3 most common knee pains
What are the types of knee pains and how do we treat them?
Weather we are professional athletes, recreational players, or just go to the gym to be in good shape, we, all, have experienced some type of body pains. One of the most common pains that most people face through some point of their lives is knee pain. The knee is one of the most complex nodal places in our legs because it contains many joints, ligaments, tendons, and bones. Therefore, there can be different knee pains and injuries. According to Rothman Ortopedics, there are 3 main knee pains:
1. Knee Fracture
Your patella (kneecap) protects your knee joints from injuries. When you fall or collide with an object or a person, your kneecap makes first contact and shields the different parts within your knee joint. This makes the kneecap susceptible to fractures. Knee fractures are common but they’re also very serious.
2. Knee Dislocation
A knee dislocation occurs when the knee bones come out of place. This can happen when there is a large impact to the knee, such as a fall, a collision, or a car accident.
In certain situations, the knee will correct itself. It will feel a little sore but will function normally. If this doesn’t happen, the only way to recover from a dislocation is to relocate the knee bones back into place by a doctor.
3. Knee Ligament Disslocation
Ligament injuries are extremely common in sports. They occur when the knee is overextended or moved in a way it shouldn’t naturally move. Because the ligaments serve to keep the knee in place, if they’re forced too much, they can’t do their job and they can stretch or tear.
The most injured ligaments include “the cruciate ligaments which make up the X – the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). The collateral ligaments – the medial collateral ligament (MCL) and the lateral collateral ligament (LCL) – are also commonly injured.”
Knee Treatment
If your knee pain is minimal, it’s possible you did not injure it and it’s just feeling a little sore from overexertion. You can typically treat this type of pain with the RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) method and apply a CBD topical at the end, which will help heal the soreness quickly. If this method works for you and you’re feeling back to normal, you can avoid a doctor visit.
When experiencing a lot of pain, swelling, bruising and instability, it’s important to visit your doctor for treatment. Neglecting the problem could aggravate it and turn a minor sprain into a tear.
One of the first steps of treating your knee injury is stabilizing the knee. Your doctor will likely recommend a brace to keep your knee joint from moving. This will allow bone fractures to heal properly. You may also be given crutches to prevent you from putting weight onto your injured leg.
Physical Therapy
Physical therapy will involve a program of several weeks of specific stretches and exercises to restore function of your knee joint. In addition, the exercises will strengthen the muscles surrounding the joint.
Some knee exercises that can help with a patella problem are below: Do each exercise for a minimum of 3 sets of 10 reps.
Surgical Treatment
You may need surgery to treat your knee injury in certain cases to fully restore its function when physical therapy and other methods have not proven successful. Some injuries cannot heal on their own, such as a completely torn ligament, and they’ll need to be operated on. Many knee surgeries can be minimally invasive and performed arthroscopically using miniature tools and small incisions. In other cases, your surgeon will need to make a larger incision to repair the injury.
