Understanding Knee Pain: Causes, Treatment Options, and Preventive Measures for a Healthier Tomorrow

I hurt my knee on the long weekend.  Or, well, I had knee pain on the long weekend that just passed.  Upon weight bearing sometime Friday afternoon, I had pain in the front and lateral (outside) portion of my knee.  I immediately ran through the likeliest diagnoses:

• Impending Death (Highly unlikely)
• Lateral Meniscus Tear (not likely, especially without trauma)
• Patellar Tendonitis (possibly)
• Anterior Tibialis and Fibularis muscle strain (likely) – both are muscles on the front and lateral side of the lower leg.

Overexertion to Recovery Through Proper Treatment

I quickly arrived at a self-diagnosis of anterior tibialis and/or fibularis muscle strain with associated inflammation.  I brought this all upon myself by doing TOO MANY Knee CARs.  When I teach people mobility exercises, I recommend starting with 3 – 5 CARs per joint, per direction, per day.  Of course, I’m not a beginner, so I did TOO MANY knee CARs.  How much is too many?  I’m not sure.  Probably dozens, with long-duration end-range holds.  Obviously, I overdid it.  Cue the cure:  I took some ibuprofen for 24 hours and did some self Functional Release of the muscles.  I took a surprise day off from exercise, and, alas, 36 hours later, no more weight-bearing pain and feeling myself again.

Addressing Knee Pain with Confidence

What’s the lesson?  Don’t freak out if your knee starts hurting.  Obviously, if there was some kind of trauma involved, the diagnostic options increase and may require a doctor or hospital visit.  So, if your knee hurts, bring it in to see me so we can sort through the diagnostics and treatment options.  Don’t forget to exercise in general, and do your joint mobility exercises.  Don’t do too many like me, but don’t do them at all.  Joint mobility exercises keep your joints in the game.  Like I often teach, you’d much rather get some aches and pains doing too much, than sitting back, doing nothing, and waiting for the pains to come later.

Forget what knee CARs look like?  Take a look at the video below: