What Is Jumper’s Knee
Jumper’s knee also called patellar tendonitis is an overuse injury that occurs when a tendon is overloaded, causing it to thicken. I see this most often in younger patients who complain about pain in the front of the knee.
It can be especially painful when you squat, jump or land. Jumper’s knee typically begins in adolescence or early adulthood.
Area : Iliotibial Band Syndrome
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Another painful condition thats very closely related to patellar compression syndrome is called iliotibial band syndrome.
The iliotibial band is a thick brous strap of tissue that runs all the way down the lateral thigh, from the pelvis to just below the knee. Its a structure that has a habit of tightening up over time and pulling the patella off centre if your vastus medialis oblique muscles arent strong enough to counteract.
Because of where it sits, as the knee is repeatedly bent and straightened, it moves back and forth over the knobbly end of the thigh bone just above the knee, cushioned by a uid-lled bursa. Its at this point that inflammation can occur, which is then irritated each time the knee is bent.
Most commonly seen in runners, its an unpleasant condition thought to be exacerbated by weakness of the gluteus medius muscle another essential core muscle that gets neglected by cycling and also by wearing cleats that point the toes too far inwards.
How to manage iliotibial band syndrome
In the acute phase of the injury, the mainstay of its treatment is the same as any for an inammatory condition: rest, ice and regular anti-inammatory medications such as Ibuprofen, if tolerated.
Rehabilitation after this is very similar to that described above for patellar compression syndrome, but with a focus on building up the gluteus medius muscle instead of the vastus medialis oblique.
Pain On The Inside Of The Knee
Pain localized on the inside of the knee is quite common. It can be constant or intermittent. Often it occurs at or slightly below the joint line. Common causes of medial knee pain include osteoarthritis, medial meniscus injury, and inflammation of the low leg tendons. The latter is called pes anserine bursitis.
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Possible Causes Of Pain On Outside Of Knee
1. Iliotibial Band Syndrome
Repeated knee bending exercises like cycling and running can result in overuse syndromes. Iliotibial band syndrome is among such conditions and it causes the pain as a result of irritation iliotibial band . Irritation is as a result of constant rubbing against the outer part of the knee bone. The pain is more intense when walking on an inclined surface. Factors that contribute to overuse include insufficient stretching, poor training, unbalanced thigh muscle strength and inappropriate footwear as well as flat feet.
2. Patellofemoral Syndrome
It occurs as a result of an imbalance in the muscle responsible for the alignment of the knee. When this happens, the kneecap rubs against the thigh bone causing the pain. Mostly, pain is experienced on the front part of the knee, but there are occasions when the pain is felt on outside of knee when the friction is on the outside of the bone. Pain is experienced when sitting, squatting, jumping and climbing stairs.
3. Knee Osteoarthritis
4. Lateral Collateral Ligament Injury
5. Lateral Meniscus Tear
6. Runners Knee
This condition mostly affects runners and other athletes who bend their knees a lot. You will experience pain around and behind the knee cap specifically where the knee cap and the thigh bone meet. Walking, kneeling and running become painful when you have this condition. The knee will have popping or grinding sensations. Swelling might occur as well as pain when walking on inclined surfaces.
Lower Iliotibial Band Stretch
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Lie on your good side, in a straight line along the edge of a bed so youre looking across the bed.
Hold on to the end of the bed with your lower arm for support.
Reach behind you with your upper arm and pull your foot to your bottom, as if you were doing a regular quads stretch. Keeping your foot against your bottom, gently increase the quads stretch by pulling your leg backwards. Youll feel it along the front of your thigh let yourself relax into this stretch.
Still holding this stretch, and making sure you dont tilt your hips backwards, now very gently push your knee down towards the floor.
At a certain point you should feel quite a sharp stretch down near the knee perfect for lengthening those tight soft tissues around the lateral aspect of the patella. Its important to keep your whole body in line and perpendicular to the bed during the stretch.
If youre lucky enough to be able to enlist the help of a patient friend, ask them to place one hand on your hips and push down very gently on your knee with the other. This produces a better stretch, since you can completely relax the leg as its being pushed down.
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Lateral Collateral Ligament Sprain Or Strain Treatment
It will suspect an LCL strain given to pain on the outside of the knee after receiving a traumatic contact force to the inside of the knee. Your medical practitioner may order diagnostic imaging to assess the total extent of the injury.
In cases of a complete tear, it should need surgery. Symptoms resolve with rest and activity modification. However, depending on the severity, recovery times might varyA grade 1 tear taking 2-3 weeks, and a grade 3 tear taking 3-6 months.
Grades of LCL Tear & Recovery Time
- Grade I: The LCL has been overstretched, whereas theres no major injury It will compromise its functions until its healed.
