Many people occasionally experience knee pain when bending.Sometimes there is pain in the knee when walking.This is quite logical, because the knee joint almost always bears a large load.Therefore, they are one of the most vulnerable joints in the human body.But you should still know when and for what reason 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 too intense sports, from different types of injuries, to diseases that affect one of the many structures of the knee joint.
How does knee pain manifest?
Pain in the knee can manifest itself in many different ways.First of all, their intensity depends on the type of damage as well as its severity.Sometimes a person complains that after intense sports training, pain in the knee begins to appear at night or slight pain appears during exertion.However, after a while, a person may begin to feel discomfort from constant severe pain, both in the knee and in the back.Therefore, it is important to determine the cause of pain in the early stages.Sometimes, to relieve pain, it is enough to carry out some procedures.But in case of ligament or tendon rupture, as a rule, surgical treatment cannot be avoided.In any case, if a person has very severe knee pain, one should not expect this symptom to go away on its own.But before deciding what to do and how to treat the pain, you should make an accurate diagnosis and tell your doctor about all the characteristics of the pain.First of all, you need to tell whether the knee hurts when bending, whether the pain or discomfort bothers you at night, whether the pain appears below the knee, etc.
When does knee pain develop?
The causes of knee pain can be very diverse.Severe knee pain often develops after ligament damage from 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 a total of four ligaments in the knee that connect the femur to the fibula and tibia.When one of these ligaments is torn, the injured area will experience severe pain.This occurs most often in athletes.In this case, the pain makes the patient uncomfortable for a long time when walking, and when running, the discomfort lasts even longer.
Two more ligaments are crossed inside the knee.These two cruciate ligaments, anterior and posterior, connect at the front of the leg.When the anterior ligament is torn, it causes brittleness in the knee.Then sharp and severe pain appears, after which a tumor develops in the knee area.After receiving such an injury, you must stop immediately, because the damaged area hurts so much that the knee loses stability.
If the posterior cruciate ligament in the leg joint is torn, the pain is usually less intense.With such an injury, pain appears in the knee in the back and a feeling of instability.
Knee pain also develops when tendons are damaged.This disease is called tendinitis.In this case, an inflammatory process and tendon irritation will develop.The cause of this phenomenon is injury, mainly in sports.Most often, such injuries, both in the left knee and in the right knee, occur in skiers, runners and people engaged in cycling.This inflammation sometimes develops in both knees simultaneously.The patient feels discomfort and pain in the kneecap or front of the knee.Usually, there is discomfort and pain when bending over.In this case, there is no need to use traditional treatments or try to use ointments to relieve pain.Treatment of knee pain should be prescribed only after accurately determining its cause.Only then can we draw conclusions about what to do and how to treat the disease.Otherwise, the disease will last for a long time.
Another cause of knee pain is damage to the meniscus, which is the flexible cartilage in the knee joint.Such lesions can occur in different parts of the meniscus, but in any case, the person will develop a tumor.
Sometimes when the knee is injured, the fluid sacs that help the ligaments and tendons glide become inflamed.In this case, we are talking about bursitis, which can cause pain both below the knee in the front and back.With bursitis, swelling and redness appear in the inflamed area.A person feels pain when squatting, kneeling as well as when straightening the affected knee.Bursitis can develop below the knee (called anterior bursitis) and when infected it causes very severe swelling, general malaise and fever.If the infection affects the area below the left or right knee in the back, the pain on the inside of the knee will become intense when a person goes up or down stairs.
When injury, wounding, or degeneration of cartilage or bone occurs, parts of the cartilage can become detached and loose inside the cup.A person does not think about how to treat this condition until the laxity of the body begins to interfere with joint movement.In this case, pain appears.
When the patella is displaced, an abnormal position of the patella is noticed: it becomes perpendicular to the correct position.Symptoms of this phenomenon are pain, swelling in the affected area, severe discomfort when stretching the legs and when walking.Patellar displacement that occurs once often occurs again in the future.Therefore, doctors advise performing special exercises aimed at supporting muscles.
When the knee joint stretches due to injury, the knee is stretched and can bend in the opposite direction.Such damage is characterized by the appearance of a tumor, and the patient is also bothered by pain on the inside of the knee.This injury is also dangerous because it can lead to partial or complete rupture of the ligament.
Chronic diseases are a separate group of diseases that lead to knee pain.With rheumatoid arthritis, which affects all ligaments, including the knee, a person experiences not only pain in the back of the knee and in front of the knee, but also stiffness when moving.Deformation of the knee joint gradually occurs, and the patient feels constant discomfort.With arthritis, both knees are affected at the same time;Exacerbations and calm periods occur periodically.Septic arthritis is the result of infection.Its symptoms are pain, redness, and swelling.A person can feel localized pain in the veins.This condition often leads to fever.
