Knee pain.

Knee Structure

The knee is made up of two main bones and two other accessory bones. There are several ligaments, lots of cartilage, and muscles attaching at various locations via tendons.

The upper bone is the femur and the lower is the tibia, they are cushioned from each other by layers of hyaline cartilage and fibrocartilaginous structures called menisci. Boney structures in addition to the femur and tibia are the fibula and patella. These bones allow for additional ligament and tendon attachments to help stabilize the knee allow it to move properly.

The action of the knee is flexion and extension of the lower leg. The knee also allows for about 5 degrees of external rotation of the lower leg when the knee is fully extended. Similar to the hip, the knee is made to withstand large loads while still being able to move through a large range of motion.

Knee Injuries

Knee injuries can occur when any of the above structures become damaged. Problems occur when the complex joint is put through undue stress. This stress can come from sudden jarring movements and impact or repetitive strain of improper movement patterns.

The most well known knee injury is an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tear/rupture. Typically caused by a sudden force put into the ligament causing the rupture, these injuries can be quite painful and traumatic.

More commonly, meniscal tears occur, impact of a landing motion combined with a twist of the knee cause the fibrocartilage to be compressed and then twisted resulting in one of several types of tears.

Of the patients who present to our office, some of the most frequent and debilitating knee injuries are of the repetitive strain and stress type. Repetitive knee injuries include chondromalacia patella, patellofemoral pain syndrome, arthritis, repetitive sprains and strains, and tendonitis. Theses injuries come on over a period of time and can become quite painful.

Healing and treating your hip pain starts with reducing joint inflammation and restoring knee movement. Soft tissue mobilization will help drive out focal inflammation and reduce pain. Therapeutic exercises will help restore proper muscle length and ROM.

At DSM Spine+Sport we focus on getting your knees pain free quickly. We understand the importance of being able to live pain free and to continue training and practicing free of worry. Our job is to evaluate, diagnose, treat and remedy your knee pain as quickly and efficiently, saving you time and money.

Have more questions? We would be more than happy to answer them.