Majority of women have weaker bone and muscle strength in India with prolonged knee pain. According to a survey, every year about 15 million people, mostly women, are diagnosed with arthritis in India. By the year 2025, India may become the osteoarthritis capital of the world with 60 million people affected.
Causes of knee pain
- Reduced muscle strength
- Cartilage tear (due to aging)
- Injuries (Fracture or any sports injury)
- Osteoarthritis
Nature of pain and it’s origin
| Sharp catching pain | Mechanical effect | Aching type pain with morning stiffness which eases with movements but gets worse with exertion | Degenerative changes | Night pain | Degenerative changes | Pain on weight bearing | Mechanical or arthritic lesion | Pain while climbing up or down the steps or rising from a chair | Medial joint pain | Pain on twisting | Medial joint pain | Pain after exercising in young adults | Osgood Schlatter’s Disease |
ref: Essential Orthopedics in Physiotherapy by Rajesh Kumar
The location of the knee pain can vary depending on which structure is involved.
The severity of the pain can vary, from a minor ache to a severe and disabling pain.
Limping and difficulty in walking due to instability or discomfort in the knee joints, difficulty climbing stairs, sudden locking of the knee resulting in disability to bend the knee are common problems faced by many nowadays. Severe cases also show redness and swelling of knee and inability to extend the knee due to arthritis, patellar syndromes, tendinitis, and bursitis.
Also read : How to sleep better with Bursitis
When to see a doctor
If you have noticed obvious deformity in your leg or knee have a fever, in addition to redness, pain and swelling in your knee and feel as if your knee is unstable or your knee “gives out”, it is high time to consult a good physiotherapist or a doctor.
Risk factors
- Excess weight.Being overweight or obese increases stress on your knee joints, even during ordinary activities such as walking or going up and down stairs. It also puts you at increased risk of osteoarthritis by accelerating the breakdown of joint cartilage.
- Lack of muscle flexibility or strength – A lack of strength and flexibility are among the leading causes of knee injuries. Tight or weak muscles offer less support for your knee because they don’t absorb enough of the stress exerted on the joint.
- Certain sports – Some sports put greater stress on your knees than do others. Alpine skiing with its rigid ski boots and potential for falls, basketball’s jumps and pivots, and the repeated pounding your knees take when you run or jog all increase your risk of a knee injury.
- Previous injury – Having a previous knee injury makes it more likely that you’ll injure your knee again.
Knee pain, if left untreated, can become serious in future. To treat the pain, avoiding medication and surgery, people are now going for physiotherapy.
Physiotherapy helps you heal the cause and get you relief from acute pain with the help of exercises and latest methods of electrotherapy like Ultrasound Therapy, IFT, Laser therapy, etc. Strengthening exercises help you get back your lost muscle strength and gain mobilization of the joints.
For further details, visit us at TriBeCa Care
E-mail us at:enquiry@newwpsite.tribecacare.com or call us on +91 3366064208
I was impressed. Can you save me from my knee pain. Arthiritis