Do you have knee pain in Altoona? If you follow NFL football or are a fantasy football owner, you know there are going to be knee injuries throughout the season. Everyone hates to see a football player go down, especially when that player is on “your team.” Kelvin Benjamin and Jordy Nelson are two of the latest players diagnosed with the dreaded ACL tear and will miss the whole season. It would be nice if they were the only two to injure their knees this season, but with the constant tackling, twisting, jumping, and sudden stopping that football players do, there are going to be more that injure their knees.

You don’t have to be in the NFL to injure your knee and there are many different causes of knee pain, it is actually a common reason patients come to my office.

We will cover the different types as well as treatment and prevention for your knee pain.

Causes

• Ligament tears- there are 4 major ligaments of your knee (ACL, PCL, MCL, and LCL) that can be injured especially in people who play basketball, soccer, football and other sports that require sudden stopping, twisting, and jumping.
• Torn Meniscus- The meniscus acts as a shock absorber in your knee and can be torn with sudden twists while weight bearing.
• Tendinitis- Inflammation in tendon caused by repetitive movements.
• IT band syndrome – IT band tightness without proper stretching can cause knee pain.
• Arthritis- Degeneration in knee can also cause pain.

Treatment

• Chiropractic Care- Adjusting as well as traction of the knee can help relieve pain as long as there is no sign of torn ligaments/meniscus.
• Myofascial release- Quadriceps, hamstrings, IT band, and calf can become tight and cause knee pain. Myofascial release can help break up adhesions within muscle and can relieve knee pain.

Prevention

• Strengthen Quads/hamstrings- Knees can often be injured because of muscle imbalance. One example is that the inside of the quad(VMO) may be weaker than the outside quad causing your knee to bend in when doing jumps or squats. This leads to a higher incidence of ACL tears and knee injuries. It is very important as a coach to look and make sure they don’t see their athletes squat jump/land with knee bowed in.
• Healthy weight- A healthy weight can prevent knee pain as well as many other aches and pains.
• Smart Exercise program- Start out slow with proper form. If you do have arthritis, try starting with swimming or other non-weight bearing activities that won’t flare up knee pain.