Contrary to the common belief that knee pain is only caused in older people, new studies have proven that this problem has nothing to do with age. It occurs at any stage due to one reason or the other. Sometimes, it’s because of an injury while in most of the cases, arthritis could be the troublesome part-meaning that the reason needs to be addressed. Severe knee pain usually leads to different mobility problems and inflammation. Therefore, it’s necessary to know the real cause so that it can be treated accordingly.

Chronic knee pain refers to swelling, sensitivity or long-term pain who cause could be frequent jumping, crunching, athletic activities or even accidents. There are also a lot of health conditions that contribute to knee pain but, what every sports doctor used to explain is that every patient, particularly an athlete, used to experience pain in a different way.

Causes of Knee Pain

There are two types of knee pains- one is temporary while other is chronic. Most of the people suffer from temporary knee pain as the result of an accident or injury while chronic knee pain creates a lot of problems and requires patients to seek medical assistance. The factors causing chronic knee pain are:

• Overuse
• Bad posture during physical activities
• Injuries to the knee structure, leading to swelling and bleeding
• Infection
• Strains and sprains
• Improper muscle stretching
• Inappropriate warm up or cool down at the start and end of the workout

Since the knee is responsible to contribute to motions like jumping, turning, walking, running and crouching, it’s important to take care of the following parts:

• Cartilage
• Bones
• Ligaments
• Tendons
• Muscles

The following problems are susceptible to causing diseases that are broken down into following five categories:

Trauma

According to the Arthritis Foundation, the knee is among the sensitive joints prone to injury. Its components and overall structure are at risk of having certain injuries that may cause pain and affect proper functioning. Common injuries are the resultant of tears in any of the three ligaments of tissues and the knee. These ligaments are called posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and medial collateral ligament (MCL).

They are quite common in athletes and may even cause hindrance in knee surgery recovery later on.

• Knee Bursitis: It is a form of knee injury that causes inflammation in the bursae- small fluid filled sacs to simplify the performance of ligaments and tendons outside the knee joint. They get damaged by a rapid blow to the knee’s front or when people stay on their knees for a long time without protection. In case of this problem, patients may experience pain, stiffness, swelling and warmth on the knee. So, the question is how to treat knee bursitis? The answer is to use oral medications (NSAIDs- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and therapy (elevation, splinting, ice and rest).
• Fractures: Trauma from collision or fall leads to knee fracture in which, several bones may be broken, even the kneecap or patella. Patients having osteoporosis or other disorders may find their bones weak that are usually prone to serious fractures. Although knee surgery is needed, physical therapy is what that could ultimately solve the problem.
• Dislocated Kneecap: In an accident, your kneecap might move out of its place. If the injury is not that serious, an orthopedic can simply pop it back but, in case of a fracture, X-ray becomes necessary to trace the problem. You might have to use a splint in order to strengthen the tissue around the patella. Dislocated knee is usually caused by a powerful blow that is quite rare and dangerous at the same time. It also damages blood vessels and nerves in the surrounding area.

Degenerative Tissue Disorders

According to an orthopedic surgeon, disorders like osteoarthritis are quite common in the list of knee complaints. It refers to the damage in the cartilage or surrounding knee tissues that lead to stiffness, pain and improper working of the joint. Osteoarthritis is the result of aging due to which, it is commonly found in almost every second person who reaches 80 years of age. Although there is no proper treatment, but still you, being a sporty, can take some sports medicine and do exercise as per the instructions of a physician in order to overcome pain and restore performance.

Connective Tissue Disorders

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) has been one of the considerable and frequently caused disorders that has direct impact over the body joints. This inflammatory autoimmune disorder causes disturbance in the immune system due to which, they attack their own body tissues, resulting in severe internal damages.

Connective tissue disorders are completely different from degenerative tissue problems as they affect the lining, instead of attacking the joints directly. They cause painful swelling and if not treated properly, the situation gets worse and you might be having joint deformity and bone erosion.

Don’t think that if RA is causing knee pain only, it couldn’t affect other body parts. You should immediately see an orthopedic surgeon in order to get his professional guidance to keep your other body parts safe from RA effects. Just like degenerative knee disorders, there is no proper cure to connective tissue disorders but, there are some effective treatments and medications available. Your part is just have to take proper consultation and understand the use of steroid, biological agents and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

Metabolic Problems

Metabolic problems normally affect different parts of the body like gout. Gout is the worth considering reason of knee pain as it builds up uric acid particles in the joint and eventually cause arthritis. It swollen the knee and decrease its range of motion over time. Being an athlete, it would be an alarming situation for you because it has adverse effects over sports performance. You should be taking anti-inflammatory medicines and other treatments in order to take care of the chemical breakdown followed b crystal production.

Infection

When it comes to finding out the knee pain reasons, cellulitis turns out to be the serious bacterial skin infection in the knee area. It can infect even a small scrape and therefore, you should treat it properly before it gets worse. Symptoms are quite visible i.e. the affected area becomes red and the skin becomes extremely tender and feels hot to the touch. Remember that this infection can also reach other body part, be it bloodstream or lymph nodes.

So, what you should do is to take appropriate antibiotics and take its symptoms seriously. Even better, click here, get the number, call the experienced orthopedic doctor and get your appointment confirmed!