in this video I help you to diagnose your knee pain using its location and description we cover the cause of these knee issues and the solution for the most common ones if your pain is at the front of your knee under or around the kneecap especially with running cycling or using stairs but it isn't swollen it's likely that you have Runner knee or patellofemoral pain syndrome 80% of people with runner's knee feel it while squatting so that's a good way to test it it's caused by the kneecap not running properly along its Groove and grinding
against the bones underneath two things can fix it the quickest and easiest fix is to loosen the outer thigh muscles that pull the KNE capap too far out to do that sit on a low chair with a straight leg and relaxed thigh muscles turn your leg in a bit and then rub firmly on the lower half of these outer thigh muscles for 30 to 60 seconds daily with the heel of your hand focusing on any tender areas I'll leave a link below to a more in-depth video on how to do this the other fix is
to correct internal leg rotation which causes a huge amount of different knee issues which I'll cover at the end of this video if your pain is just below the kneecap in the tendon that joins your kneecap to your shin bone especially with exercise or fully bending or fully straightening the knee then you're likely dealing with patella tendonopathy you can test for this tendonopathy by relaxing your thigh and getting a friend to press one hand just above the kneecap and the other thumb just where the tendon attaches to the bottom of the kneecap tenderness here indicates
patella tendonopathy now if your pain is just above the kneecap in the tendons of the thigh muscle then that's usually quadriceps tendonopathy both patella tendonopathy and quadriceps tendonopathy tend to come from a sudden increase in exercise using the thigh muscles like running or cycling both tendons are really just a continuation of the Quad muscle on each side of your kneecap so the treatment is the same for both to fix these tendonopathy you firstly need to reduce your exercise load and keep any exercise within a 2 to three out of 10 Pain Scale then begin doing
exercises to strengthen the tendons with things like wall sits squats where you lower down and then assist yourself back up again or slow split squats depending on your tolerance I'll leave a link to a video on how to strengthen those tendons just be aware though that pain around the patella tendon can sometimes be inflammation of the fat pad underneath the tendon this is often tender when you fully extend your leg or press on each side of your patella tendon when you bend your knee it can get inflamed from a fall onto the area just underneath
your kneecap or from the internal leg rotation issue that you'll see at the end of this video an MRI can help to confirm it if your knee is noticeably swollen or even a little red at the front you probably have a swollen burer at the front of your knee the most common of these is pre patela btis which usually occurs when you kneel on a hard surface a lot but without using knee pads if it isn't too swollen often just icing or stopping any kneeling will be enough to sort it out but if it's red
or really swollen see your doctor just in case it's become infected if you have a painful swollen hard lump below your knee just where the batala tendon attaches to the shin bone then you have OS good Schlatter disease which is not really a disease but actually the inflammation of a growth plate where the tendon attaches this occurs primarily in older children and adolescents as they're growing when their growth plate is still active but can trouble some people right into their 20s and Beyond icing the area and reducing the amount of vigorous activity in growing kids
with this issue is the easiest way to settle down this inflammation now if the pain is on the inside of your knee it can be a few things sometimes it's just a strain of the inner knee ligaments from an injury where your knee was pushed too far in rest and ice is all that's required for that if you've damaged your inner meniscus though you might notice that your knee catches gives way occasionally or it's hard to fully straighten or fully Bend if you bend your knee to 90° press into the dip each side of your
knee just below your kneecap and draw a line straight back from there that's your joint line where the meniscus is if your paint is there or if it's painful to firm pressure on that joint line which is a good test for miniscus injury there's a good chance that's your problem MRI can help to confirm the diagnosis if any miniscus damage is in the outer third of the meniscus which has a good blood supply a smaller meniscus tear can heal within 4 to 6 weeks range of motion exercises like gentle heel slides in both directions and
strengthening exercises like straight leg raises within Comfort can help to facilitate the healing if a flap of the damaged meniscus is large sticks out inside the knee or doesn't flatten out by itself sometimes a surgical trimming of the meniscus is necessary arthritis can cause pain almost anywhere in the knee but it's more common in the inner knee it tends to be a diffuse pain is often swollen and get stiff after rest changes in weather can affect the pain and often you'll hear a grinding or a grating sound you can't heal arthritis but the same knee
slides and straight leg raises that you do for meniscus injuries can help to keep good strength and range of motion in the knees if your pain is a couple of centimeters below the joint line and a bit forward you may have inflamed the pis an serine berser it'll tend to be sore during exercise can get puffy and is more common in overweight people and women three muscles that attach to the top of the shin bone can irritate and inflame the bser here which is is much more likely if they're stretched due to internal rotation of
the leg which we'll cover shortly icing the area can help to settle it down outer knee pain can be meniscus or arthritic pain too with similar symptoms to the inner knee versions but often pain here is due to rubbing of a tight ilot tibial band on the bones of the outer knee this gets worse with exercise can click or go a bit red and and even extend up into the outer thigh MRI or just a simple ultrasound can help to confirm the diagnosis easing up on exercises like running and cycling can help and icing the
area but the outer thigh rub that we did for runner's knee can do wonders here because it relaxes the tight muscles that are rubbing on the outer part of the knee Orthotics to correct bow legs or putting a heel lift under the other leg if it's more than 1 cm shorter than the leg with pain can both reduce the rubbing if your pain is below the joint on the outside on the little bony lump where the outer fibular bone attaches to the shin bone your pain is coming from the second smaller joint of the knee
it can get inflamed or restricted due to things like kneeling or sitting with your legs crossed bending your knee to 90° holding that bony head of the fibula with your fingers and pushing forwards and backwards for 30 seconds once or twice a day can mobilize The Joint start gently to test it though and if that feels sore to do just ice it instead lastly pain behind the knee often comes from a strained pop teal muscle especially if you feel it near the fold at the back of the knee or even slightly to the outside when
walking downhill or running here you want to rest or reduce any downhill running or skiing especially on uneven surfaces and make sure that you have good supportive Footwear particularly if your feet tend to over pronate now if you feel a ball like swelling at the back of your knee that'll be a baker's cyst these cysts tend to form when swelling inside the knee from things like arthritis or meniscus damage gets pushed into the back of the joint capsule where it attaches to a burer ultrasound can confirm and measure the cyst but if it's particularly large
and it doesn't go away by its own an MRI can help to figure out what's causing the inflammation now as I mentioned several of these conditions have a common underlying problem internal leg rotation strains the inner knee structures and changes the trajectory of the kneecap and two main things cause this internal leg rotation foot pronation or flat feet and weakness of the outer glutes so many knee problems can be prevented or corrected by working on these two issues for over pronation of the foot you can wear pronation specific Footwear wear Orthotics to support the foot
arch and strengthen muscles that support the foot arch using exercises like short foot exercises and calf raisers with the tail between your heels I'll leave a link to a video with the full details and if you strengthen the outer part of the glute medius and maximus muscles they'll help to externally rotate the leg to bring the knee back the other way simply standing on one leg moving your pelvis from side to side and bending forward slowly until light fatigue but no more once a day will help to strengthen these muscles straighten up your leg and
take pressure off your knee in fact if you strengthen the outer glutes strengthen your quads minimize any foot pronation and rub your outer thigh after any leg exercise you can prevent or improve the majority of knee issues
