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Knee symptoms include different types of pain including sharp, shooting, burning, throbbing or stabbing pains. These symptoms can be constant or intermittent (i.e. come and go).
Pain in the knee can also refer from your back or hip joints and, if so, you may also be getting pins and needles, tingling, weakness, numbness, other strange sensations or pain in one or both of your legs and feet.
When pain comes on slowly, most common problems that cause pain at the front of the knee are patello-femoral pain, patella tendinopathy (previously called tendinitis) or fat pat irritation.
If the pain comes on slowly and is at the side of the knee then it could be ITB friction syndrome.
Pain is down the front of the shins it could be what is commonly called shin splints.
If you fell, had an accident or the pain came on suddenly, then you may have torn a ligament, cartilage or other structure like a meniscus or even suffered a fracture. In that case you need to get the knee assessed by a Physiotherapist, Doctor or Osteopath as soon as possible! Even if you have not had a traumatic injury it is essential that you get pain and other symptoms assessed by a Physiotherapist or Osteopath, so that you do not do further damage.
Clicking, crunching or noisy knees can be caused by a number of things. Please click here to learn more about clicking knees.
The knee is a modified hinge joint made up of two parts. The patellofemoral joint which is where the knee cap (patella) sits in a groove in the thigh bone (femur), and the tibio-femoral joint which is where the femur is joined to the lower leg (tibia) by a number of ligaments and soft tissues. In an accident these ligaments and soft tissues are often torn. The quadriceps are the group of muscles that straighten the knee and control knee bend. The hamstrings are the group that bend the knee. An imbalance between or within these muscle groups often causes the knee to work inefficiently, resulting in excessive or incorrect movements and ultimately pain and damage to the internal and external structures.
However, the vast majority of non-traumatic knee injuries are caused by weakness, tightness or poor co-ordination of the muscles and joints of the ankle, foot, hip and lower back. A good Physiotherapist or Osteopath will therefore never treat a knee injury without addressing the alignment of the whole leg and back, as well as analysing the movements of the whole body, for example by doing a running assessment.
Please scroll down for advice on knee injuries and pain including your knee symptoms, patello-femoral pain, patella tendinopathy, shin splints, ITB friction syndrome and clicking knees.
Please note that although the advice and exercises provided are designed to assist your recovery they are not a replacement for seeing a Physiotherapist or Osteopath! It is essential that you ALWAYS make sure you see your Osteopath, Doctor or Physiotherapist to diagnose your injury and guide you through recovery.
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