How’s your knee tracking?

Summer is just around the corner and the sun’s coming out and the rain’s subsiding. If you’re anything like me, I’m ready to escape the house and get outside and get moving.

I feel excited and motivated to get in shape. So it can be extremely frustrating when I start feel a pain in my knee that progressively gets worse and hinders my progress.

So you’ve most likely heard of “Runner Knee”, appropriately named as it is a prevalent condition among runners, although it can still occur regularly in many different types of athletes and the general population.

Patellofemoral pain syndrome (the medical name) is a common cause of knee pain at the front of your knee, with a high incidence of 22 per 1,000 persons per year, and women are more than twice as likely to be affected than men.

Symptoms of patellofemoral pain syndrome often include aching pain beneath and around the patella (knee cap).

This pain often occurs as a result of high impact vigorous exercise such as running and jumping.

It can feel worst when walking up or down hills and stairs, squatting and sitting for long periods of time with knees bent.

The pain may also be accompanied by swelling and a catching, popping or grinding sensation.

Although the exact cause of patellofemoral pain syndrome is not fully understood, the literature shows the development is probably due to multiple factors involving lower limb and and lower back functional disorders.

These are most likely a result on of muscle imbalances, hip weakness and altered foot biomechanics resulting in maltracking (incorrect movement) of the patella and the knee to collapse inwards during movement.

So what can an osteopath do to treat this? Firstly, we need to determine what the cause of your knee pain is, this entails taking you through a thorough assessment to identify any muscular imbalances, or weaknesses and other biomechanical dysfunctions.

We can then determine the best course of management for you, which may involve manual therapy (massage, dry needling, osteo), taping and/or an exercises program, shockwave therapy, or referring for imaging or to a specialist.

Is it time to get your knee cap back on track?

Dr Lisa Kiddle is an osteopath at The Health Creation Centre in Ocean Grove.