Treatment Of Inner Knee Pain
Treatments for inner knee pain include , painkillers and surgery. Whether you need treatment and what treatment you have, will depend on exactly whats wrong with your knee. For instance, you may be more likely to need surgery if you have cartilage damage or osteoarthritis causing severe pain. If you have a ligament injury, physiotherapy may be enough.
For information on treatments, please see the relevant knee condition page.
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.
It Is Painful When I Bend My Knee What Does This Mean
If you are experiencing knee pain, especially when you bend it to walk, kneel, sit, squat, and more, it is likely that you have a condition or injury that needs treatment. There are many causes of knee pain, and it is incredibly difficult to self-diagnose yourself correctly. This is why it is critical to see an orthopedic specialist with a wealth of experience diagnosing and treating knee conditions and injuries.
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Medial Knee Plica Syndrome
A plica is a fold in the thin tissue that lines your knee joint. They allow you to bend and move your leg with ease. Most people have four of them in each knee. The medial plica, medial meaning inner, is one of the four folds in your knee. It can get irritated from an injury or overuse of your knee. It occurs commonly in people who are very active or people who have recently increased activity or started exercising an increased amount. It can also result from a trauma where your knee gets hit significantly hard.
Osteoarthritis Of The Knee
The most common type of arthritis is osteoarthritis, which is a progressive wearing of the cartilage in the knee joint. It occurs more frequently in people age 50 and older.
After 50, the impact of osteoarthritis can worsen due to accumulated use and the wearing down of cartilage that occurs with age.
Osteoarthritis is often the result of bone rubbing on bone, and yes, thats as painful as it sounds. Osteoarthritis can also be caused by age, weight, genetics, previous injuries, infections, illness , and certain occupations, such as construction and manufacturing.
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Exercise Program For Pain In The Front Of Your Knee :
Many of you are afraid to exercise. Yes, some of you may have pain with a few of these exercises. You can start with quadriceps isometric exercises, or simply dont go too low with the squat, lunge or wall sit until your strength improves. Most of you will find that after doing these exercises 3 days/week for two weeks that your pain will start to improve. As I mentioned previously, this is a program that can take 6-12 months to fully correct the weakness pattern that led to pain in the front of your knee. So stick with it.
Squat: I like the variations that this group throws in. You do not and should not start with 100 if you are just starting out.
Chair Squats are the place to start if you dont have the strength or confidence.
Wall Sits: A great quadriceps exercise. This video is a little mechanical, but it contains the dos and donts of how to perform a wall sit.
Reverse Lunges: Easier than forward lunges. Dont lunge back further than you can handle. That distance will get further over time. Focus on your front knee so it doesnt wobble back and forth.
Planks: This video includes a good description of the proper technique, and it gives you 10 different variations to try.
Hamstring bridge exercise. If this is too easy you can rest a barbell across your pelvis, or a kettlebell on your lower abdomen.
Pain On The Inner Side Of The Knee
The most common cause of medial knee pain or pain on the inside part of the knee is a medial meniscal tear. The tear can be acute or degenerative but either way can cause pain and limitation of activities. Occasionally a torn meniscus can flip in and out of the joint and cause pain as well as locking of the knee. The pain is typically worse with activity and fairly sharp in nature. Many patients complain that they cannot sleep with their knees together or find it uncomfortable to sit in a movie unless they can stretch their knee out in an aisle seat. The knee is often stiff after driving or sitting for long periods and particularly bad with twisting activities.
It is important to know whether the medial knee pain is dull or sharp, continuous or intermittent and its severity and location. Did it come on slowly over months or was it after and acute injury?
Medial compartment arthritis can cause pain on the inner side of the knee. This is usually more of an ache than a sharp catching pain and is present when you walk on the leg. As the arthritis worsens the pain can become continuous and interfere with sleep. Eventually even walking short distances becomes difficult.
Even significant tears rarely need a MCL repair and most can be adequately treated with crutches and a hinged knee brace.
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If You Feel Inner Knee Pain When Active Swelling Stiffness And Decreased Mobility:
You probably have knee osteoarthritis. Along with the symptoms mentioned above, there might also be a creaking, crackly sound that is heard when the knee moves. You may also feel warmth on your knee joint. With osteoarthritis, it can become difficult to get in and out of chairs or cars, use the stairs, or walk.
