Overview
Patellofemoral (puh-tel-o-FEM-uh-rul) pain syndrome is pain at the front of your knee, around your kneecap (patella). Sometimes called "runner's knee," it's more common in people who participate in sports that involve running and jumping. The knee pain often increases when you run, walk up or down stairs, sit for long periods, or squat. Simple treatments — such as rest and ice — often help, but sometimes physical therapy is needed to ease patellofemoral pain.
Symptoms
Patellofemoral pain syndrome usually causes a dull, aching pain in the front of your knee. This pain can be aggravated when you:
1. Walk up or down stairs
2. Kneel or squat
3. Sit with a bent knee for long periods of time
Causes
Doctors are not certain what causes patellofemoral pain syndrome, but it's been associated with:
1. Overuse.
Running or jumping sports puts repetitive stress on your knee joint, which can cause irritation under the kneecap.
2. Muscle imbalances or weaknesses.
Patellofemoral pain can occur when the muscles around your hip and knee do not keep your kneecap properly aligned. Inward movement of the knee during a squat has been found to be associated with patellofemoral pain.
3. Injury.
Trauma to the kneecap, such as a dislocation or fracture, has been linked to patellofemoral pain syndrome.
4. Surgery.
Knee surgery, particularly repair to the anterior cruciate ligament using your own patellar tendon as a graft, increases the risk of patellofemoral pain.
Preventions
Sometimes knee pain just happens. But certain steps may help prevent the pain.
1. Maintain strength.
Strong quadriceps and hip abductor muscles help keep the knee balanced during activity but avoid deep squatting during your weight training.
2. Think alignment and technique.
Ask your doctor or physical therapist about flexibility and strength exercises to optimize your technique for jumping, running and pivoting — and to help the patella track properly in its groove. Especially important is exercise for your outer hip muscles to prevent your knee from caving inward when you squat, land from a jump, or step down from a step.
3. Lose excess pounds.
If you are overweight, losing weight relieves stress on your knees.
4. Warm up.
Before running or other exercise, warm up with five minutes or so of light activity.
5. Stretch.
Promote flexibility with gentle stretching exercises.
6. Increase intensity gradually.
Avoid sudden changes in the intensity of your workouts.
7. Practice shoe smarts.
Make sure your shoes fit well and provide good shock absorption. If you have flat feet, consider shoe inserts.
What is the most common knee injury?
Strains of the knee joint, sprains or more serious injury to ligaments, fractures about the knee and cartilage damage.
How can you tell if your knee is sprained or a ligament torn?
Sprain indicates an injury to a ligament - which stabilises a joint; a strain is a class of injury to muscle and ligament, or other soft tissues. Seek care from one of our team to assess the knee to diagnose the difference.
Is walking good for a knee sprain?
Gentle movement is usually good for injury recovery walking may be helpful, but if the joint is inflamed, it may not help in recovery, or at that particular stage of recovery
How can you tell if your knee is sprained or a ligament torn?
Sprain indicates an injury to a ligament - which stabilises a joint; a strain is a class of injury to muscle and ligament, or other soft tissues. Seek care from one of our team to assess the knee to diagnose the difference.
Does knee physiotherapy hurt?
The goal of physiotherapy treatment for knee pain is resolve the problem. Dependent on the underlying condition, there may be some discomfort during certain goals of treatment for example working to get back lost movement. The physiotherapist will review proposed treatment with you, discuss risks, benefit and how a given treatment may feel, and work with you during recovery
