Inspire podiatrists are trained in treating knee pain conditions whether it be knee cap pain or outside of knee pain. At inspire Podiatry we have the skills to treat your knee pain to get you back to your activities. As running techniques experts, we are passionate about sports podiatry and want to correct the muscle imbalances that may be contributing to your knee pain. Local to the Albany Creek and Bridgeman Downs area we are Brisbane North-side sports podiatrist of choice.
Knee Cap Pain
This type of knee pain can be particularly painful when walking down stairs. It is a common running complaint for active people of all ages and involves knee pain and inflammation under the knee or around the kneecap (patella). The muscles of the thigh can pull the knee cap out of its alignment which produces knee cap pain. When the knee cap is pulled or misaligned it moves incorrectly in the shallow groves that the knee cap sits on. This misalignment creates increased pressure on the cartilage lining under the knee cap.
Can feet cause knee pain?
A lot of people don’t realise that your foot posture and the way your foot moves when it hits the ground can impact the position of the knee. The knee cap sits on the knee joint and movement at the leg and foot can affect the alignment. A podiatrist can help to ascertain whether your alignment and function is contributing to your knee pain.
What causes my knee to hurt when I straighten and bend it?
1. The foot rolling inwards (foot pronation)
Pronation causes the knee to rotate inwards. This is to do with your foot posture. If you have no arch the alignment and position of your joints in the foot cause the leg bone to twist inwards. This torsional force encourages poor tracking of the knee cap causing anterior knee pain with movement. The old saying “the ankle bones connected to the leg bone, the leg bones connected to the knee bone!”
2. Poor core stability:
Your core stability is made up of your gluteal (buttocks) muscles. Weaker gluteal muscles can cause the hip to drop during walking and this causes the knee to collapse inwards.weaker gluteal muscles causing hip drop and the knee to collapse inwards. This is more common than you think. As 80% of people have one buttocks (gluet) muscle stronger than the other. The weaker side is typically the knee side that is affected. This is common in children aged 12-14 years as they become knock kneed.
How We Treat Knee Cap Pain:
We offer a range of hands on treatment methods, above and beyond just orthotics to treat your knee pain. Whilst we will provide 3D laser scanning to make soft prescription orthotics where needed, we utilise many other hands on treatment modalities. These include:
- western medicine acupuncture (dry needling)
- muscle energy techniques
- knee and foot mobilisation
- electrotherapy
- gait retraining and running technique assessments
- balance and strengthening exercises
Outside of Knee Pain (ITB pain or knee friction syndrome)
ITB (iliotibial band frictional syndrome) is one of the more well known conditions that cause outside of knee pain. It is a commonly also known as “runners knee” as it can affect runners of all levels of experience. ITB pain occurs when the long band of connective tissue or fascia that originates from a muscle that sits on the outside of the hip gets frictionally irritated. The most common area affected by this condition is where the ITB band attaches to the outside of the knee joint causing outside knee pain. It assists to stabilise the knee during weight bearing activities and multidirectional sports.
Pain on the outside of the knee can come on as a persons’ running technique and form deteriorates causing abnormal alignment in the foot, knee and hips. The band of the ITB flicks across the outside of the knee bones and can cause a sudden sharp pain on the outside of the knee. The knee pain may not be present at the start of the run, but as distances progress there can be an increase in flexion of the knee as the calf mucles fatigue. Knee pain from the ITB band most commonly occurs when there is more than 30 degrees of flexion at the knee. Sometimes a bursa can form over the insertion of the ITB which can cause painful knee swelling.
Podiatrists are trained to assess knee pain and diagnose ITB friction syndrome. Its important to take a through history of your training loads and surfaces. We assess what all your sporting activities are eg. Triathletes who cycle and run can tighten up in the muscles of the thigh and hip.
Inspire Podiatrists pride themselves on being experts in assessing the anatomical alignment and biomechanical function of the lower body. We will relate your injury to your posture by assessing if there is:
- An excessively flat foot which leads to pronation of the foot and an internal rotation of the leg bone which creates torsional forces on the ITB causing outside of knee pain.
- Bow Legs (Genu Varum)
- Poor hip stability due to hip abductor muscle imbalances.
- If you have a large leg length difference.
- A high arch foot type which is stiff, this can lead to a lack of normal pronation and cause increase loading and outside knee pain.