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
What Is Pain Behind The Knee
Since the knee is the largest and most complex joint in the body, it makes sense that it might hurt sometimes. Although knee pain is a common complaint, it is less common behind the knee.
Pain in the back of the knee is called posterior knee pain, and it can have a variety of causes. Occasionally, posterior knee pain is “referred” from the front of the knee or the spine.
Anterior Knee Pain: The Basics
Pain in the front of the knee or anterior knee pain can affect people in all age groups. Approximately 25% of people will suffer from pain in the front of their knees at some time in their lives. I have seen teenagers who can longer participate in sports, and I have 70 years olds who can no longer walk downstairs without fear of their knee giving way. Why is our kneecap or patella so prone to bothering us like this?
The cause of anterior knee pain might vary based on your age, level of activity, and your chosen sports. We can see people who are inactive and suffer from pain in the front of the knee, and we can also see people who are highly trained and disciplined who are suffering from pain around the kneecap. The majority of people who have pain in the front of their knee do not recall any injury.
In the majority of cases of anterior knee pain, we do not find anything significant wrong with your X-rays or MRI scans. It seems that the pain in the front of the knee is often due to imbalances, weakness patterns, movement patterns, and complex issues that can take a while to figure out. Yes, some of you might have a cartilage defect or some early arthritis in the front of your knee but believe it or not, the majority of you will have pretty normal-appearing imaging studies. That has led to a significant change in our approach to anterior knee pain over the years.
Anterior knee pain is particularly common in young women and many runners.
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Lateral And Medial Knee Pain
Lateral and Medial knee pains are gotten from biking. Lateral pain is pain on the outer side of the knee, while medial pain is anterior knee pain. It is felt inside the knee. Cleat positioning is a very common cause of lateral knee pain and medial knee pain. Outside-the-knee pain is prevalent, and the culprits are often the feet or improperly adjusted pedal cleats. As a result, such pain is felt during or after the first ride with cleats and new shoes or replacement cleats.
The collateral ligaments, which sit on the outsides of the knee joint and prevent it from bending in the wrong direction, are the structures generating the pain, and they hurt because your cleats have been positioned wrongly.
Is Anything Strange Happening
Or really, Is anything strange happening beyond your knee pain?
For example, can you still flex your knee all the way? Most people get frightened when their knee locks and cant straighten anymore. Often the culprit is called Bakers cyst, a fluid-filled sac behind the knee caused by inflammation.
A also triggers concern for many people. Nobody wants to hear a click with every step. Sometimes, its harmless, but if that clicking comes with pain, you might have a mechanical problem such as a torn meniscus, Dr. Burg says.
These are just a few examples among many. The knee is a complicated andcritical part of your everyday life. So when you have pain that comes withserious symptoms or lasts for more than a week or two, seek the right diagnosisby getting a physical exam and any necessary imaging that comes with it.
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Are You Experiencing Pain Behind The Knee
When the cartilage is gone, the knee bones scrape against each other and cause pain. The main symptom is a dull ache behind your kneecap . The pain may get worse when you climb stairs or after youve been sitting for a while. Ice, over-the-counter pain relievers, and physical therapy can help with the pain.
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Burning Pain At The Side Of The Knee
Any kind of knee injury or pain causes alarm. When you feel pain at the side of your knee, you often do not have a knee problem at all.
Your knee is a complicated joint where two major bones and sets of muscles meet. If either of those two sets of muscles is injured, then your knee will hurt as a result. The muscles stabilize that joint, so a compromised muscle also compromises the joint.
Your IT band or iliotibial band is a band of connective tissue that runs from your hip to your knee and shin. When the band is tight from exercise, it will rub against your thigh bone, causing friction and pain down to your knee.
Sometimes you will feel the pain from your hip to your knee. Sometimes you just feel pain on the side of your knee.
IT band syndrome or ITBS is a common problem among individuals who fail to stretch before they exercise or individuals who do too much too soon. For example, if you’ve never ridden a bicycle for more than five miles and attempt to ride fifty miles in a day, you may end up with a sore IT band, and the outside of your knee will burn.
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Your Knee Is Locked And You Cant Straighten It
If you had a knee injury and you are not able to fully straighten the leg, you might have a locked knee. A locked knee is simply a knee that cannot fully straighten. There are different reasons a locked knee might occur. In some patients, swelling and inflammation can prevent you from fully straightening the knee. In others, a meniscus tear has flipped into the middle of the joint and is causing mechanical locking. You cannot straighten it with the meniscus in that position.
