Three Little-Known Causes Of Knee Pain
Many people associate knee pain with knee injuries, diseases (such as arthritis) or weight gain. It is true that these are some of the most common causes of knee pain, but they aren't the only ones. Other lesser known causes of knee pain include:
Loose Body
Degeneration of tissues can make your body loose. For example, the bones or cartilage at the knee joint can degenerate, get loose and even break away and begin floating in the joint space. In a few cases, this may not cause a serious problem. However, it may interfere with the movement of the joint and cause severe knee pain. Most physicians attribute the condition to repeated stress of the joint. For example, you may develop it if you have been engaging in competitive physical sports for many years.
Hip or Foot Injury
You may be surprised to realize that an injury to your foot or hip joint can lead to knee pain. You may even be more surprised to learn that such a pain may be felt on the knee on the side of the body opposite to the injured hip or foot.
However, this is not so surprising when you understand that injuries to these parts of the body can be very painful. Such level of pain can make you start favoring one knee (on the unaffected side of the body) over the other; either unconsciously or knowingly. If you are favoring one knee, then you are putting more stress on it, it will soon be painful, and you will have problems with both legs.
Iliotibial Band Syndrome
The iliotibial band or ligament runs on the outside of your knees and thighs. It is responsible for stabilizing the outside of the knees when they flex and extend. You put excess stress on this part of the body when you flex and extend it repeatedly. The ligament tightens up and begins rubbing on the outer segment of your femur – the part of the thigh bone just above the knee. It is this tightening up and rubbing that leads to the knee pain. This is what happens, for example, when you run for a long time, which is why long-distance runners are prone to iliotibial band syndrome.
As you can see, there are many things that can cause knee pain. Therefore, if you develop knee pain, the first thing to do is to consult a doctor at a center like Noyes Knee Institute for a diagnosis. The choice of treatment for dealing with knee pain depends on the diagnosis, but surgery is usually the treatment of choice for severe cases that have defied other treatments.