When you exercise, you can sometimes place considerable strain on your knee joints. This strain can produce a wide range of minor and serious injuries, which can occur immediately or can result from more long-term problems. If your knee hurts you after an exercise session, note your symptoms and take the steps necessary to resolve them.
Overuse
If you overuse your knees during exercise or exercise too much, you can develop a variety of conditions that slowly build over time. They include inflammation or degradation in the tendons at the top or bottom of your kneecap, arthritis and pain and swelling in a band of tissue on the outside of your knee called the iliotibial band. Pain in the front of your knee may also result from a condition called patellofemoral pain syndrome. In addition, you can irritate cushioning sacs in your knee called bursa and develop a condition called bursitis.
Sudden Pain
If you suddenly develop pain in your knee following exercise, you may have a tear in your meniscus, a disc of cartilage that cushions the connection between your femur and tibia. You may also have a rupture or tear in your knee ligaments, which are bands of connective tissue that bind the bones in your knee joint together. Other potential causes of sudden pain in your knee include bone fractures and tendon tears. If you strain the quadriceps muscles on the fronts of your thighs or your hamstring muscles on the backs of your thighs, the resulting weakness in these tissues can also make your knee joint abnormally unstable.
Adolescent Knee Pain
Physically active teenagers in general, and teenage girls in particular, can develop a form of chronic pain at the fronts of their knees called adolescent anterior knee pain. While the exact cause of this condition isn't always clear, potential factors include knee overuse and a lack of knee flexibility. Teenage athletes can also develop a painful knee condition called Osgood-Schlatter disease, which occurs when overuse causes inflammation in the patellar tendon, which runs between your kneecap and tibia.
Treatment and Rehabilitation
Seek your doctor's advice if you have knee pain related to exercise. Common steps for healing a knee injury include stopping the exercise that causes pain, resting and elevating your joint, using ice or another cold source to reduce swelling and pain and using nonprescription painkillers as needed. You will also typically need to avoid specific actions --- such as twisting, kneeling, pivoting and squatting --- that can make your knee pain worse. You may also need to rehabilitate your knee with strengthening exercises, such as hip abductions and straight leg raises, and stretching exercises such as quadriceps and hamstring stretches. Tears and fractures in your knee may require surgical repair.
References
- University of Ilinois at Urbana-Champaign - McKinley Health Center: Overuse Knee Injuries; 2007
- UpToDate: Patient Information; Knee Pain; Bruce C. Anderson, M.D.; September 13, 2010
- American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons: Adolescent Anterior Knee Pain; June 2010
- American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons: Osgood-Schlatter Disease (Knee Pain); August 2007
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