Many athletes who have a locked knee will also find it very painful to bend the knee too. They may feel sharp knee pain when bending which can occur when these bucket handle meniscus tears move.
The most common cause of a locked knee is a unique meniscus tear called a bucket handle tear. A bucket handle tear is considered a serious knee injury and will require surgery to fix or repair the tear. The reason these tears are serious is that a large piece of the meniscus tears flips over and becomes stuck in the middle of the knee joint. You need that meniscus to protect the knee. The vast majority of bucket-handle tears can be repaired. So the sooner we start the treatment process, the better the outcome might be after a meniscus repair.
What Can Cause Knee Pain Without Injury
Most people assume that their knee pain isnt severe or in need of medical attention because they havent suffered a significant injury. While that may be true sometimes, damage to your knee joint can also occur slowly over time, and affect you just as much as a significant accident or injury can.
First, lets stop with assumptions. Any pain you are experiencing is a sign that something is not right. So, why not have a specialist take a look? With extensive imaging, a trained orthopedic specialist can get to the bottom of your nagging knee pain and try to help relieve some of that distress. If you havent suffered an injury, however, your doctor will want to diagnose the pain and possible causes. There are some more common causes for non-trauma related knee pain:
Arthritis
Either rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis can cause leave you with severe knee pain, even without a fall or injury. Osteoarthritis can be characterized by the pain and swelling you continue to feel as you age. Your joints are not indestructible, and the structure inevitably wears down over time. Rheumatoid arthritis, on the other hand, is a chronic disorder that also causes joints to swell. If you suspect RA is behind your knee pain, you might have pain in other joints, as well.
A tear
Tendonitis
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What Are The Possible Causes Of Back
If your back-of-knee pain is not due to any specific accident or incident, it could be caused by a wide array of factors. According to Dr. Celeste Holder, who holds a B.S. in behavioral neuroscience from Northeastern University, a doctorate in chiropractic medicine from the University of Bridgeport, and is a 1AND1 LIFE doctor, back-of-knee pain presents itself less often than other kinds of knee discomfort, but when it does appear, the âdifferential diagnosis is rather broad.â Holder continues that diagnoses for this kind of pain can include âpathology to the bones, musculotendinous structures, ligaments, nerves, vascular components, and/or to the bursas,â which makes pinning down the main reason quite challenging.
Apart from musculotendinous injuries, one of the most common causes of posterior knee pain is a Bakerâs cyst. Dr. Patrick Jean-Pierre, board certified internal and nonoperative sports medicine doctor and part of the 1AND1 LIFE team, cites Bakerâs cysts as cysts that âdevelop from the breakdown of cartilage or arthritis in your knee, causing an out pocket of swelling and fluid. Sometimes this swelling can become very painful, resulting in the pain behind your knee joint.â Dr. James adds that these cysts âcan be caused by repeated irritation of structures in the knee. This also can be caused by poor movement habits or muscle imbalances.â
Burning Pain In The Back Of The Knee
Pain behind your knee could come from any of a handful of causes. You may have an overuse injury similar to what causes runner’s knee.
You could also have something more severe like a ligament tear. If you tear a ligament or cartilage, you will most likely have pain no matter what you do, even if you stop the activity. You will also have swelling shortly after you injure your knee.
You could also have a Baker’s cyst. A Baker’s cyst is an accumulation of fluid in the bursa behind your knee. You may have pain, or you may just have swelling.
The burning pain behind your knee could be your only symptom. Best of all, a Baker’s cyst isn’t a debilitating diagnosis. You can get the fluid drained and then return to normal activities.
If you suspect a cartilage or ligament tear, begin with cold therapy. This could include a sleeve with an ice pack that you slide over your knee and keep on the knee for fifteen minutes at a time.
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Your Knee Feels Unstable Or You Felt A Pop
Most ACL tears and patella dislocations occur from a twisting, non-contact injury. A typical story is that you were turning or twisting hard, and you felt a pop. As I mentioned earlier, most patella dislocations will reduce or go back into their usual place on their own. But if your patella remains dislocated the knee will look strange.
If you felt or heard a loud pop as you twisted or turned to avoid another player, then you may have torn your ACL. Other causes of popping include a patella or kneecap dislocation. If you felt or heard a loud pop in your knee, then there is a strong chance that you have a severe knee injury. Most ACL injuries and patella dislocations are non-contact injuries. A running back turning to head upfield. A striker moving laterally to avoid the defense. These are familiar stories when we see high school and college athletes who have torn their ACL.
