees, or age greater than 55 years.
Knee pain accounts for approximately one third of musculoskeletal problems seen in primary care settings. This complaint is most prevalent in physically active patients, with as many as 54 percent of athletes having some degree of knee pain each year.1 Knee pain can be a source of significant disability, restricting the ability to work or perform activities of daily living.
FIGURE 1.
Anatomy of the knee.
FIGURE 1.
Anatomy of the knee.
Facts You Should Know About Knee Pain
- Knee pain is a common problem with many causes, from acute injuries to complications of medical conditions.
- Knee pain can be localized to a specific area of the knee or be diffuse throughout the knee.
- Knee pain is often accompanied by physical restriction.
- A thorough physical examination will usually establish the diagnosis of knee pain.
- The treatment of knee pain depends on the underlying cause.
- The prognosis of knee pain, even severe knee pain, is usually good although it might require surgery or other interventions.
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Find Out More About Front Knee Pain
Front knee pain is extremely common, but is usually fairly simple to overcome. If you would like some help working out what is causing your problem and what you can do about it, visit the knee pain diagnosissection. Remember, the best way to accurately diagnose your front knee pain is to see your doctor.
Find out more about the most common causes of front knee pain, including in-depth information on the causes, symptoms and treatment options by clicking on the links above.
Page Last Updated: 10/06/21
What Causes Runners Knee
The patella, or kneecap, is fixed in place by tendons, which help it stay in place and glide along the end of the femur , so you can bend your knee. It slides along a notch in the bone called the trochlear or femoral groove.
When the smooth motion or contact of the patella in the groove is disrupted, it causes patellofemoral pain syndrome, also known as runners knee.
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