Knee pain. Pain that everyone experiences once in a while. But where does it exactly start?
And what causes it?
Let’s learn about knee conditions and also their symptoms and how
to recognize them. And then at the end, let’s learn about the important signs
that we should never miss when it comes to knee pain. The knee is an interesting joint that is
capable of absorbing all the weight force of the human body and maneuvering it in a way that allows
us a wide range of movements from walking and running to jumping and dancing. This incredible
transfer of force during a jump or a delicate balance of force during dancing can be achieved
because the knee joint relies on a complicated set of muscles, menisci and ligaments to transfer
and balance this force. So while transferring this incredible force during a jump, the knee joint
can be flexed or extended, but also to some extent, externally rotated and internally rotated.
The upper bone of the knee joint is the femur, the largest bone of the human body. It articulates
down below with the tibia and additional support is provided by the fibula, laterally. This
incredibly small bone has an incredibly important function in the knee joint as it connects femur
and tibia with tendons. Tibia does not provide a very stable and deep cavity for the femur,
but the knee joint is a very mobile joint. It has to move. So where does it gets its stability?
Well, the ligaments you can see here are the anterior cruciate ligament and the posterior
cruciate ligament. Furthermore, two important ligaments in the knee joint are the lateral
collateral ligament and the medial collateral ligament of the knee joint. To absorb all the
shocks from above, the knee also contains the lateral meniscus and the medial meniscus.
And while the knee joint indeed is a triumph of human evolution that allows us to walk in an
upright way, because of these structures and so many other structures that are in the knee joint
or around the knee joint, it is no wonder that the human knee is often a location of inflammation,
injury, and pain. These knee conditions and diseases can cause pain and damage in many parts of the
knee. For example, underneath the patella or in the patellar tendon or in the quadriceps tendon.
Furthermore, the pain can be caused laterally on the femur or medially in the tibia.
But before we proceed to illustrate and show all of these things and diseases in the knee joint,
I have to ask you something. You see, we created this channel to help people suffering from knee
conditions and knee symptoms. But for some reason, YouTube still does not expose our videos
and suggest our videos to wider audiences. So there is one thing you can do for us and there
is another thing that we can do for you. Here’s the deal. You can like our videos and share them
on your social media accounts and then you could also subscribe to our channel. But make sure you
click that bell button and then choose all because if you don’t do that, there is a high chance that
YouTube will never suggest you our videos again, even though you subscribed. And if you can do
these three things for us, then there is one thing we can do for you. If you have questions
about knee conditions, then just ask down below in the comment section and we respond within 24 hours.
But now back to the knee joint. The most common cause of the pain in the knee joint
is the so-called runner’s knee and it starts right over here. It is also called the patellofemoral
pain syndrome. But how does it happen and what causes it? As the quadriceps femoris muscle
contracts over here, it pulls the patella upwards and along with it also the tibia.
This allows humans to jump and this little bone can transfer force strong enough that allows
humans to jump five feet above the ground. But how the heck does it do it? If we look at the knee
from the interior point of view, the patella can be found over here and it sits in the femoral
trochlea, a groove covered in smooth cartilage that allows the patella to glide in it. If there is too
much force applied here and too often, the cartilage can be damaged. But a single jump will not cause
runner’s knee or patellofemoral pain syndrome. In fact, it is the constant movement of patella
up and down and the force that is applied to the femoral trochlea during running that actually
causes this condition. So the patella in the knee joint can handle the force during jumping
rather well, but other structures in the knee joint cannot. So for example, the tibial tuberosity
over here and the patellar tendon over here can be damaged and inflamed and that can cause pain
in the knee joint. Namely, this condition over here, Osgood-Schlatter’s disease, can cause
inflammation in the tibial tuberosity and the patellar tendonitis causes inflammation in the
patellar tendon. The tendon connecting the quadriceps femoris muscle with the patella
can also become inflamed and that is referred to as quadriceps tendonitis.
However, the patella itself can be the source of the pain and problems in the knee joint.
The patella slides in this groove called the femoral trochlea and it can jump out of the curve,
tilt or move to the side and that way cause pain and discomfort for the patient.
That is called patellar tip syndrome, but if we move away from the patella, we could explain
these two conditions here, medial tibial stress syndrome and iliotibial band syndrome.
The medial tibial stress syndrome causes pain in the medial tibia and the iliotibial band syndrome
causes pain and inflammation in the lateral epicondyle of the femur bone. But what causes
pain in these locations in the knee? Well, in case of iliotibial band syndrome, the iliotibial band
is constantly rubbing against the lateral epicondyle of the femur and therefore it causes
inflammation and damage in that part of the knee. Here the medial tibial stress syndrome is a result
of high impact landing stress on the tibia after landing from a high jump. Almost all of these knee
conditions cause pain, tenderness and swelling in the knee joint. However, they do it in different
locations and that helps us identify them and differentiate them from one another. However,
there are two truly important signs we should never ignore that can come with pain in the knee
joint. The first truly important sign that should never be ignored with knee pain is the presence of
tingling and tingling might indicate that an important nerve is damaged or an important
artery. The second truly important sign that should never be ignored with knee pain is the
presence of chills and fever because that might indicate that a dangerous condition called septic
arthritis is present. Septic arthritis is a condition in which dangerous bacteria can leave
the joint and enter vital organs such as brain or the heart and that way cause the death of the
patient. Both of you doctors and patients we can all benefit from videos like these. If you have
more questions about knee pain or knee symptoms then go to this link
symptomsky.com/help/knee. But if you want to make a video like this one and you’re a doctor or medical student
then go to anatomsky.com. Well both of you can subscribe to this channel.
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