- Grade II: The LCL has been partly torn and should need surgery to repair depending on the extent of the injury.
- Grade III: a complete tear of the LCL requiring surgery to reconstruct the ligament.
Ligaments act not solely as chains connecting bones together They are also extremely receptor-rich tissues. Embedded within fibers are tiny cells that sense changes in joint position .
Once the ligaments tear, the sensitivity of those cells is also disruptedless information regarding knee joint position reaches the brain. This may produce joint instability, losses in balance, and diminish muscle reflexes. For these reasons, when the pain subsides, balancing exercises are typically used to build the joints sense of position back up.
Knee Pain On The Outside Of The Knee
Your knee is a complex part of your body. Various ligaments and bones, different types of cartilage, and the iliotibial band are located in and around your knee.
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A number of problems with these structures can lead to pain on the outside of your knee. These problems are often the result of repeatedly bending your knee during sports or during years and years of everyday activities. Trauma to the knee can also lead to outside knee pain. Treatment depends on the underlying cause.
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Sharp Pain And A Popping Sound
If you experience a sharp pain and popping sound when bending, you may have:
- A ligament tear. The knee has four primary ligaments that stabilize and support the joint. A direct blow or sudden twisting motion can overstretch or tear any of the ligaments in the knee. Ligament injuries typically cause sudden, sharp pain, swelling, and a popping sound at the time of injury.
- A meniscus tear. The knee has two C-shaped discs of cartilage on either side of the joint, called the menisci. A forceful twisting motion can cause either meniscus to tear. Meniscus tears typically cause a popping sound at the time of injury. Pain can be immediate or it can develop over the next several days.
There Are Several Conditions That Can Cause Your Knee To Hurt Only When Lying Down And Especially Overnight After Youve Been In Bed For Several Hours
It seems odd that a knee would hurt mostly or even only when a person lies down.
After all, the human knee is subject to loads of pressure just from walking. We take that for granted.
The knee is actually the most unstable joint in the body. This is why self-defense classes teach students to go for the knee with any number of foot strikes.
A good strike by a 100 pound person to this inherently unstable joint can bring down a 300 pound brute.
If your knee hurts only when you lie down, or, chronic day pain gets notably worse overnight, there can be several reasons.
Depending on the position of the knee, some inflammatory conditions such as tendinitis or bursitis may be worse when lying down, says John-Paul H. Rue, MD, orthopedic sports medicine surgeon with Orthopedics and Joint Replacement at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, MD.
Pain from osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis may also worsen at night lying down as the muscles around the knee relax, continues Dr. Rue.
Other less common conditions such as ankylosing spondylitis may cause knee pain at night.
Ankylosing spondylitis is a form of arthritis that primarily affects the spine, but can also affect other joints.
If you have this you probably already have back pain and stiffness.
In general, placing the knee in a position with the support of additional pillows may lessen the pain associated with these conditions, says Dr. Rue.
Experiment which positioning and pillow configuration works best for you.
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Pain When Bending Knee On Outside
Pain on the outside knee of your knee when bending it is often caused by an IT band problem.
The Iliotibial Band is a long, thick piece of fascia . It attaches muscles on the outside of the hip to the outside of the knee.
As you bend and straighten your knee when walking or running, the IT band moves back and forth over the outside of the knee. If the IT band is stretched too tightly over the outside of the knee it can become a source of pain.
If you read the previous section, you’d naturally think, “Well, if the IT band is too stiff, I should stretch it right?“
Looking At The Causes Of Lateral Knee Pain And Itbs
There are numerous complaints affecting the knee, but in this article I have focused on lateral knee pain, having treated a number of people with this problem in recent weeks. In cases of chronic lateral knee pain, iliotibial band syndrome should be considered as a possible cause. An athlete with this complaint will experience sharp stinging pain on the outside of the knee, which may be sufficiently intense to cause a limp.
In weight training, lateral knee pain can be induced by squats, lunges, hamstring curls, extensions and any motion that involves repetitive flexion and extension of the knees. In runners it may occur as a result of running up and downhill and on banked surfaces. Whatever the trigger for the problem, correct diagnosis and treatment are vital to allowing a return to pain-free activity.
The iliotibial band is a long ligament-like structure running along the outside of the thigh, formed within the tendons of the gluteus maximus and tensor fascia latae muscles. It connects the ilium, the large flared portion of the pelvic bone, with the upper part of the tibia . When the knee is flexed more than 30 degrees, the iliotibial band lies on or behind the lateral femoral condyle, the bony prominence that makes up the upper and outer portion of the knee joint. When the knee is extended, the iliotibial band lies in front of the lateral femoral condyle. Repetitive flexion and extension move the ITB back and forth over this bony structure.
