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Knee Pain - Introduction
Knee pain can be caused by a wide variety of factors and circumstances and can be experienced as tenderness and general soreness of the knee, through to acute injuries such as sprains, strains and tears of ligaments. It is important to seek prompt professional advice when severe knee pain is experienced. The knee pain commonly linked to walking, running, skiing or sports that involve a lot of knee flexion is referred to as chondromalacia. This refers to the undersurface of the knee cap(patallae) becoming roughened when it should be quite smooth. The diagram below shows the knee cap sitting over the femur where it tracks to assist in keeping the knee straight and maximising the action of the muscles which extend the knee.
Once you have finished reading the following we encourage all foot pain sufferers to contact our resident podiatrist to discuss your foot pain frustrations in more detail.
Knee Pain - Causes
When running and walking the knee flexes while the knee cap (patallae) moves over the front of the femur. The knee can go through a degree of internal rotation causing the knee to unevenly support weight and the knee cap to track closer to the bone (femur) leading to pain. The condition can be known as a retropatallae tracking problem which can lead to chondromalacia patallae. If the foot is excessively pronating (flattening) then the ankle, lower leg (tibia) and knee rotate in much further than they should normally. This magnifies the patallae tracking problems leading to lateral displacement of the patallae over the femur causing irritation of the under surface of the patallae and surface of the femur. This results in pain and inflammation. Other causes can be weakening of the stabilizing muscles of the knee particularly on the inside of the thigh, poor footwear and sudden twisting or strains or tears due to trauma.
Knee Pain - Treatments
It is essential to control excessive pronation of the foot to maximise biomechanical aligniment of the foot and knee. Controlling excess flattening (pronation) of the foot will reduce the amount of internal rotation of the leg (tibia) and the knee joint. This will greatly assist in evening out the weight bearing pressures on the femur but will also assist with the tracking of the patallae. A Podlink orthtotic is well placed to control the abnormal excessive pronation of the foot limiting the internal rotation of the tibia, knee joint and lateral tracking of the patallae. Podlink orthotics fit well into a wide range of footwear including ski boots, hiking boots, dress type shoes with deep heel counters and athletic shoes. Podlink orthotics should be phased in over a period of a week in supportive footwear, particularly for exercise. A strengthening program for the muscles surrounding the knee should be combined with the following points.
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