Knee pain – Thighs to know!

Nowadays many people irrespective of age, young and old suffer from knee pain. Changing lifestyle and food habits are some of the reasons for the increase in cases. Knowing the reason for pain is important as treatments will also vary. Depending upon the type of pain, the method and intensity of treatment needed can be determined. It is always better to consult a doctor for a diagnosis. For knee pain, it is always recommended to consult an orthopedist.

"According to different studied by 2025 in India 80% of the population above 65years will be suffering from Knee Pain." - Dr. Ratnav Ratan.

Ratnav Ratan at Young bone clinic is one of the best orthopedic doctor in Gurgaon. He also says that "only 10-15% of his patients with knee pain approach him during the beginning stage when it can be easily treated ".

The most causes of knee pain can be categorized into mainly two groups.

The acute injuries:

• The acute injuries or the injuries to the knee could be divided into two groups either ligament injuries or cartilage injuries.

The Arthritic injuries:

• The second group is the arthritic group or the wear and tear group of the knee. This is when the knee starts to wear out and the cartilage becomes thinner to the point that it may reach the point where there is no space at all between the two surfaces and then you start to erode the bone and that's sort of an indication to proceed with surgery such as knee replacement surgery.

• Other issues associated with a knee and sports, for example, are runner's knee where there is friction as you run between the bones and the soft tissues and they may lead to painful clicking, Iliotibial band syndrome. A tissue that runs across the knee towards the tibia is called Iliotibial band if it is being injured or damaged or irritated by certain activities such as squatting or lunges.

• Other conditions, for example, gout, prepatellar bursitis, or inflammation or swelling of the front of the knee.

• Then finally fractures or trauma caused to the knee such as a fracture of the femur, patella, the kneecap or the tibia; which can happen due to traumatic injuries such as falls, it can happen in car accidents, and it can happen and also simple twisting while you're walking down the road.

Home remedies:

Dr. Ratnav Ratan also says that most of the knee pain patients try a lot of home treatments which actually adversely affect the condition.

1. To help relieve knee pain at home, it is important to start by resting the knee. Allow the room to breathe and recover by stopping activities as much as possible.

1. If it's swollen, then you might want to use ice to reduce the swelling. Especially after an injury while playing football or rugby. At home, you can also use an ice pack that can help reduce pain and swelling at the same time.

1. Elevating the knee on a stool or a couple of pillows to relieve swelling as well helps in reducing pain.

1. Taking painkillers, simple painkillers such as paracetamol or anti-inflammatories such as ibuprofen if you're allowed to take it, helps relieve the pain as well and reduce the inflammation.

1. Avoid the activities that might trigger the onset of pain. Sometimes the pain gets worse while doing lunges or squatting. So, you might want to avoid those certain movements. Some people find that going down the stairs can be a bit tricky. Go one step at a time. Avoid any activities where you might need to do a sudden change of direction on the knee and try and do linear exercises.

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Knee pain is treated by conservative options and surgical options. The conservative options(easy options) include rest, elevation, allowing the knee to settle down, compression using a soft bandage and using ice in an acute injury.

Famously known as RICE;

R: Resistance

I: Ice

C: Compression

E: Elevation

Then painkillers which include paracetamol, anti-inflammatories. These reduce the inflammation and reduce the swelling and also help to control pain symptoms. Followed by injections, they do help especially if the underlying pathology is wear and tear. There are various types of injections, the commonest injections that we have are local anaesthetic plus steroid injections, but there are other forms of injections that are being more commonly used with varying levels of evidence. Which includes platelet-rich plasma or PRP; which is an extract from your blood that's injected into the knee to allow to reduce the inflammation and reduce pain.

When Knee Replacement might be required?

When you develop arthritis, it can be either mild, moderate or severe. When it reaches the severe point especially when you have pain at rest or pain at night or your exercise tolerance decreases to less than 100 or 200 yards, then it becomes important to treat the problem and if there's severe arthritis both clinically and on the X-ray and the symptoms are fairly suggestive of this, then surgery in the form of either a partial or a total knee replacement is indicated in those cases.