An injury in our knees can impact its ligaments, tendons or even bursaes (sacs filled with fluid) that wrap around our knee joints. A knee injury can also involve the bones, its cartilage pad and ligaments that actually form the joint. Due to the complex nature of our knee structure and its exposure to various factors it’s often hard to distinguish the signs and symptoms of our knee problems. However there are certain factors to consider when diagnosing such as how long it’s been used over a lifetime, referring to injuries and diseases that can inflict knee pain.
The most common knee injuries and their symptoms are:
Ligament injuries:
Our knee consists of four ligaments; these are bands of tissue that stretch from our thigh bone to our lower leg bones. Any tear in any of these ligaments caused by an accident or a sports trauma will likely cause:
- Pain that gets worse when you try walking or bending your knees
- Immediate pain that worsens when you try to walk or bend your knee
- Unable to tolerate weight on the injured knee
- Sensing the knee going to buckle or give way
- A popping sound
- Irritation and inflammation of the tendons that connect muscles to our bones. Mostly it’s the athletes who are vulnerable to develop inflammation in their patellar tendons. If you think your knee pain is caused by tendinitis, then these are the signs and symptoms:Inflammation in the front of the knee or right below the kneecap. Pain gets worse if you jump, run, sit or climb stairs. Unable to completely extend or straighten knees
Meniscus related injuries: this piece of cartilage that lies within your knee joint is vulnerable to tears in the cartilage, which might happen at various places and positions. Signs and symptoms of this kind of injury:
- Mild to moderate inflammation that occurs slowly forming swelling, it can take from anywhere 24 to 36 hours after the injury
- Unable to align the knee completely; sometimes it may feel locked in its place
- Knee injuries that cause inflammation in the bursae resulting in Bursitis:
Bursitis signs are: Stiffness and pain when you move around: swelling, warmth, redness, pain even when you’re resting.
At times injury or degeneration of bone and cartilage could also cause a piece of bone or cartilage to snap and get stuck in the joint space. This may not be a problem until the loose body gets involved with knee joint movement causing pain and a locked joint.
Dislocated kneecaps are also culprits and usually they result in intense pain, swelling and difficulty moving around.
Osgood-Schlatter disease.
Iliotibial band syndrome.
Hyperextended knee injury results in extended position that bends back on itself. Although the damage may be minor, the hyper extended knee can also cause a partial or complete ligament tear, especially in ACL.
Sometimes the knee joint can get infected resulting in swelling, pain and redness. It’s called Septic arthritis. It usually occurs with some fever. One of the most serious of other types of arthritis is the rheumatoid arthritis; it can impact almost any joint in our body, including our knees. The common signs:
- Pain
- Swelling
- Painful and stiff feeling after getting up in the morning or after some time of inactivity
Degraded motion in our knees and eventually resulting in deformed knee joints.
Even though rheumatoid arthritis can become a chronic disease, it can vary in severity and may appear and go off.
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative form of arthritis, it is the most common type of arthritis among elders due to a wear-and-tear condition. It’s due to the cartilage in our knee which wears out as we get older.
Osteoarthritis can vary in degrees of pain
Stiff feeling in the morning and even after your activities
Popping sounds
Decreased flexibility in the knee joint
Gout or pseudogout which is a type of arthritis causes redness, swelling.
The other condition known as pseudogout (chondrocalcinosis) causes severe inflammation and sporadic attacks of sudden pain and inflammation in large joints.
When should I see a doctor?
If you just started experiencing knee pain then it may not be that severe or disabling so you may try treating it on your own. This means rest, putting some ice on it and lifting the affected knee. Sometimes taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs also help to decrease pain and inflammation. However if you still don’t see any improvement in a week time, you will need to see a doctor or a specialist in sports medicine or orthopedics.
Also some types of knee pain need immediate medical attention. You must call your doctor if you:
- Can’t tolerate weight on your knees
- Notice knee swelling
- See abnormal shaping of your knee
- Have constant pain that won’t go away
- Have a fever that obviously indicates infection