Making A Diagnosis Of Pain In Outer Side Of Knee
You should see a specialist sports medicine doctor for a diagnosis and management plan.
Your doctor will ask you questions about your condition. Next, they will examine limb alignment, the knees range of movement, and the ligaments stability related to lateral knee pain. In addition, careful palpation of all the relevant anatomy, such as the joints and tendons, is vital. Finally, your doctor may want to perform investigations to confirm a diagnosis. Weight-bearing x-rays will assess the degree of arthritis. MRI scans use strong magnets to examine joint, tendon, and ligament structures. Sometimes, ultrasound is used to view the structure of tendons in more detail.
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Can Dehydration Cause Pain In The Back Of The Knee
In general, dehydration does not cause pain in the back of the knee. However, if you are dehydrated, you may experience cramping of your muscles. This is due to electrolyte imbalances leading to muscle irritation. This can lead to pain in the back of your leg if those muscles cramp. Most commonly, dehydration leads to exhaustion, thirst, muscle cramps, and dizziness.
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Monday August 31 2020
Pain on the outside of your knee can be debilitating and tough to treat. This pain is known as lateral knee pain, or in other words, any pain you might feel outside or around your actual knee joint.
Figuring out the cause of your lateral knee pain is a great place to start toward a treatment plan that works. So, what causes lateral knee pain? Lets dive into it.
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Knee Pain And Problems
Knee pain is a common complaint among adults and most often associated with general wear and tear from daily activities like walking, bending, standing and lifting. Athletes who run or play sports that involve jumping or quick pivoting are also more likely to experience knee pain and problems. But whether an individuals knee pain is caused by aging or injury, it can be a nuisance and even debilitating in some circumstances.
There Is No Easy Surgical Solution For Anterior Knee Pain
The mere fact that there are likely to be ten or more described surgical techniques to try and treat pain in the front of your knee should give you pause. That usually means that none have been very successful, so we keep trying new ones. Surgery for anterior knee pain has not been proven to be more effective than a proper exercise program.
Drilling:
Some procedures have drilled holes into the patella, thinking that excess pressure may have been the cause of pain. Did it work for some people? Maybe but with that pesky placebo thing, we always hear about, we dont know because this procedure was never tested against control or sham. Besides having holes drilled through your patella might cause it to break if you fall on it or if you are hit in front of your knee.
Burning:
One prolific Spanish author wrote about burning the tissues around the patella. We call that a denervation procedure. Thats because when you heat the tissues, you will fry the nerves to that region. The thought behind this procedure was that the patella is fed by nerves that could easily be burned using an arthroscopic approach. This procedure was also never evaluated against a control group or a sham group- so we just dont know if it works.
Cutting:
Moving:
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Patellar Tendonitis And Tear
Patellar tendonitis is inflammation of the patellar tendon. Thatâs a large tendon connecting your kneecap to the top of your tibia.
Patellar tendonitis is most common in athletes who do a lot of running and jumping. Itâs often described as a constant dull pain that becomes sharp when youâre active.
In some cases, a weak patellar tendon can tear. A patellar tendon tear causes:
- Swelling over the knee
- A tearing or popping sensation
If itâs a bad tear, you might notice an indentation at the bottom of your kneecap. The knee may give out when you walk.
Osteonecrosis Of The Knee
Osteonecrosis is a condition in which bone tissue dies due to a lack of adequate blood supply. People typically notice severe pain on the inside of the knee with tenderness and joint swelling as well as pain when bending or straightening the knee. These symptoms may cause a person to limp when walking.
Osteonecrosis in the knee is not common. It is most likely to occur after an injury, but it can also develop gradually in absence of a trauma. Older women who have osteoporosis are at the greatest risk for osteonecrosis.
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Outer Knee Pain Treatment
The best course of treatment for lateral knee pain will depend on the underlying cause of the outer knee pain. It will usually include a combination of exercises, physical therapy and rest from aggravating activities and may also include knee injections and surgery.
To find out more about these common causes of pain on outside of knee and how to treat them, use the links above.
If you would like some help working out what is causing your outer knee pain using other specific symptoms, how the pain started or thespecific location of the pain, visit the knee pain diagnosissection and learnwhat you can do about it. Remember, any new incidence of lateral knee pain should always be assessed by your doctor.
