What Is The Pain Behind My Knee

What Are Home Remedies For Hamstring Injury

The goal of treatment is to restore muscle function and prevent scar formation. Initially, treatment consists of rest, ice, compression, and elevation . Rest refers to avoidance of offending activities and oftentimes includes immobilization. In severe cases, crutches or splinting may be necessary. Ice, compression, and elevation all help in controlling pain and swelling. A short course of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication, such as aspirin, ibuprofen , or naproxen , may be helpful .

Questions For Diagnosing The Cause Of Behind Knee Swelling

To diagnose your condition, your doctor or licensed health care practitioner will ask you several questions related to your behind knee swelling including:

• How long have you felt your behind knee swelling?

• Is the swelling painful?

• Is the swelling the result of an injury?

• Do you have any chest pain or ?

• Do you have any symptoms in other joints?

• Does anything relieve or worsen your symptoms?

Questions Your Doctor May Ask About Pain In The Back Of The Knee

To diagnose this condition, your doctor would likely ask the following questions:

• Is the knee pain affecting one or both knees?
• Do you often feel your knees buckling?
• Where is your knee pain?
• How would you explain the cause of your knee pain?

Self-diagnose with our free Buoy Assistant if you answer yes on any of these questions.

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E Reconsider Your Exercise Routine

It is a must for you to restructure your workout routine from when you first feel pain behind your knee.

In other words, its a dangerous call to put a possible injury through strenuous exercises. Doing so may bring irreversible damage to your knee in the long run.

Restructuring your routine means revising your workout intensity, duration, and frequency. It also means reconsidering the type of exercise and the time you do it.

I Am Training For A Marathon And Have Started To Get A Pain Behind My Knee Every Time I Run Do I Need To Rest It Or Do I Need Treatment

The nagging pain or tenderness at the back of your knee which is causing you some discomfort could be hamstring tendonitis or an injury to the popliteus muscle. Both of these conditions are caused by overuse and repetitive actions. You should take a rest from training for a while and use the RICE treatment. If the problem does not clear up I would be happy to see you and assess things further.

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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.

Why Does My Knee Hurt When I Straighten It

Your knee is made up of bones, cartilage, muscles and tendons. When you extend your knee, your quadriceps muscles tighten, and your hamstrings relax. Pain on knee straightening is usually indicative of damage or overuse of the quadriceps muscles, leading to tiny tears in its tendon. Pain may also occur due to any damage to the joint itself. You may get pain specifically in the back of the knee due to cyst formation following injury of the joint.

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I Feel Numbness Behind My Knee Is This Serious

Temporary numbness may be because you have been sitting for a while in a position which has compressed the nerves in the back of your leg or reduced the blood flow. This is called paresthesia and will dissipate when you start walking around again. However, if the numbness persists it could be due to many different causes, for example it may be a sign of an underlying condition such as a back problem, diabetes or a nerve disorder. You should visit your doctor to discover the reason for the numbness.

Because your knees bear the bodys weight and are subject to movement in a number of planes they can be quite vulnerable to trauma and to conditions resulting from trauma and wear and tear.

There are a number of different types of condition which can cause pain to the back of the knee. These include strains or tears to the muscle or tendons, damage to the ligaments, damage to the cartilage within the knee joint, excess fluid in the knee or blood vessel problems.

The information given below will give you an indication of the problem you may be having, but is not intended that you diagnose yourself. Also this guide is intended for pain behind the knee itself if your pain is part of general joint pain there will be other reasons for this and you should consult a doctor.

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
• Keep knee raised to bring down any swelling
• Sleep with a pillow underneath or between your knees
• Avoid running up and down stairs walk carefully
• Dont forget to warm up before exercising or engaging in sports
• When you run, do it on smooth, soft surfaces instead of rough pavement
• Swim instead of running
• 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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What Is The Treatment For Hamstring Injuries

Most hamstring injuries heal without surgery. Rarely, when there is a complete rupture at the ischium, or when a significant piece of ischial bone is jerked away, surgery is necessary. Essentially, all other grade I-III tears are best treated without surgery.

As soon as pain permits, it is important to begin a program of stretching and range-of-motion rehabilitation exercises because prolonged immobilization and inactivity results in muscle shrinkage and scar tissue . Excessive scar tissue is incompatible with healthy muscle function. Atrophy and fibrosis are best avoided or reduced by a program of motion and stretching implemented early in the rehabilitation process.

