Where Does Knee Pain Come From?

At all levels of fitness, everyone has his/her own exercise capacity.  This is the point at which movement quality begins to falter and breakdown can occur. This is always true.  When you run or lifts weights or perform abdominal crunches, it is VERY apparent when you are tired and just can't go any further.   Most of the time, however, where the movement quality begins to breakdown is subtle and not easily noticed.  This is the case with knee pain that occurs from an unknown source...you may be uncertain of when the original problem started, and probably don't know what is causing the pain in the first place.   

As the source of pain can be somewhat complicated, so can the differing treatment approaches.  I hope to generally cover many of the most common aspects that I come across as a physical therapist.  In doing so, my aim is to help you find a place to start…whether that is a means to begin strengthening and stretching appropriately, research your individual problem more specifically, or to help find your way into PT or a physician’s office for a more thorough examination.  My goal is to give you a nudge in the right direction, and (as always) to educate. 

I am intentionally excluding traumatic knee injuries like ACL tears, meniscus tears, and kneecap dislocations.  Those are obvious concerns (most of the time).  I wanted to focus on general knee pain, often without a known origin.  In other words, diagnoses without a consensus of a cause, let alone a clear course of treatment.  This will lend itself to a series of posts, but hopefully, I will be able to address them with some level of depth and without watering the information down too much.  Stick with me and we’ll go forward together!