Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome Treatment Kansas City, MO

Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome Symptoms

The most common signs and symptoms of runner’s knee include but are not limited to:

• When you move, you feel pain in and around the knees, or pain from sitting with bent knees for a long time, which can sometimes make the knees feel weak or unstable
• When you bend and raise your knee, the kneecap makes a rubbing, grinding, or clicking sound
• Kneecap that hurts when you touch it

What Increases the Risk for Patellofemoral Pain?

Some things that can make your risk of runner’s knee higher are:

• Age – Most teens and young adults get patellofemoral pain syndrome. Most of the time, knee pain in older people is caused by arthritis
• Sex – Patellofemoral pain is twice as likely to happen to women as it is to men. This could be because women’s hips are bigger. When the pelvis is wider, the angle where the bones in the knee joint meet are also larger
• Certain activities – Sports that include high activity like running and jumping can be hard on the knees. Adding more training makes this especially true

What Causes Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome?

A runner’s knee can be caused by a structural issue in the knee or by how a person walks or runs. Some other reasons could include the following:

• A kneecap that sits too high in the knee joint
• Weak muscles in the legs
• Tight hamstrings
• Tight Achilles tendons
• Inadequate foot support
• When walking or running, the feet roll in while the leg muscles pull the kneecap out
• Too much training or too much use
• Injury

Patellofemoral Pain Treatment

If you have a runner’s knee, the best thing to do is stop running until you no longer experience pain doing other light-duty exercises. Some other treatments include:

• Rest, ice, compression, and elevation
• Medications like ibuprofen
• Exercises that help stretch the muscles around the joint
• Exercises to help strengthen the surrounding muscles and tendons
• Shoes with arch support

How to Prevent Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

You should not put too much stress on your knees to avoid this condition. This can be done by:

• If needed, lose weight to help take away some of the excess pressure on the knees
• Stretching before running
• Gradually increase the physical activity you are participating in, like a good walk before running to act as a warm-up to running
• Having good shoes to run in
• When you run, lean forward and bend your knees