Knee pain is very frequently encountered in all age groups, affecting performance in many aspects of their daily activities. It is important to make an accurate diagnosis of the cause of your symptoms so that appropriate treatment can be directed at the knee joint, muscles, nerve, ligaments or meniscus.
What are the causes of Knee Pain?
- Arthritis (Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid, Gout)
- Cartilage degeneration or Tear – When muscular imbalance (excessive tightness or weakness) appears, or due to an injury, or overuse, the patella will not glide as smooth as before; the excess give and uneven pressure that builds up can cause wear and tear of the cartilage
- Chondromalacia Patella: Knee pain under kneecap due to softening of cartilage
- Ligament Injuries: Knee pain cause by ligament instability and discomfort. Eg Anterior cruciate (ACL) ligament, Medial collateral ligament (MCL), Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL), Lateral collateral ligament (LCL)
- Meniscus tear and injury
- Patella Tendonitis (‘Jumper’s Knee’): Inflammation of patella tendon
- Anterior Knee Pain (‘Patello-femoral syndrome’): Pain especially with stairs, walking, squatting, grinding, clicking, limitation of movement, knee stiffness, early tiredness, overall knee weakness.
- Dislocating Knee Cap
- Bursitis: Inflammation of bursa (lubricating fluid)
- Fractures
- Strains/ Sprains
- Baker’s Cyst: Swelling or fluid accumulation at back of knee
When do you need to seek treatment for your Knee Pain?
If you are unsure of the cause of your knee problem, or if you do not know the specific treatment recommendations for your condition, you should seek medical attention. Treatment of knee pain must be directed at the specific cause of your problem. Signs that you should be seen by a doctor or physiotherapist include:
- Inability to walk comfortably on the affected side
- Injury that causes deformity around the joint
- Knee pain that occurs at night or while resting
- Knee pain that persists beyond a few days
- Locking (inability to bend) the knee
- Swelling of the joint or the calf area
- Signs of an infection, including fever, redness, warmth
- Any other unusual symptoms
Effective treatments that can help Knee pain
The treatment of knee pain will entirely depends on the cause of knee problem. All conditions are different, and treatments may differ from each individual.
Treatment for knee pain may consists of:
– Physiotherapy: Your physiotherapist will understand about your knee pain and perform physical examinations. Your knee conditions will be diagnose and explain before implementing solutions to yourknee
– Manual therapy: Active and Passive Mobilisation or manipulation of knee joints, patella joint
– Massage Therapy: Hands on techniques such as soft tissue release, deep friction massage, myofascial release, trigger points release on knee surrounding muscles
– Pain Relief Therapy: Using pain relief treatment modalities such as Ultrasound , electrical stimulation, TENS, laser, heat therapy to heal and repair injured, inflammed, torn tissues or meniscus
– Shockwave Therapy: Advanced high energy pulses effective for chronic, persistent knee muscle tightness, trigger points to stimulate healing. Proven treatment for tendonitis, calcification/ bone spurs
– Exercise Therapy: Guided 1-1 specific joint movement therapy, muscle stretching, progressive strengthening hip/ knee, conditioning back to sports, functional training
– Education: Advice to improve posture, lifestyle modifications, get back to jogging, sports
Our unique treatment approach for knee pain
At heal360 Physioclinic, our physiotherapist and rehabilitation therapist experts has developed a proprietary signature program for the knee pain –PainRelief360™ Program
Our therapist will perform a thorough assessment and determine the potential cause of the knee problem, and will develop a management and best treatment program for your knee pain: relief pain, regain your knee movement and give you a renewed, stronger knee!
