Knee Pain: 7 Reasons Your Knee Is Not The Problem.
Lets talk knee pain. It should be simple right? The knee just bends and then it straightens (and a very small amount of rotation, but who’s counting?). Figuring out the cause of knee pain should in turn be so easy to understand, we think….
In reality, knee pain can be very complex and often times multi-factorial, meaning that it is caused by multiple things. The only time knee pain is really simple to understand is in the case of trauma to the knee. In this case clinical diagnostics and imaging can pinpoint exactly what the issues is. In non-traumatic cases this is almost always not the case.
In non-traumatic cases the knee itself is often NOT the source of the pain although that may be where you feel all the pain.
What do I mean by that? If your read below you’ll find out what I mean…
TOP 7 things that may be contributing to your knee pain:
Weakness in your hip abductors & (2.) Weakness in your hip external rotators
This is by far the most common issue I see with patients who have knee pain.
Everyone knows about the infamous glute max (your big booty muscle), but in reality it’s not the most important in regards to improving knee stability. The lateral (side) hip muscles pictured on the left (gluteal medius/minimus) and your deep hip external rotators (pictured right) play a much larger roll in the position of the knee during things like running, jumping, squatting etc.
If either (or both) of the these muscles groups are weak they will create excessive rotational forces through the knee that will thus make the patella (knee cap) ride in a less than ideal position, which can create PAIN under the knee cap!
3. Weakness in your intrinsic/extrinsic foot muscles
Just like the deep hip muscles play a huge role in stabilizing the knee, the foot play equally as pivotal of a role! If your feet are over pronating (going flat) too much during repetitive activities it can leave your knee susceptible to multiple issues! Having strong arch supporting muscles can absolutely be a game changer for those who knee pain.
Another option for acute knee/foot pain can be getting a supportive foot orthotics. My favorite that I use for my patients are made by vasyli medical and cane be found here.
4. Poor choice of footwear
Piggybacking off my last point, just as an unstable foot can be a problem your footwear can perpetuate your poor foot position during repetitive activities and lead to knee pain as well! You absolutely should be checking your shoes to see if they may be helping or hurting your knee pain.
It should be noted that there is no particular brand that I endorse. It is about the right TYPE of shoe. Local Stores such as Running Etc. are an awesome resource for this!
5. Poor proprioception in your foot
While we are talking about feet we need to talk about proprioception of the foot. Proprioception is simply the bodies ability to understand where it is in space. This is especially crucial in the foot because its the first thing to hit the ground during activities and it needs to relay information about the surface to your brain so that you can make adjustments as needed for things like changes in incline/decline or different surfaces (grass/sand/concrete etc.) because requirements will change!
Having impaired proprioception in the foot and ankle is very common after injury and is the reason many people multiple injuries on the same side if not addressed.
6. Stiffness in the quadriceps muscles
This is certainly not the most common reason for knee pain, but definitely worth noting. If your quadriceps are tight it will pull on the knee cap and create increased compression through the knee joint which can eventually lead to knee pain.
Having a good warm up ad cool down stretching routine is essential for any athlete, particularly one dealing with knee pain.
7. Poor mechanics during exercise
Last but certainly not least, poor technique or form will leave even the most elite athletes with pain. This may seem obvious but sometimes its hard to catch tiny flaws with the human eye. Using things such as a slow motion video recoding can be very beneficial when finding flaws in running or jumping/landing techniques. If your healthcare provider isn’t doing this they are doing you a disservice. Do yourself a favor and find someone who investigates the whole problem.
I know, I know….So much information to digest. How do you even know where to start? Use this as a check list. Go down the line and see if fixing some of these simple things makes a difference. For more resources on knee pain head here to check out 15 tips to get rid of your knee pain.
If you try these and you’re still struggling, I can’t stress it enough how important it is to see a specialist! Rather than shooting in the dark trying to find the source of your pain we can dial in the cause much faster and get the result you want….NO MORE KNEE PAIN!
If you’re ready to take the next step in getting rid of your knee pain, click to sign up for a discovery session with our knee pain specialist below.