Random Knee Pains?

Question

I have been getting random pains in my left knee for the past few months, like if I am walking it starts to hurt, or I wake up in the middle of the night and it kills, but at other times it feels completely fine, what could it be?

Answer 1

well, the answer is or can be a little complicated because "knee pain" can have one of many sources or reasons.

Since it's sporadic and not constant, since it disappears sometimes, it's probably not serious. It seems that you do not experience redness or swelling around the knee, you do not limp on that leg all the time.

Have you tried massaging the knee when it hurts? What happens when you do? Does the pain fade or at least lessen? That would be a good sign. Massaging a knee injury normally makes the pain worse.

Now, do you run on a track? Since tracks usually are used in left-hand turn runs, that is, we run on them so that we turn left at the curve, if we run on them in the same direction every time, we stress our legs a little different on the turns, and runners who do that often will feel pain in just one leg or knee. To cure that in that case, the runner should run in the other direction on the track every other time he runs.

If your leg is slightly out of alignment ('knock knees" or "bowlegs," and it doesn't always take much), if you rotate your hips too much when you run (that's why good form is important. It not only helps you run faster, it helps you avoid injuries, too), if you muscles are too tight, if you have tendonitis, all these reasons and a few more could be why your knee hurts.

Have you tried Alleve? I am biased toward Naproxen Sodium, I'm afraid, because it's a good pain reliever and a good antiinflammatory (it lessens swelling) and we only need to take it twice a day. I think it's a great tool for combating pain and swelling. Just be sure to take it with food because it can irritate the stomach.

If you have tendonitis, Naproxen Sodium will be a very great help. It will keep down the swelling while you rest the affected area in order to let the tendon heal. There are a bunch of tendons in your nee.

And just plain using it too much can make it hurt.

How old are you? that can be part of the reason. Knee pain in adolescents is pretty common, so common in fact that once upon a time it was called "growing pains," a common name for a cluster of pain symptoms that occur in the muscles and joints of the leg and usually stop in the teen years. Some people develop at a different rate from others, so the pains don't all stop at the same age.

Where in the knee does this pain occur? Pain in the front and center are quite normal among active people.

If you have a tender bump in the front of your knee just below the kneecap, you might want to have a diagnosis of Osgood-Schlatter's Disease confirmed or eliminated. Osgood-Schlatter isn't serious, and it goes away with rest and time, usually 1-2 years from the onset of symptoms.

Do you play sports? Can you put your hands on both sides of your knee and wiggle the bottom half of the joint side-to-side with gentle pressure? That means that your ligaments may be too loose, and you might want to show that to a doctor.

Do you use ice on your knee when it hurts? Does that help?

Do you engage in stretching exercises? Do they help?

How about wearing good (about $80-$100, I'm afraid, but they tend to be worth it if you need them) running shoes? A cheap shoe can cause this, though I would htink that it would happen to both knees if this were the reason. On the other hand, if you have a slight misalignment in one leg, a cheap shoe would aggravate the problem.

Do you have a leg-strengthening routine? Never do deep knee bends. They will tear up your knees. Never bend your knee more than 90 degrees, and less than that is fine.

Here's a good way to strengthen your knees and perhaps rid yourself of knee pain along the way--bicycle. Riding a bike is a great way to work your knees without hurting them. In fact, it's good therapy for most knee pain problems. I've seen knee pain disappear when the person took to a bicycle.

Anyway, I hope this can help.

Good luck.

Answer 2

i used to have something like that, except mines was that i was able to pop out my knee cap out of place. maybe your situation is that a joint or something moves slightly and pulls on your surrounding muscles, causing random pain. sometimes it can happen by just bending the knee too far back while your sleeping, but of course you wont notice until you acutally move something and it hurts. i would try wearing a knee brace for a bit and strengthening your knee muscles. doing step ups is a good way, but dont over-do it. do it a little at a time to gradually build up more muscles on your knee. best of luck to you!

Answer 3

Growing pains.