What's Causing Your Knee Pain?

Navigating Knee Pain: What’s causing my knees to hurt?

Knee pain affects 1 in 4 adults and is responsible for 4 million primary care visits every year.

But when is knee pain serious? And how do you know what’s causing it?

Sprains, strains, and tears (oh my!) are the most common sources of pain from acute injury. These can include ACL, MCL, PCL, quad tendon, patellar tendon, and meniscus tears.

However, most knee pain occurs more gradually and generally less serious. Tendon pain, osteoarthritis, degenerative meniscus tears, and other overuse injuries are responsible for most knee pain cases.

And these are very treatable without surgery or other invasive treatments.

In fact, many studies show that physical therapy is as good or better than surgery for meniscal tears. AND, there’s less instance of arthritis when treating meniscus issues with physical therapy.

When evaluating knee pain, one of the first thing we do at EVO is ask where the pain is located. Here’s a helpful guide to show the location of pain and what may be causing it:

What's Causing Your Knee Pain?

As you can see, there are several possibilities for a pain generator in any given spot on the knee. Location of pain is a great starting point for treatment but it doesn’t give us enough information to make a diagnosis. We must also look at the mechanism of injury as well as do a thorough movement and palpation assessment.

The majority of the issues listed above can be treated successfully with physical therapy and avoiding surgery. In fact, we see these issues daily in the clinic and have helped hundreds of people avoid surgery and get back to the active life they love. Even with severe knee pain, you can get back to running, jumping, lifting, climbing, or whatever you like to do to stay fit.

If you’re in the Nashville area and are dealing with knee pain, we can help. Call or text us at 615-266-5599 or email us frontdesk@evoperformancetherapy.com to learn more. You can also self schedule on our website. Just click “Book Now.”

Don’t let knee pain stop you from living an active, healthy life!