It should be emphasized that an early rehabilitation program does not mean a quick return to the desired usual activity. Given the type of individual that usually sustains a significant hamstring injury, it is usually a difficult task to keep athletic patients off the playing field. Reinjury is extremely common and is often due to avoidable premature return to sport. Reinjury not only prolongs recovery, it also increases the risk of permanent damage. People with these injuries should be informed early in the rehabilitation program about the risks of reinjury.

Why Do I Have Pain Behind The Knee Common Diagnoses And Prognoses

The knee is a highly complex joint built up of multiple bones, muscles, tendons, and other tissues. And because there are so many moving parts, its extremely common for people to experience different kinds of pain in and around the knee joint.

Many individuals experience pain directly behind the knee, but they often receive incorrect diagnoses because of how many potential issues can occur.

If youve ever Googled pain behind the knee, you probably know what we mean searching such a broad category of pain often pulls up severe and frightening results, like deep vein thrombosis or a posterior cruciate ligament tear.

And of course, while those results are possible concerns, they dont represent the most common pathologies for pain behind the knee.

So, what are the most common problems, and what differentiates one from the other?

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Whats A Typical Treatment Plan

Treatment depends on the severity of your injury.

Conservative measures to reduce pain, rest your leg, and stretch and strengthen your leg muscles are generally the first line of treatment. Your doctor will usually advise a period of controlled rest, where you avoid activity that puts force on the knee.

Common Causes Of Pain Behind The Knee

Sometimes pain behind the knee is simply due to muscle strains. These injuries usually heal in a matter of days. However, this is only one possibility. There can also be pain behind the knee as a result of systemic diseases or some life-threatening conditions. Below we take a look at just what the different potential causes are.

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Discomfort Aching And Tightness In The Knee Grating And Pain Behind The Kneecap When Bending The Knee Or When It Is Exercised After A Period Of Rest

May be due to chondromalacia patella. In this condition the cartilage on the underside of the patella softens and deteriorates. Some people are able to ignore the condition, but it will not improve and will probably need surgery. Sometimes an unstable flap of surface cartilage may cause this pain, and may be curable with simple keyhole surgery and a chondroplasty.

Pain Behind Knee: Common Causes Symptoms And Treatment

Written byDr. Victor MarchionePublished onNovember 23, 2016

Pain behind knee is not unusual, but it can hurt and limit movement. Developing a clear understanding of pain behind knee causes can be important.

When we refer to pain behind knee, we are really talking about discomfort or soreness behind the knee joint. This uncomfortable feeling can happen to a person who still has movement in their knee or it can severely limit movement. Sometimes, pain behind knee is accompanied by inflammation or a burning sensation. In many cases, the soreness is nothing to worry about. There are situations where the pain does not disappear, and there is swelling or even bruising. If this happens to you, it is important to seek medical attention.

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What Does Ra Of The Knee Feel Like

Knee RA feels quite different from knee OA. Members of myRAteam who have inflammatory knee arthritis described their experiences:

• Inflamed, swollen, hot, red, stiff, painful joints that cause imbalance and limping.
• Swollen, knife-like pain and tightness when trying to bend my knee.
• Both knees pound and feel hot.
• Pain behind the kneecap and where bone is resting on bone.
• Loud, popping noise.
• Pain started in my right knee before exploding to every other joint.

When RA affects the knees, it damages both the synovial membrane protecting the knee joint and the synovial fluid that lubricates it. Over time, inflammation and swelling limit movements and can damage cartilage, ligaments, and bone. Bones start to grind on each other and erode, causing more pain and swelling.

Common symptoms of knee arthritis that can be related to RA, OA, or both include:

• Joint stiffness
• Difficulty bending or straightening the knee
• Joint instability and pain when weight is placed on it
• Increased pain during rainy weather
• Involvement of other joints

A Swelling At The Back Of The Knee And Calf Causing Pain And A Feeling Of Tightness When Straightening The Leg

This may be due to a Bakers Cyst, which is an accumulation of synovial fluid in the popliteal fossa. The synovial fluid is over-produced, due often to a trauma to the knee or in conditions such as arthritis. The cyst may clear up on its own, but if not it is advisable to visit the doctor. Swelling in the knee joint due to extra synovial fluid being produced also occurs due to accidental damage to the knee or when osteoarthritis is present.