This post dives further into the immediate management of suspected ACL injuries.
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, its possible to relieve many of the knee pain syndromes and return to an active lifestyle.
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What You Can Do
Take over-the-counter NSAID drugs like ibuprofen and naproxen to ease pain and swelling. RICE rest, ice, compression, and elevation can often help, too: Get off your feet. Raise your leg so its higher than your heart. Put a cold pack in a thin cloth or towel on your knee for 10-20 minutes at a time, several times a day. Wrap an elastic bandage around your knee when youre up and about, snug but not tight.
Treatment And Prevention Tips For Pain Behind The Knee
When you experience knee pain that doesnt go away within a day or two, you should seriously consider health care. Here are a few tips on protecting your knee in situations where you might have a minor knee injury or experience reoccurring knee problems.
- Avoid activities that cause pain
- Apply ice
- If you are overweight, consider ways to lose a few pounds
- Make sure you wear well-made running shoes
- Consider shoe inserts for better arch support
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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.
Is The Sound That My Knee Makes Bad
As we reviewed in a popular post about the sounds that our knees make, we discussed that the majority of these sounds are not mechanical or dangerous! That means that you are probably not bone on bone or grinding away the insides of your knee when you bend it. Yes, these sounds can be annoying or even embarrassing, but they are rarely dangerous. The most common cause of this grinding sensation or sound is actually due to inflammation of the tissues inside the knee. You do not need cortisone or lubricating injections to treat these sounds or sensations.
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Articles On Knee Pain
You can do many things to help knee pain, whether it’s due to a recent injury or arthritis you’ve had for years.
Follow these 11 dos and donâts to help your knees feel their best.
Donât rest too much. Too much rest can weaken your muscles, which can worsen joint pain. Find an exercise program that is safe for your knees and stick with it. If you’re not sure which motions are safe or how much you can do, talk with your doctor or a physical therapist.
Do exercise. Cardio exercises strengthen the muscles that support your knee and increase flexibility. Weight training and stretching do, too. For cardio, some good choices include walking, swimming, water aerobics, stationary cycling, and elliptical machines. Tai chi may also help ease stiffness and improve balance.
Donât risk a fall. A painful or unstable knee can make a fall more likely, which can cause more knee damage. Curb your risk of falling by making sure your home is well lit, using handrails on staircases, and using a sturdy ladder or foot stool if you need to reach something from a high shelf.
Do use “RICE.” Rest, ice, compression, and elevation is good for knee pain caused by a minor injury or an arthritis flare. Give your knee some rest, apply ice to reduce swelling, wear a compressive bandage, and keep your knee elevated.
Don’t overlook your weight. If you’re overweight, losing weight reduces the stress on your knee. You donât even need to get to your “ideal” weight. Smaller changes still make a difference.
Causes And Symptoms Of Knee Instability
When you feel your knee is giving out, meaning that the knee suddenly feels unstable, it is usually due to a ligament injury. A ligament is a short, tough band of tissue that connects two bones. In the knee, there are four major ligaments and several minor ones.
If your knee suddenly gives out, it is often the result of a tear in one of three of these major ligaments. This article explores what it feels like to have your knee give out, which ligaments are commonly involved, and some of the treatments used to correct the injury.
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What Natural Home Remedies Relieve Knee Pain
Over-the-counter pain medications can frequently alleviate the pain. If someone is taking these medications on a regular basis, he or she should see a health care professional to evaluate the knee pain for proper diagnosis and to avoid the potential side effects of chronic medication use.
The RICE mnemonic is often helpful, especially for minor injuries:
Rest: Rest the joint, and take a break from your usually activities involving the knee joint.
Ice: Applying ice can help with pain and inflammation.
Compress: A compression bandage can help prevent swelling and help knee alignment. It should not be tight and should be removed at night.
Elevate: Elevation can help with swelling and resting of the knee.
Feldenkrais for Runners, Injury Recovery
Do you have an injury that changes and appears to move one day the inside of your knee hurts, the next day its the front below the kneecap, then a few days later its your calf? This can feel like a frustrating situation, almost like having injury after injury or, as a client of mine once said, like chasing gremlins around your body.
The first thing I recommend you do in a case like this is rejoice!
Although its a bummer to have pain at all, the fact that it moves around like this likely means you actually dont have an injury.