Knee Pain: Problems and Treatment

Last updated on September 1st, 2020 at 05:52 am

Generally, knee pain and problems in normal peoples are associated with wear and tear from day to day activities that pile up during time because of aging or due to acute injuries.

As knee bears all our body weight and supports our vital activities like movement, thus it’s obvious that knee is vulnerable to a multitude of stress and thereby injuries.

While some athletes who overuse their knee beyond its capacity are also likely to have knee problems.

Anatomy

The knee is made up of three bones and a series of muscles, tendons, and ligaments that hold them together. These 3 bones are tibia, femur, and patella as depicted in the figure below.

Tibia: larger bone of lower leg that is also commonly called skin bone.

Femur: Thighbone or upper leg bone that meets the top of the skin bone.

Patella: Kneecap that joins the two long knee bones tibia and femur and glides along the grove go assist in movement.

Similarly, a layer of protective cartilage covers each bone and acts as a shock absorber, two kinds of muscles that helps in contraction and relaxation aiding in the movement.

While series of tendons that joins muscles to bones and ligaments that joints bones to bones. 

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Knee problems and remedies

Knee problems originate due to three main reasons such as aging, over-use, and injuries.

Everyday activities that bring the wear and tear of muscle joints and bones and acute injuries involve most medical cases.

Similarly, minor cases of knee pain and problems can be dealt with self-help remedies, physiotherapy, and pain-relieving medications while serious injuries and chronic problems may need surgery as advised by your doctor.

Below are listed some of the common knee problems.

Ligament or Muscle sprain

These occur due to sudden twisting motion that strains the muscle and ligaments. Although not serious, it can become very painful to carry on with our daily activities due to pain and swelling. Ample rest, heat, and ice-pack treatments can relieve and thereby cure the sprains.

Torn cartilage

Injury to the knee can tear the cartilage that protects the knee bones. This can be very painful too and may need compression treatment (applying bandage) to avoid further injury or surgery in serious cases. 

Tendinitis

These are mostly observed in athletes that overuse their knee beyond their capacities resulting in inflammation of tendons.

Typical case called “jumpers knee” involves the inflammation of the patellar tendon due to the brute force of impact of the knee hitting the ground.

Arthritis

A degenerative condition where the cartilage in the knee or joint wears away causing inflammation and thereby pain.

Osteoarthritis is common among middle-aged or older peoples while rheumatoid arthritis affecting younger peoples.

By Mohit Thapa
16|07|2020

References

John Hopkins Medicine, Health, Knee pain, and problems, Newsletter

Zinovy Meyler (2018), Knee Anatomy, Newsletter on Arthritis-Health