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Knee Pain Caused By Nerve Aggravation

This is an incredibly common cause for pain in the back of your knee. As an official diagnosis, it refers to aggravation or compression of the sciatic nerve .

Most often, sciatica is caused by compression of the nerve roots in either your lower back or from soft tissue in the buttocks. People often describe the sensation as a pain that travels or shoots down their limbs, commonly hitting that tender spot behind the knee.

Sciatica is typically diagnosed in your 50s, though its possible for it to start as early as your 20s or 30s. Research estimates that, on average, you can have up to a 40% chance of experiencing sciatica at some point in your life.

Luckily, though, since its a common diagnosis that afflicts a wide population, theres plenty of research surrounding methods for alleviating that radiating pain.

The most effective solution is to seek physical therapy. Your treatment will likely focus on improving movement patterns that is, working on your movement during activities that compress or load the lower back. Depending on your general lifestyle habits, this could include anything from stretching to core strengthening, or lifting education and manual manipulation of the tissues.

Rheumatoid Arthritis In The Knee: Symptoms And Treatments

More than 1.3 million people in the U.S. have rheumatoid arthritis , which typically starts in the hands and fingers and can later progress to the knees. The resulting joint stiffness, pain, and swelling affecting the knees can restrict movement, potentially impacting quality of life.

To learn more about knee RA, myRAteam spoke with rheumatologist Dr. Iris Navarro-Millán, assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, and a National Institutes of Health -funded rheumatology researcher specializing in knee RA.

Because knee RA shares some symptoms with knee osteoarthritis , another form of arthritis, making a diagnosis can be challenging, Dr. Navarro-Millán said. When people with RA start experiencing knee pain, we tend to jump quickly to say, You probably also have osteoarthritis. But it’s very common for with RA to have both.

Many members of myRAteam report late-stage knee pain. Ive had RA for 10 years, but only experienced pain in my knees in the last one or two years, explained one member.

Getting a correct diagnosis, however, has been frustrating for some. My doctor said I dont have RA because its in my knees, yet everything I’ve read said that RA can attack the knees, one member said. Another member added, My rheumatologist was way too quick to assume my knee pain was fibromyalgia and OA, not RA. Im getting a second opinion.

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About : : : : Of People Who Have Had Dvt Or Pe Are At Risk For Another Episode

Once you had a DVT/PE you are at risk of for another event. Based on follow up studies with patients who had a DVT or PE, it is estimated that about 25% will have another episode. This risk can be decreased by anticoagulation therapy . Unfortunately being on a blood thinner for prolonged periods had risk factors as well. Talk to your doctor about the best approach for your individual case.

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How Are Knee Problems Diagnosed

In addition to a complete medical history and physical exam, other tests for knee problems may include:

• X-ray. This test uses invisible electromagnetic energy beams to make images of internal tissues, bones, and organs onto film.

• Magnetic resonance imaging . This test uses large magnets, radiofrequencies, and a computer to make detailed images of organs and structures within the body can often determine damage or disease in a surrounding ligament or muscle.

• Computed tomography scan . This test uses X-rays and computer technology to make horizontal, or axial, images of the body. A CT scan shows detailed images of any part of the body, including the bones, muscles, fat, and organs. CT scans are more detailed than general X-rays.

• Arthroscopy. A minimally-invasive diagnostic and treatment procedure used for conditions of a joint. This procedure uses a small, lighted, optic tube , which is inserted into the joint through a small incision in the joint. Images of the inside of the joint are projected onto a screen used to evaluate any degenerative or arthritic changes in the joint to detect bone diseases and tumors to determine the cause of bone pain and inflammation.

• Radionuclide bone scan. A nuclear imaging technique that uses a very small amount of radioactive material, which is injected into the patient’s bloodstream to be detected by a scanner. This test shows blood flow to the bone and cell activity within the bone.

Is Pain Behind The Knee A Blood Clot

One of the causes of posterior knee pain is DVT. If you have incurred a fracture, severe muscle injury, or have gone through major surgery, the vein at the back of your leg may be injured. A direct injury to the vein can result in DVT, where a clot forms at the back of the leg. DVT can also be caused by prolonged bed rest, immobilizing the leg through casting or bracing, leg paralysis, or blood disorders.

If you feel deep, throbbing pain at the back of the leg, accompanied by swelling, redness, and warmth in the surrounding skin, you must call your doctor immediately as DVT is a condition that can cause serious complications.

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