Knee Pain

Simple Inflammation ? Have you tried aspirin

Yeah taken painkillers/icepack. Not done anything to injure it so swelling/redness/heat seems like an infection or something...

Cannae be hooped dealing with docs if it can be avoided.

For me I couldn't walk down stairs, when I had bursitis above knee cap - saw physio.

Hmm. By the time you get to see an NHS physio here your leg will have either healed itself or fallen off. Sounds the same as what's going on with mine anyway... fml.

ah well, another day sitting like a potato with frozen pea dressing.

RICE

You could pay to see a physio but need the inflammation to reduce

to go with the PEAS?

I’ve recently (last three months) developed knee pain in my right knee, it hurts when at 90 degrees after a short period of sitting on a chair, it hurts when cycling, been using the same bicycle for the last 5 years and not changed the position at all. I would be surprised if it was this. Sometimes the knee feels weak and on occasions when walking up stairs it can feel like there’s no power in it.

I recently have been getting a sudden shooting pain on the underside of the outside of my right foot, seems to happen at random times.

I also have a varicose vein in my right leg that runs over my knee cap, wondering if it could be this.

Any thoughts other than my right leg is probably fucked, I’m even that old :(

Got a stinging sensation just below and in front of kneecap - any thoughts? Haven’t cycled or run for ages and kept the same gym routine as during the last 3 months so no sure what could’ve caused it

https://facty.com/ailments/knee/what-is-chondromalacia-patella/?style=quick&utm_source=adwords-uk&adid=381876573024&utm_medium=m-search&utm_term=%2Bpatella&utm_campaign=FH-UK_-_Search_-_what_is_chondromalacia_patella_-_Mobile&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjNaB1Ov55gIVh7HtCh2JxgHnEAMYASAAEgLlBPD_BwE

That simple? Googled it last night and it just seemed a bit random to pick it up now. No more knee-bendy stuff at the gym for me then

Chondromalacia Patella Sounds quite similar to my knee pain too 🤷🏻‍♂️

Its a. Classic overload injury . Cranking the big ring trying to get fit quick . I would get some arnica gel in the January sales and rub it on just below the knee cap in the soft part.

Is it worth seeing a doctor or trying arnica gel or ibugel first?

Personally I would visit my GP for medical advice.

My knee clicks/clunks almost every time I take a step and also doing it when i ride. Any ideas what I need to stretch? I know this may be impossible to diagnose on this basic explanation but just interested if anyone has had something similar. Really puzzling and annoying - not really much pain but feels awful.

A repetitive click or clunk is usually indicative of a small underlying cartilage tear. As I understand it, a little flap tear is what causes a click and a clunk is a slightly bigger defect. There isn't much you can do about it. You can often have small meniscus tears and they won't bother you much other than the clicks. Might be worth getting referred through to see a consultant and get an MRI done, but no idea how that's going to work at the moment.

So typically just as I'm furloughed I get carried away on a ride and hurt my knee. Outside of my left knee, hurts to push downwards e.g. walking up stairs or pedalling. No pain around the kneecap, it's on the outside of the knee, almost at the back.

I've tried Ibuprofen, RICE, rolling my IT band but its still just as bad as when I first did it. Realise this description is super vague but any ideas for what I can try to resolve the pain? I don't want to be bothering the NHS at this time really.

How long has it been? Friend had remote physio through the nhs at the moment but he had an ACL tear

Just has a word with my wife, who has a degree in sports science (altho she’s now a behaviour analyst) and has also had ACL surgery. Here’s her initial response:

“Is there any instability in the knee, ie side to side or does it feel like it’s going to give way? Did the pain occur suddenly or post-exercise? Was there a snap? How long ago did the injury occur?

I’d suggest some damage to the anterior cruciate ligament, or maybe the hamstring, as it attaches to the joint around that area. Possible iliotibial band damage.

Keep on what you’re doing - RICE in 30 minute sessions and plenty of rest. Ibuprofen gel directly to the area. Try and get hold of a crutch or stick for stairs. No cycling. A Physio would suggest the same, it’s probably a small tear in one of those three areas so only rest and repair will fix it. If you aggravate it further you may well damage it enough to warrant surgery. Sorry, but best to be careful here. I’ve had ACL and it’s not funny.”

Cheers for the replies @plantasia & @jj72. It just slowly came on rather than a snap or instant pain pre or post ride. No instability as far as I can tell, however today is really the first day in 6 days I'm going further than my kitchen.

Definitely will pick up some ibuprofen gel rather than the tablets.

The pain does remind me of a muscle tear so I'll keep resting and no cycling. Worth elevating the knee as well?

I’m just into the fourth week of the couch to 5k running programme, and the last couple have left me with a pain below my left knee. I’ve been icing it for about 20 minutes after the run and it’s helped a great deal. My wife suggests rather than elevating the knee, I sit lengthwise on the sofa and place a couple of cushions under the knee, so that the leg is like a pyramid, and the apply the ice pack. As a cyclist my knee doesn’t like being held dead straigh for more than a few minutes, so keeping it up but crooked is a much better idea. Try that instead.

PS. I’m writing this with an ice pack on my left groin instead tonight. That’s what happens when you take up running after 40 years of cycling!

Noted - tried this last night and much less uncomfortable so thank you. Still no idea what I've managed to do, have signed up to the NHS app to try and get a virtual appointment with a doc.

I developed a distinctive almost metallic sounding click when going down stairs a few weeks back - no pain just a click. Thought it was buckle or a popper for a while until it twigged that it was my knee. Now I know what it is underneath! Thanks.

Cool, glad it worked. Good luck with the doc.

@dexter couple of days late, but pain at the side of the knee suggests injury to one of the collateral ligaments - on the outside of the knee it’s the lateral collateral ligament. Unlikely to be a catastrophic injury so as others have said, rest, ice, compression and elevation. The most important of these are rest - definitely avoid big rides until the pain has gone - and ice. The way I was taught to ice a musculoskeletal injury is ice every 2 hours for about 20 minutes, until it’s uncomfortably cold, for a couple of days at least. It really does work if you do it properly.

It’s worth checking your cleat position because this may be causing uneven load to your knee. I found these pictures which are simple but quite useful. The Q angle is the angle between the upper and lower part of the leg seen from the front (femur and tibia).

@TM as stated above, clicking suggests cartilage (meniscus) tear. No easy solution but should improve with rest and physio. You can find physio exercises online, you have to be very diligent and do exercises every day for six weeks at least to see any improvement. MRI may be useful to find the exact injury but you would only be offered surgery if you knee is locking, and as you say wouldn’t happen any time soon anyway. Waiting time for these even pre-Covid is quite long unless you went private. Any sports doc / physio / orthopaedic surgeon will advise physio to start with.

Full disclosure - I am a doctor but not a sports or orthopaedic specialist. I am not working currently so thought I could be a bit useful here!

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