In osteoporosis, commonly known as degenerative arthritis, pain below the knee in the back and front develops due to wear and tear of cartilage.The disease develops gradually;As a rule, knee pain initially worries you when the weather changes in the morning.Then the condition got worse.Because this disease is less common in men, osteoporosis is often the cause of knee pain in women.
At the same time, the cause of acute pain in the knee can be the development of gout.This disease presents suddenly with redness, swelling and severe pain.The knee joints remain in this state for about 10 days, and the discomfort disappears after just a few weeks.
However, sometimes knee pain is the result of normal overexertion.People who are not used to practicing sports may notice that their legs below the knee and the knee itself hurt after long runs, as well as when walking if the person is already very tired.To prevent this, you need to avoid overload and gradually increase the pace of your workout.
In addition to the diseases and conditions described, pain in the anterior part of the knee joint can be accompanied by chondromalacia of the patella.Osgood-Schlatter disease is often diagnosed in young people who actively participate in sports.In this case, the pain can be of different intensity.Usually, a person feels discomfort from pain in the leg below the knee.
How to get rid of knee pain?
There are a number of general recommendations, the implementation of which helps reduce the risk of developing diseases and conditions that lead to knee pain.One of the causes of such diseases is being overweight.Indeed, in this case, the tension in the knee joint increases after any physical exertion.People who tend to be overweight are more likely to suffer from osteoporosis, which leads to cartilage problems.
It occurs when a person experiences pain in one side of the knee when bending or in another area after he strains the muscle too much under excessive load.This could be physical labor, cycling or too strenuous exercise.In this case, it is important not only to provide the body with a sufficient load, but also to provide enough rest so that the muscles can recover.
Answering the question why the knees hurt, experts note that the muscles are not flexible enough.If the muscles are too weak or tight, then during exertion and even walking, the tension in the knee joint will not be released.As a result, a person may initially experience pain when bending and extending the knee, then the pain may even become constant.So, in this case, proper training and regular performance of specially selected physical exercises are necessary to develop and strengthen muscles.
In addition, knee pain when bending and walking develops with flat feet, in cases where one leg is shorter than the other.Such defects must be corrected with the help of special shoes, otherwise, over time, the pain can develop into chronic pain, the patient will not only have a bent leg at the knee, but also have difficulty walking.
It is not necessary to take risks and participate in sports competitions with a high risk of overload.If a person participates in skiing, athletics, basketball or other sports where the risk of falls, injury and overload is increased, he must calculate his strength extremely accurately.
The risk of injury also increases if the knee has been injured before.Therefore, if after an injury you feel pain above the knee, below the knee or directly in the joint, you should immediately consult a doctor.
At the first sign of pain in the knee joint, you should definitely rest your leg as long as possible.You can try to relieve pain by using topical pain relievers.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.Therefore, you should see a doctor if acute pain in the knee does not go away within a few days, if there is swelling and vascular pain, if the knee is deformed.It is important to treat knee pain immediately if redness and fever develop as these are signs of infection.
But before starting direct treatment of knee pain, a specialist must make a diagnosis.Initially, a comprehensive physical examination and detailed questioning of the patient is performed and special tests are used.Next, the doctor prescribes an X-ray, CT or MRI.If infection is suspected, a blood test is required.Only with the results of all the research in hand can a doctor determine how to treat knee pain.
If your knee is injured, you need to bandage it.However, regular bandaging is only enough if the wound is not serious.If a person standing on their knee feels pain and cannot bend and straighten it without pain, a more serious injury can be suspected.When ligaments are damaged or sprained, special bandages or plasters are often required.
To prevent tumor growth when injured, you need to apply ice to the wound site.You can keep the ice for no more than 15 minutes, and to avoid frostbite, you must first wrap the ice in a cloth or towel.
Pain relievers are used as an anti-inflammatory therapy to relieve pain in the knee joint and sometimes a course of antibiotics is required.
Physical therapy is also performed.Some exercises can be done at home, but during active recovery, your doctor will refer you to a physical therapy room or gym at a medical facility.
Sometimes the nature of the damage is such that it is impossible to get rid of knee pain without surgery.For this purpose, laparoscopic surgery can be used, this use allows surgery to be performed through minimal incisions.If the damage is severe, it is sometimes necessary to replace parts of the knee with a special prosthesis.Total knee replacement involves the installation of prostheses made of metal, polymers, and plastic.In addition, in modern medicine, when treating knee pain, a number of non-surgical methods are used to achieve the desired effect relatively quickly.