Many people experience pain from time to time when bending the knees.Sometimes there is pain in the knee while walking.This is quite logical, because the knee joints almost always carry a large load.As a result, they are one of the most sensitive joints in the human body.But you still need to know when and for what reasons knee pain occurs and how you can get rid of it.
Knee pain is a common symptom.It can occur during illness or under the influence of other traumatic factors that affect the knee both externally and internally.
There are many causes of knee pain: from simple fatigue, to very strenuous exercise, from various types of injuries, to diseases that affect one of the many structures of the knee joint.
How does knee pain manifest itself?
Pain in the knee can manifest itself in different ways.First of all, their intensity depends on the type of damage, as well as its severity.Sometimes a person complains that knee pains appear at night after intense sports training or minor pains during physical exertion.But a little later, a person may begin to worry about constant severe pain both in the knee and in the back.Therefore, it is important to identify the causes of painful pain at the initial stage.Sometimes it is enough to perform some procedures to relieve pain.However, in case of rupture of ligaments or tendons, as a rule, surgical treatment cannot be avoided.However, if a person has very bad knee pain, it is not necessary to wait for the symptom to disappear on its own.But before you decide what to do and how to treat the pain, you need to make a correct diagnosis and inform the doctor about all the characteristics of the pain.First of all, if there is pain when bending the knee, if pain or discomfort bothers you at night, if there is pain under the knees, etc.
When does knee pain develop?
The causes of knee pain can be different.Severe knee pain often develops after ligament damage due to a serious injury.However, severe pain in the knee joint can manifest itself in different ways, because the structure of the joint is very complex.There are only four ligaments in the knee that connect the femur to the fibula and tibia bones.When one of these ligaments is torn, severe pain occurs in the affected area.This happens most often in athletes.At this time, the pain disturbs a person for a long time while walking, and the discomfort remains even longer when running.
Two more ligaments cross inside the knee.These two cruciate ligaments, anterior and posterior, join at the front of the lower leg.When the anterior ligament tears, a crisis occurs in the knee.Then there is a sharp and severe pain, after which a tumor appears in the knee area.After receiving such an injury, you should stop immediately, because the injured areas are so painful that the knee loses its stability.
If the posterior cruciate ligament is torn in the ankle joint, the pain is usually less intense.With such an injury, a feeling of pain and instability appears in the back of the knee.
Knee pain also develops when the tendon is damaged.This disease is called tendonitis.In this case, an inflammatory process and irritation of the tendons develop.The causes of this phenomenon are mainly sports injuries.Most often, such an injury occurs in both the left knee and the right knee, in skiers, runners and cyclists.This inflammation sometimes develops in both knees at the same time.The patient suffers from discomfort and pain in the kneecap or in the front of the knee.Discomfort and pain are often felt during bending.In this case, it is not necessary to use traditional treatment or try to use ointment to relieve pain.Treatment of pain in the knee joint should be prescribed only after its cause has been determined.Only then can we draw a conclusion about what to do and how to treat the disease.Otherwise, the disease lasts for a long time.
Another cause of knee pain is damage to the meniscus, which is the cartilage that bends in the knee joint.Such injuries can occur in different places of the meniscus, but in any case, a tumor is formed in a person.
Sometimes when the knee is injured, the sacs of fluid that allow the ligaments and tendons to slide smoothly become inflamed.In this case, we are talking about bursitis, which can cause pain under the knee, both in front and behind.With bursitis, swelling and redness appear in the area where inflammation develops.A person feels pain when squatting, kneeling, and also straightening the affected knee.Bursitis can develop under the knee cap (called precap bursitis) and when infected causes very severe swelling, general malaise and fever.If the infection affects the area below the left or right knee on the back, then the pain in the inner part of the knee is aggravated when a person walks up or down stairs.
When trauma, wounds, or degeneration of the cartilage or bone occurs, parts of the cartilage can separate and loosen within the cup.A person does not think about how to treat this condition until the empty body begins to interfere with the movement of the joint.In this case, pain appears.
When the kneecap is displaced, a person notices an abnormal position of the kneecap: it is perpendicular to the correct position.Symptoms of this phenomenon are pain, swelling in the affected area, severe discomfort when stretching the legs and walking.Dislocation of the kneecap, which has occurred once, is often repeated in the future.Therefore, doctors recommend doing special exercises aimed at supporting the muscles.
When the knee joint is widened due to injury, the knee may extend and bend in the opposite direction.Such damage is characterized by the appearance of a tumor, and a person is also worried about pain in the knee.This injury is also dangerous because it leads to partial or complete rupture of the ligaments.
