Knee pain: why it happens, and what to do to stop it!
Are you a runner, Nordic skier, hiker, or anyone who enjoys being active to stay fit? If that’s you, then you have likely experienced knee pain at one point or another. Our knees are unfortunately a joint that is often aggravated by a variety of physical activities. In this post I’m going to discuss knee anatomy as well as three common types of knee pain.
Our knees are composed of three bones: the femur (thigh bone), the tibia (the shin bone), and the patella (the knee cap). The bottom end of the femur is rounded (the medial and lateral femoral condyles) and rests onto the very flat top aspect of the tibia (the tibial plateau). The function of the medial and lateral menisci is to improve the stability of a rounded bone resting on a flat bone. Our kneecap is a bone embedded in the tendon that attaches the quads to our tibia. The patella improves the mechanical advantage of our quads to help us run, jump, and squat better. When our knee bends and straightens, the patella glides up and down in a groove on the front of our femur.
Now, let’s consider some common structures in our knees that can become aggravated. One of the most common knee injuries I see with runners is patellar tendonitis. With patellar tendonitis, the painful spot is along the front of your knee, just below your kneecap. This injury is irritation and inflammation of the tendon between the kneecap and the shin bone. This aggravation typically happens as a result of overuse. Some examples of causes include increasing your running mileage too quickly or increasing your elevation gain and loss too quickly with hiking. To resolve this injury, you need to first decrease the inflammation in your tendon. Once the pain has been resolved, improving your quad strength and coordination will prevent this injury from coming back. Of course, being sure to gradually increase your activity will also help prevent patellar tendonitis from coming back.
The next common type of knee pain I see is related to the IT band. This thick band of connective tissue runs from our pelvis (at the ileum) to just below our knee (on the tibia). When everything is working how it should, the IT band helps keep tension along the outside of our hip to make our muscles work efficiently together. Unfortunately, the IT band can become aggravated. This irritation can happen anywhere along the course of the IT band which is along the outside of the hip or thigh. For runners, IT band irritation most commonly happens on the outside of the knee. To reduce this type of knee pain, it is important to stretch your glutes (hip muscles) as well as quads and hamstrings (front and back of your thigh). Once the pain is calmed down, working on strength in all of those same muscle groups will help prevent this type of pain from coming back!
The last type of knee pain is called patellofemoral pain. This is caused by irritation along the underside of the patella where it glides along the groove between the two femoral condyles. This type of pain can be caused by non-ideal movement patterns, especially with running. There is hope! This type of pain can be alleviated with kinesio tape for short term pain relief. Your running mechanics can be improved with strengthening exercises as well as specific running drills to retrain your body to move in ways that protect your knees.
These three types of knee pain are common, but can all be eliminated with physical therapy. If knee pain is keeping you from running and other things you love, call or message me today to discuss if your specific type of knee pain is a good fit for physical therapy. I offer 20 minute phone consultations for free, let’s talk about how to get you out of pain and back to doing what you love!