Page Last Updated: 11/02/21
Common Causes Of Inner Knee Pain
There are a variety of causes of inner knee pain. Many of them can be linked to an injury. Some of the most common incidents that cause knee injury and pain include falls, sports injuries, or increased activity.
Adults particularly those older than 60 are most likely to experience knee pain. However, inner knee pain can also occur in children and adolescents.
According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, the most common causes of inner knee pain in children are:
- patellar subluxation
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Burning Pain When Sitting Still
Some people feel more pain at night than during the day.
You might feel more pain when youâre sitting still. Some of us are just too busy to monitor pain. We need debilitating pain to tell us to slow down and be still.
So when you sit down and take a break, do not be surprised if the little niggles of pain begin to visit you.
Your nightly knee pain can also come from reduced hormone signals. When you rest, your hormone signals are reduced. These reduced hormone signals give way for pain signals to reach the brain.
So youâll feel pain as you try to nod off.
Your blood vessels may also be the culprit for pain at night. When you sleep, your blood vessels increase in diameter. This is a natural process that allows more blood to come to muscles, allowing them to heal.
However, those expanding blood vessels can put pressure on your nerves. This will cause pain such as pain in your knee even as you try to sleep.
Rheumatoid Arthritis Of The Knee
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune condition that causes the tissue around the joint to become inflamed and thickened. Chronic inflammation often leads to damage and loss of cartilage.
Rheumatoid arthritis occurs in about 0.6 percent of the U.S. population and is two to three times more common in women.
Symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis are similar to other types of arthritis in the knee:
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When Will My Kneecap Start To Feel Better
One broad caveat to keep in the back of your mind. Many of you are thinking that a few weeks are enough time to start to see improvements with treatments such as exercise or physical therapy. Sadly thats not going to happen. It is not unusual for it to take 3-4 months before you start to see significant improvement in your pain. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for it to take 8-12 months for a complete resolution of your symptoms. This is important I wouldnt want to seek a surgeons consultation because 4-6 weeks of therapy and exercise left you with persistent pain.
Down below.. under coping strategies, we list a few things to try that can calm down your pain while we give the exercise time to work.
For Tendinitis Runners Knee Gout And Bursitis
The treatment for conditions that cause swelling, redness, and dull, burning pain usually starts with resting the joint. Ice your knee to control swelling. Elevate and stay off your joint to promote healing.
Your doctor may recommend or prescribe NSAIDs like ibuprofen. Lifestyle changes, such as wearing protective kneepads and going to physical therapy, can help you manage pain and experience fewer symptoms.
You may need to make changes to your diet, especially if youre treating gout.
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Arthroscopic Surgery For Sharp Stabbing Pain In The Knee That Comes And Goes
Severe cases are managed by going for arthroscopic surgery. There are various types of surgical procedures that are performed to ease the patient.
Knee debridement works for most patients where loose cartilage is removed.
The doctor might opt for a knee chondroplasty surgery where damaged cartilage is smoothed. This reduces friction between bones .
Severe arthritis patients having high levels of joint damage are advised to have knee replacement surgery to cure pain and discomfort.
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.
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Types Of Outer Knee Pain
There are several health conditions that may cause outer knee pain.
Iliotibial band syndrome develops if a band of connective tissue rubs on the outside of your knee. The iliotibial band is a thick band of fibrous tissue that runs from your hip to below your knee on the outside of your leg. If you bend and straighten your leg a lot, it can cause this tissue to become sore and inflamed where it passes over the bottom of your thigh bone and meets your knee. This type of problem is most common in runners and cyclists.
Lateral collateral ligament injury is caused by a blow to the inside of your knee, which stretches the outside of your knee and injures the ligament. A ligament is a band of tissue that connects one bone to another. The lateral collateral ligament runs down the outer side of your knee.
Meniscal injury is damage to the meniscal cartilages inside your knee. These cartilages act like shock absorbers and may tear when you twist your knee with your foot still on the ground. This type of injury is common in sports where you have to change direction suddenly for example, football and skiing. It can also happen in jobs that involve lifting and twisting for example, construction or manual labour. The meniscus can tear without any particular injury as you get older because of wear and tear.