How to Fix Medial Knee Pain
Looks like you are interested in learning more about medial knee pain, which if you don’t know, describes pain on the inside aspect of your knee.
Keep reading below to learn more about what could be causing that pain, common symptoms, the potential structures involved with it, as well as how to fix it!
We tend to find the most common type of patient's presenting with medial knee pain are football/soccer players, hockey and rugby players, those who are post-knee reconstructive surgery, runners, gym goers who squat frequently, as well as our seniors population.
This blog post is written by Sports Physiotherapist Stathis, who works out of our North Sydney location at Infinite Health Group.
Stathis used to suffer from medial knee pain a year ago himself after spraining his MCL during touch footy, and now after being back to fighting fit, know's exactly what it feels like.
A common mistake people make with this condition, Stathis mentioned:
"Not giving your body a chance to rest and D-load from the excessive stress being placed on the knee. But then, not doing specific strength work to enable them to return back to sport pain-free" – Sports Physiotherapist
So, hopefully by the end of this blog post you'll know what to do, or what you haven't done yet... Let's get into it!
A quick anatomy lesson, here are the structures of the medial knee:
1. The medial meniscus: Which is cartilage that provides a cushion between the bones. The meniscus can become damaged via general degeneration and/or if your knee is rotated and over-stressed during activity.
2. The medial collateral ligament (MCL):
Which runs along the inside of the knee and is designed to reduce over stretching of the knee from inwards forces that overstress the knee outwards. Damage to this structure can result in poor stability of the knee.
Common symptoms from medial knee injuries:
- Swelling
- Knee stiffness
- Sharp pain when twisting the knee
- Unsteadiness/unstable knee
- Locking sensation
Common causes of medial knee pain:
- Medial meniscus tear
- Medial collateral ligament sprain or rupture
- Overload/overuse of the structures of the medial knee
- Poor tissue resiliency of the structures of the medial knee (weakness in the vastus medialis, adductors, medial hamstrings, medial calf)
- Degeneration/osteoarthritis of the knee, particularly the medial knee joint (medial meniscus, etc).
Now, how to fix it! Best Rehabilitation Practice
Fixing your medial knee pain will depend on how the structures of the knee present, particularly the inside, as well as the degree of injury and pain exhibited.
For example, for chronic knee dysfunctions resulting in overloading of the medial structures, treatment would first focus on strengthening the opposing muscles to offload the medial knee, as well as functional movement re-training. This would be combined with stretches and self-release exercises to help decrease muscular tension in and around the area.
On the other hand, if the injury (and subsequent level of pain) is moderate to severe, treatment initially will more likely focus on manual therapy to provide pain-relief, restoring range of motion, and beginning gentle loading to the area and supporting structures.
Want to see some exercises that we commonly prescribe for this area? Click the button below!
Who to see for this condition?
If you've just recently been feeling pain in your knee and need an accurate diagnose of your injury, the best person to see is a Sports Physiotherapist. They will be able to kick-start your healing process through manual therapy, and ensure your exercise rehabilitation is appropriate to your injury. Click below to read more!
If however, you have been suffering ongoing knee pain, with unsuccessful return to sport, the best health professional to see is an Exercise Physiologist, who specialises at exercise rehab and mid-end stage return to sport treatment. Otherwise we've got a team at each of our Sydney physio clinics that can help. Click below to learn more!
Hope you enjoyed the read!
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