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Diagnosis Of Inner Knee Pain
Your doctor will ask you about your symptoms and when they started, as well as your medical history. They will also carry out a physical examination of your knee to check for swelling and instability, as well as to assess the range of movement in your knee.
They may then recommend imaging tests such as an X-ray or MRI scan to more closely examine the bones and tissues of your knee. They may also recommend blood tests to check for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and infections.
What To Do For Pain On Outside Of Knee
You can use ice, medications, or rest from running, walking, or other activities. These things might help you relieve pain on the outside of the knee for a brief period of time.
Ultimately though, to get long-term relief from pain on the outside of the knee, you have to find out what’s causing the pain in the first place.
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What Is Runner’s Knee
Runner’s knee also known as patellofemoral pain syndrome is an overuse injury that affects as many as 30% of female runners and 25% of male runners. That makes it the most common running-related injury.
In runner’s knee, the cartilage in your kneecap gets irritated. This causes pain while you’re running, squatting, bending or even sitting for awhile. I often see patients come in with runner’s knee after they start running at an incline or increase miles or speed.
How To Prevent Knee Pain When Bending
Before you begin having serious problems with your knees, there are prevention tips to incorporate into your daily living.
- Strengthen knee muscles with exercises for the thighs
- Always stretch before and after a workout or exercise routine
- Do strength training exercises for your back and abdominal muscles
- Use proper posture when performing tasks, sitting, standing, and walking
- If standing for prolong periods, shift weight from one foot to the other or alternate feet using a foot rest
- Avoid placing strain on knees with bending or squatting by using proper techniques
- Follow a healthy diet to maintain good health of the muscles
Having knee pain when bending can limit your daily activities and may lead to further complications. Our knees allow us to move in many ways, and we depend on the proper functioning of the knees many components. An injury or disease to any part of the knee can be debilitating. Good health and strengthening exercises for the knee joint and its connecting partners are key to maintaining pain-free movement.
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What To Do If Your Knee Hurts When Bending
More than a quarter of adults suffer from regular bouts of knee pain. Its really no surprise as our knees handle a tremendous amount stress day-to-day.1-2 Scientists have found that for every pound of bodyweight, our knees are subjected to up to seven pounds of pressure when they are bent or in weight-bearing.3 If youre here, it is because youve noticed that your knee hurts when bending it, is painful walking down stairs and feels uncomfortable while squatting. The fix for this really depends on the diagnosis. Below are some common causes of knee pain.
Diagnosis Of Outer Knee Pain
Your doctor will examine your knee and ask about your medical history and symptoms, including:
- the type of pain you have, when it started and if it comes and goes
- how active you are
- any activity, accident or injury that could have caused it
They may suggest an X-ray or a magnetic resonance imaging scan, but this isnt always necessary. Your doctor may be able to diagnose the injury from examining you and asking about your symptoms.
If you have cartilage or ligament damage, your doctor may suggest a procedure to look inside your knee. This is called an arthroscopy . Your doctor will make a small cut in your knee and pass a thin tube with a camera on the end through the cut. As well as diagnosing the problem, your doctor can also repair or remove damaged tissue.
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Area : Anterior Knee Pain
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Pain at the front of the knee on and around the knee-cap is the most common presentation of cycling overuse injuries, in part due to the anatomy of this area.
The large quadricep muscles attach to the shin bone via the patella, so the forces of pedalling are transmitted across the patello-femoral joint whenever we bend our knees, essentially squashing it back against the thigh bone.
Although more common in explosive sports, the part of the tendon attaching the patella to the bony prominence below the kneecap can become inamed . If this area is persistently sore to the touch its definitely worth seeking medical help. It should respond to ice, anti-inammatories and physiotherapy, with or without strapping.
However, if youre reading this and you have anterior knee pain from cycling, chances are youve got whats known as a patellar compression syndrome.
The scourge of cyclists and runners alike, it can completely oor you, causing pain when off the bike and ride-stopping agony when on it.
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During the push phase of pedalling, we seldom complete the last 35 degrees of knee extension a movement which is largely under the control of the vastus medialis oblique muscle.
This means that over a long period of time, and often in spite of outward appearances, the muscles down the outside of the thigh become much stronger and tighter than these less-used medial muscles.
Four ways you can treat anterior knee pain when cycling
Treatment Tips For Knee Pain When Bending
Treatment for an injury or damage to the knee is based on the underlying cause. Before surgery becomes an option, there are remedies for knee pain treatment.
- Apply heat or cold packs to the affected knee
- Use a knee brace or supporting device
- Rest the knee for a limited time
- Perform strengthening exercises for hamstrings and quadriceps
- Use specialized shoe inserts
- Maintain alignment by taping knee
- Avoid applying body weight on affected knee
- Use proper footwear for activities
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