knee pain?

Question

lately I have had an awful pain in my left knee. its hard to describe..it came out of nowwhere, i had no injuries or anything, and Im only young..
it hurts when i walk or bend my knee its on the left side of the knee cap,towards the bottom of it..its like a stabbing sensation. Im going to the doctors after christmas, I would go to the hospital now but Im pregnant and can not get xrays done, and thats what they would need to do.
any ideas as to what this is?

Answer 1

Pregnant women commonly develop runner's knee because your gait and center of gravity get off kilter, and your joints aren't used to bearing weight in the changed position. You could also have some other type of injury, but runner's knee is a safe bet.

The best thing is elevate the leg, apply ice several times per day for about 15-20 minutes while it is elevated, and take ibuprofen if that's OK with you doc. Make sure you are wearing shoes with good arch support. You can also gently try a few stretches to see if it provides any relief. Look for web info on runner's knee or patellofemoral syndrome.

Answer 2

I got knee pains, but it was after running. It's probably because of bad alignment. This is the root of the problem and if you sort this out, this should make things better, touch wood.

Stand up straight and make sure that the knee is pointing the same way as your second toe. Do mini-knee bends to make sure of this, and you can also draw tiny apostraphes with your knees to get better feeling of how the knee should be aligned.

The second step is make sure the alignment is still good when walking. Look down and again do really mini knee bends just to check that it's not rolling over to the side. You should never lock your leg completely straight as you walk and when your weight is on one leg, the lower leg should be vertical, knee above ankle.

Finally, therapeutic exercises...1) Sitting on a chair, gently roll your ankles (it's often weak ankles at the foundation that are the start of the problem, so just to make them stronger). 2) Also to strengthen the ankles, you can go up almost on tip-toes in a standing position, knees slightly bent, and back down again and repeat a few times IN SLOW MOTION, but it's important to keep knees bent as you come down and not locked straight as you go up as you do this. 3) Finally, the exercise which really worked for me was standing on one leg (holding something for support if necessary) and raising the lower part of the other leg to 90 degrees behind you and lowering it and repeating IN SLOW MOTION, so the upper part of this leg is vertical and the lower part is going up and down, which strengthens all the muscles around that knee and the knee of the other leg is working to keep you balanced, maybe very slightly bent and make sure it's well aligned. And then repeat the other side.

Each raise and lower taking at least a couple of seconds, ideally more like 5 seconds, because it's the resistance and control that builds up the strength, not the speed.

In summary, 1)Ankle Flex, 2)Bent Knees Almost Jumping and 3) Backward Leg Extensions.

And the key rules are A)alignment: second toe, B) do not ever lock the knee straight (always a little give), and C) when a leg bears all your weight, the lower part of that leg should ideally be vertical and stationary (not twisting). One other thing: try to also avoid overbending of the knee e.g. sitting with your legs under you.

A final note: make sure you're getting enough vitamins and protein; half an hour of sunlight every other day wouldn't go amiss - maybe go for a walk if you can.

Re back pains...if it is in the upper back, then raise your arms in the air, shoulders down and just stay there for as long as you can...after a minute or two the arms will get tired, maybe wave the arms around a bit...in slow motion...you will feel a stretch in your upper back...and this will improve circulation and take the pain away. If the pain is in the lower back, then do something similar but reaching foreward with the arms with knees bent and be very gently and slow and don't do anything if it feels wrong to you. And a hot water bottle on the back is really the best instant cure and it really does work!!!

I just remembered one other thing: elastic knee supports (which you wear when you need them and have lots of walking around to do).