Chronic diseases are a separate group of diseases that cause pain in the knees.With rheumatoid arthritis, which affects all ligaments, including the knee, a person suffers not only from pain behind the knee and in front of the knee, but also from general stiffness of movement.Deformation of the knee joints occurs gradually, the patient suffers from permanent malfunction.With arthritis, both knees are affected at once;exacerbations and periods of calm occur from time to time.Septic arthritis is the result of an infection.Its symptoms are pain, redness, swelling.A person may feel that the pain is localized in a vein.This condition often causes fever.
In osteoporosis, also called degenerative arthritis, pain develops below and in front of the knee due to wear and tear of the cartilage.The disease develops gradually;As a rule, the pain in the knee first bothers in the morning when the weather changes.Then the situation worsens.Since this disease develops less often in men, osteoporosis is often the cause of knee pain in women.
At the same time, the causes of acute pain in the knees can be the development of gout.This disease manifests itself suddenly with redness, swelling and severe pain.The joints in the knees remain in this position for about 10 days, and the discomfort disappears only after a few weeks.
But sometimes knee pain is the result of ordinary overload.People who are not used to sports training may notice that after running long distances, as well as if a person is already very tired, their legs and knees themselves hurt when walking.To avoid this, you should avoid overloading and gradually increase the speed of training.
In addition to the described diseases and conditions, pain in the front of the knee joint can accompany chondromalacia of the patella.Osgood-Schlatter disease is most often diagnosed in young people who are actively involved in sports.In this case, pain can have different intensity.Often a person is worried about pain in the legs below the knee.
How to get rid of knee pain?
There are a number of general recommendations, the implementation of which allows you to reduce the risk of developing diseases and conditions that cause knee pain.One of the causes of such diseases is excess weight.Indeed, in this case, the tension in the knee joints increases with any physical effort.People who tend to be overweight are more likely to develop osteoporosis, which causes cartilage problems.
It happens that when a person bends over after straining the muscles under excessive load, there is pain in the side of the knee or in another area.It can be physical labor, cycling or very intense exercise.In this case, it is important not only to give adequate loads to the body, but also to provide enough rest for muscle recovery.
Answering the question of why knees are injured, experts point out that muscle flexibility is insufficient.If the muscles are too weak or tense, the tension in the knee joint is not smoothed out during physical exertion or even while walking.As a result, bending and straightening a person's knee may be painful at first, and then the pain may even be constant.Therefore, to develop and strengthen the muscles in this case, proper training and regular performance of specially selected physical exercises are necessary.
In addition, if one leg is shorter than the other, knee pain develops with straight legs when bending and walking.Such defects must be corrected with the help of special shoes, otherwise, over time, the pain can turn into chronic pain, and bending a person's leg at the knee will not only be painful, but also difficult to walk.
There is no need to take risks and participate in sports competitions with a high probability of overloading.If a person engages in skiing, athletics, basketball or other sports where the risk of falls, injuries and overload increases, he should calculate his strength extremely correctly.
If the knee has been injured before, the risk of injury also increases.Therefore, if you feel pain above the knee, below the knee or directly in the joint after an injury, you should immediately consult a doctor.
At the first signs of pain in the knee joint, you should definitely rest your legs as long as possible.You can try to relieve the pain by using topical pain medication.But if the pain does not go away, then you should definitely consult a specialist.Knee pain should be treated if signs of serious injury or illness appear.So, if sharp pains in the knee do not go away for several days, if there is swelling and vascular pain, if there is a deformity in the knee, you should consult a doctor.If redness and fever develop, it is important to treat painful knees immediately, as this is a sign of infection.
However, before starting direct treatment for pain in the knee joint, a specialist must make a diagnosis.First, a complete physical examination of the patient and a detailed survey are conducted, special tests are used.Then the doctor prescribes X-ray, CT or MRI.If you suspect an infection, a blood test is required.Only a doctor who has the results of all the studies can determine how to treat knee pain.
If the knee is injured, you should apply a bandage.But an ordinary bandage is enough only if the injury is not serious.If kneeling hurts a person, and he cannot bend and straighten without pain, then a more serious injury can be suspected.When ligaments are damaged or sprained, special bandages or casts are often required.
In order to prevent the development of a tumor during injury, you should apply ice to the injured area.You can keep the ice for no more than 15 minutes, and to prevent frostbite, you must first wrap it in a cloth or towel.
Pain relievers are used as anti-inflammatory therapy for knee pain, and sometimes a course of antibiotics is required.
Physiotherapy is also applied.Some exercises can be done at home, but during intensive recovery, your doctor will schedule a visit to a physical therapy office or a gym at a medical facility.
Sometimes the nature of the injury is such that it is impossible to get rid of knee pain without surgery.For this purpose, arthroscopic surgery can be used, which allows the operation to be performed through minimal incisions.If the damage is significant, sometimes it is necessary to replace some parts of the knee with special prostheses.Total knee replacement involves installation of prostheses made of metal, polymer and plastic.Also, in modern medicine, when treating knee pain, some non-surgical methods are used that allow to achieve the desired effect relatively quickly.