How do I know if my knee pain is serious?

Your knee pain may get serious if you have these symptoms: Knee swelling Deformity in knee Fever due to severe pain Redness and pain in the knee

What can cause knee pain without injury?

There are some common causes of knee pain without injuries: Bursitis Tendinitis Osteoarthritis Rheumatoid arthritis

Knee Pain: Symptoms, Causes, Home Remedies, Risk Factors

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By Dr Arvind Kumar

Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon
Published on: 26 May 2021

Knee Pain is a common complaint that affects all age groups. Severe knee pain can be a cause of injuries such as ruptured ligament or torn cartilage. Some of the health issues that can give you severe knee pain are arthritis, gout, and infections. Knee pain can also be caused due to physical activity and obesity.

What is Knee Pain?

The knee is the joint where the patella (kneecap), thigh bone, and lower leg bones meet. Skin, muscles, tendons, cartilage, ligaments, nerves, and blood vessels all make up your knees, and all of them are susceptible to damage, infection, and other problems that can cause knee discomfort.

Ligaments join the bones that comprise the knee joint. Cartilage is a slippery, protecting tissue that protects the ends of bones and allows the knee joint to move freely. Blood veins ensure continuous blood circulation to and from the knees and legs, while nerves control sensation and movement. Knee health ensures leg stability and flexibility, and the ability to move the lower leg.

Knee pain can be acute, appearing suddenly and then fading rapidly, or it might grow gradually. Knee pain that is chronic can linger for weeks, months, or even years. Knee pain might be mild and achy, or it can throb, pierce, or tingle. Knee stiffness, or paresthesia pain, which is typically described as pins and needles, prickling, or burning, may also occur. Knee pain can range from mildly unpleasant to incapacitating, preventing you from putting weight on your leg or while walking. Knee pain can range in severity depending on the cause.

Symptoms

Common symptoms of knee pain are:

Swelling and stiffness
Weakness
Redness and warmth to touch
Popping or crunching noises
Inability to fully straighten the knee
Constant ache

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Causes

Knee pain is an extremely common complaint because there are a lot of different causes which can encourage knee pain from tolerable to intolerable. Anyway, it is very important to make an accurate diagnosis of the cause of your knee pain, so it can be cured by a certain treatment program. If you are a victim of constant knee pain, but you do not knoitshe caust, we will introduce you to the most common causes of knee pain and, what is more significant, ways to prevent the knee pain.

Some of the major causes of knee pain are:

Osteoarthritis: Pain and inflammation are caused due to the degeneration of joints.
Tendinitis: Knee pain is caused due to climbing or walking up an incline.
Bursitis: Inflammation is caused due to injury in the knee.
Chondromalacia Patella: Chondromalacia Patella results in degeneration of cartilage for poor alignment in the knee cap.
Gout: Gout is caused due to too much formation of uric acid.
Baker’s cyst: It’s a fluid-filled cyst that causes bulge or tightness behind the knee.
Rheumatoid Arthritis: It’s a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disorder. This causes painful swelling and eventually, it causes joint deformity and bone erosion.
Meniscus Tear: It’s a rupture of one or more cartilage in the knee.
Torn ligament: It’s a severe sprain that will cause inflammation and ankle instability. A person may face difficulty while walking.

Risk Factors

Several factors can increase the risk of knee problems:

Excess Weight: The important risk factors of knee pain are overweight and obesity, as it can increase the stress in joints of the knee. This will increase the risk factors of osteoarthritis by increasing the breakdown of joint cartilage.
Lack of Muscle Flexibility: Lack of flexibility will increase the risk of knee injuries. Strong muscles will help in protecting joints and muscle flexibility.
Sports: There are some sports which will put a lot of stress on the knees like basketball, football, running and jogging.

Factors that will affect knee pain are:

Injuries in the knee can cause bleeding or swelling
Sprains and strains
Infection
Bad posture will affect the knee
Not warming up after a physical activity
Improperly stretching the muscles near the knee

When to Visit a Doctor

Any knee injury that sudden trauma like a road accident causes needs immediate medical attention.

If there is any kind of considerable pain, cuts, or swelling, then it should be checked by the Doctor. Visit your doctor if you have the following problems:

Significant swelling
Severe pain
Fever
Swelling around the joint
Unable to walk

It’s very important to get treatment at an earlier stage to avoid any major side effects.

Home Remedies

Follow some of the home treatments which will help you in getting relief from the knee pain:

Physical Activity:

Exercise helps in strengthening the joints. Doing proper exercise will help you get relief from knee pain. People who are facing joint pain can benefit from activities like water aerobics.

Strengthening Exercises:

Tips you can follow for strengthening your muscles are:

While lying or sitting on the bed, stretch your legs
Do step-ups
Sit on a chair and stand. Repeat this for a minute
Hold the chair and start doing squats

Weight Loss and Diet:

People who are overweight have more risk of getting knee pain. Losing weight will help in getting rid of knee pain, which includes pain that is caused by arthritis.

So maintaining a proper diet will help to reduce knee pain. A balanced diet includes:

Fruit, vegetables, and fiber (high)
Meat, animal fat, and other fat (Low)

Massage:

Massage will help you in giving great relief to your knee pain. Give a regular massage to your knee.

Heat and Cold Pack:

This will be effective in treating pain in the lower back of your knee. The heat or heat pack helps in relaxing the muscle and improves lubrication, which leads to the reduction of stiffness. For this, a person can use a water bottle or warm pad.

Ice can be wrapped in a cloth and applied to the knee to reduce pain and swelling.important to get treatment at an earlier stage to avoid any major side effects.

Preventions

By taking preventive measures, some knee pain can be cured. If you’re getting severe knee pain because of physical activity, you can change your lifestyle to help treat the pain. This includes:

Try low-impact exercises: Instead of going for heavy exercises, you can focus on low-impact exercises which will help you in less pressuring your knees.
Lose weight: Try to lose your weight, as the heavyweight will have a direct impact on your knees.
Walk: Running puts extra force on the knees. Instead of running, walk down slowly to avoid extra pressure on your knees.

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Frequently Asked Questions:

Your knee pain may get serious if you have these symptoms:

Knee swelling
Deformity in knee
Fever due to severe pain
Redness and pain in the knee

To relieve knee pain, take proper rest and put little pressure on your knees. Rub ice or hot packs on the knees.

The most common cause of getting knee pain is aging, injury, and putting a lot of stress on your knees. Some of the knee problems include sprained or strained ligaments, cartilage tears, and arthritis.

There are some common causes of knee pain without injuries:

Bursitis
Tendinitis
Osteoarthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis

Walking helps to ease the knee pain and disability from osteoarthritis. Also, walking helps in sending more blood and nutrients to your knee joints.

If there is sudden pain in your knees and it lasts for over 48 hours, then there is a need to visit a doctor.

Take a break from normal activities to reduce repetitive stress in the knee. Try rubbing ice or a hot pack for getting immediate relief from the knee pain.

Arthritis can feel like swelling and redness around the joint. Pain and inflammation are caused due to the degeneration of joints.