Anterior knee pain describes a general pain at the front of the knee and is becoming increasingly common in the active population with the typical “weekend warrior” being a prime example for this condition.
What is Anterior Knee Pain?
Anterior knee pain, also known as, “Patellofemoral Pain”, involves a dysfunction of the joint between your knee cap and the femur. Patients tend to report an aching or sharp pain around the knee cap with climbing and descending stairs, jumping or landing activities or prolonged activity on hard surfaces. Often this pain can be accompanied by a sense of ‘giving way’ in the knee, although this is not required for the diagnosis.
What is the cause?
Typically, Anterior Knee Pain occurs due to an increase in training load, poor biomechanics (i.e. how you move), or weakness surrounding the knee and hip. A common cause of hip and knee pain in general not only for sports people but the general population as well is glute weakness. If we can’t control our pelvis and hips, then our poor old knee down the chain tends to take the load.
How can physiotherapy help?
A physiotherapist is able to highlight the cause of your anterior knee pain which is vital as this forms the basis of your subsequent rehabilitation and treatment. No two patients are the same. For example, Patient A may have good strength around the quadriceps and hamstrings but have poor control of the knee when jumping and landing, however patient B may be running longer distances but is generally weak through the muscles around the hip and knee. Both patients have anterior knee pain, but they arise from different mechanisms and this affects the types of exercises that are prescribed.
Our physiotherapists will work with you one on one to listen to the nature of your injury and formulate a rehabilitation plan specific to your injury to help get you back doing what you enjoy.
What are some quick tips to manage knee pain?
- Mobility is key. Make your foam roller your friend. You can’t strengthen your muscles well when you have poor range of motion. Using a foam roller ‘little and often’ – 2-3 minutes at a time, 2-3 times per day is a really effective way of loosening muscles around the quads, hamstrings and glutes.
- Adapt your loading. If a specific exercise or movement is causing you pain, then for the time being, don’t do it. Listen to your body as it needs time to heal and to allow strengthening to happen before you continue your exercise.
- Begin with exercises that challenge activation and control of your weakened areas. You don’t need to start by lifting heavy weights in the gym (this will likely just aggravate things further). See your physio for specific advice.
- Be open to learn – anterior knee pain can take time to heal and rehabilitation often involves changing your biomechanics (i.e. how we move) – we need to retrain your body but if your mind isn’t open to this, then chances are the rehab probably won’t work.
If you are suffering from any sort of knee pain and either need some advice or would like us to help with a tailored rehabilitation plan for you, make an appointment to come and see us at our Auckland Physiotherapy clinic today.