The knee is one of the largest and most complex joints in the human body. It is made up of four bones, cartilage (meniscus) and a complex arrangement of muscles and ligaments . All these structures articulate together and form the knee joint. The knee is one of the most common issues I see here as a physiotherapist. Knee pain is multifactorial and can be caused by an injury to the knee itself, altered movement patterns, muscle weakness in the thigh and hip, altered biomechanics from the ankle and foot and referred pain from the spine.
Knee pain can be debilitating and can stop you from partaking in sports, going on walks and even just kneeling on the floor to play with your kids or grandkids. Physiotherapy has been shown to be highly effective when it comes to treating and rehabilitating knee pain. As physios we can assess, diagnose, fix and help prevent knee pain in order to allow our clients to return to everything they want to.
There are many different types of knee injuries which include ligament injuries, meniscal injuries, bursitis, tendinopathies, arthritis, stress fractures and kneecap injuries. Some injuries may be severe enough to require surgery, but most knee pains can be managed with physiotherapy techniques such as strengthening, stretching, massage, acupuncture and shockwave therapy. Here at the AllOutPhysiotherapy we are able to fully assess the whole lower body in order to find out not only what structures are irritated and causing your pain but where the source of your pain is coming from, this may not be a structure directly attached to the knee but all will be explained during consultation. Through strengthening exercises, we can target muscles that are underperforming or are weak and make them strong enough for everyday life. Stretching can help lengthen any tissues that are tight or in spasm as a result of pain. Massage can help stimulate the improvement of blood flow in the area thus augmenting the healing process and can help reduce soreness quickly. Acupuncture is has similar effects to massage in that it helps improve blood supply and pain relief, but it uses small needles of varying lengths to stimulate hormone release within the brain to help with stress relief, the healing process and improve muscle tone.
There are many different ways to treat and manage knee pain all of which are specific to the individual so what may work for someone might not necessarily work for you, if you have any concerns with knee pain, stiffness, swelling or just feel you want to have things checked out and have a prevention programme put in place then you can arrange a consultation in order to help you with any issues or concerns.
