Physiotherapy For Knee Pain
It’s All In The Knees
The knee is made up of three separate joints: the Tibio-femoral joint (between your thigh and your shin), the patella-femoral joint (between your thigh and the kneecap) and the Tibia-fibula joint (between the two bones in your shin). The knee is designed to flex and extend (bend and straighten), but also has an important role in taking the whole weight of our body when we stand, walk and run. Injury or trauma to structures at the knee can be a common source of pain, as can natural degeneration to the joint, from conditions like osteo-arthritis.
Types Of Knee Pain We Treat
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The patella-femoral joint is at the front of the knee joint, and its important in how we walk and allows us to effectively straighten our leg.
The position of the patella (our kneecap) is dependent on muscle balance and the alignment of your leg. When this muscle balance isn’t correct for the patello-femoral joint it can cause pain when we do certain activities.
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There are two main types of cartilage in the knee joint. Articular cartilage covers the joint surfaces of the femur and the tibia. This is designed to protect the bony surfaces in the joint and to help with joint movement.
Meniscal cartilage forms to rings in the medial and lateral compartments of the knee joint. It is designed to act as a shock absorber when we put weight through are knee. Damage to the meniscal cartilage can cause pain, decreased range of movement or locked-knee.
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Your knee is very mobile when moving forwards and backwards, however it is not designed to move from side-to-side. In order to help prevent these types of movements, the medial and lateral collateral ligaments provide support to the inside and outside of the knee joint.
To prevent the tibia (shin bone) moving forward or backwards during movement, the ACL and PCL ligaments provide support from inside the knee joint. Excess force in the wrong direction can strain or tear these ligaments, resulting in pain or instability at the knee.