Knee Pain
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Your knee contains four ligaments - tough connective tissue that connects bone to bone. There are two collaterall ligaments and two cruciate ligaments. The collateral ligaments are located on each side of your knee. The ligament on the inside of your knee is the Medial Collateral Ligament or MCL and the one on the outside of your knee is the Lateral Collateral Ligament or LCL. The cruciate ligaments are inside your knee and cross each other diagonally while connnecting your femur (thigh bone) to your tibia (lower leg bone). The Anterior Cruciate Ligament or ACL connects to the anterior portion of the tibia and the Posterior Cruciate Ligament or PCL connects to the posterior portion of the tibia. Cushion
Ligament injuries
Injuries to the ligaments of the knee are often due to direct trauma from a fall or during a sport activity that requires quick stopping and turning or external trauma to the inside or outside of the knee. With a collateral ligament injury knee pain is typically immediate and gets worse with walking or bending of the knee.
Most ACL injuries are sports-related and occur when the athlete is trying to cut or pivot with their foot securely planted, causing their knee to hyperextend or overtwist, frequently without any contact from another player. With ACL injuries you may feel or hear a pop in your knee and have immediate swelling of the knee and pain, and an unstable or "buckling" feeling when you put weight on the knee.
The PCL is a strong ligament located deep inside your knee, tears most often result from traumatic injuries, such as those you might receive in a car accident and aren't usually associated with sports. Due to the violent impact needed to damage the PCL, other ligaments are usually injured at the same time. PCL injuries will typically be followed by pain and swellling behind the knee and a feeling of instability.
Tendon Injuries
Tendons are thick, fibrous tissue that attach muscle to bone. Typical injuries to the tendons include tendinitis (inflammation of the tendon) and tears of the tendon. Tendinitis of the patellar tendon, which connect the quadriceps muscle (anterior thigh muscle) to the tibia (lower leg) is one of the more common in the knee and often occurs with athletes in running, cycling or skiing sports. Tendinitis is usually more painful with activities such as running, jumping and squatting. With tearing or rupturing of a tendon, intense pain will occur any movement that involves the use of that tendon. Top
The meniscus is a C-shaped piece of cartilage in between your femur and tibia. The medial meniscus cushions the area between the femur and tibia on the inside and the lateral meniscus cushions the area on the outside. Injuries to the meniscus are usually tears to the cartilage. These tears can range in size, location and severity. With mild tears you may not feel much pain, but will have a little swelling in the knee within a day or two of the injury. A larger tear that creates a flap of meniscus that no longer stays in place can interfere with the natural movement of the knee, causing intense pain and sometimes locking of the knee. Often times meniscal tears coincide with tears of ligaments in the knee. Top
Bursitis
Bursae are small pouches of fluid that provide lubrication to the knee joint so that all the moving tissues glide smooth over one another. Inflammation of this sac is called bursitis. Bursitis in the knee can appear as a warm, red, swelling over the irritated area, as well as pain with kneeling and stiffness with walking.
Osgood-Schlatter Disease
This disease typically affects athletes around their teen years involved in jumping and running sports. A prominent, painful, tender, swelling will occur just below the kneecap. The pain can range from mild to severe and usually increases with activity and improves with rest. Typically only one knee is affected at a time and the pain usually lasts for weeks to months, until the teen athlete stops growing or takes a break from the activity causing the pain. Top
Iliotibial band syndrome
On the outside of your thigh running from your hip to your knee is a muscle called the tensor fascia lata (TFL). At the ends of this muscle are the "bands" of tissue or tendons that connect the muscle to the bone, the top "band" connects to the ilium or hip and the lower "band" connects to the tibia, thus the Iliotibial band. This lower portion gets irritated and pain is felt on the outside of the knee. This condition is common in runners due to the increased amount of use in this area. The pain will typically go away with rest, but without treatment can progress to pain with walking. Top
If you have any questions please call us at (970)-663-6501 or email Dr. Friedline.
