My name’s Dr. Roger Saias and I’m the clinical director here at PA Pain and Rehab in Philadelphia.
Today, I wanna talk to you about knee pain. It’s a very common symptom that we see after car accidents, slips and falls, and especially after a work-related injury.
Knee pain is not normal.
The knee is an extremely complex joint. It’s surrounded by a lot of ligaments, tendons, muscles, and these things called the meniscus. We have a lot of ligaments in the back of the knee and you can see how all the muscles, tendons, and ligaments in the lower extremity cross over or connect to the knee itself.
If you’ve had an injury, there are a lot of different things that can be injured, so it’s really hard to determine the actual problem on your own.
One of the telltale signs that you’re having a knee problem that should be evaluated, is excruciating acute pain after an injury. That is not normal.
if you’re experiencing pain for over a long period of time and it’s not going away, it needs to be evaluated.
Even if you know nothing about the knee and its complexity, you can still look at your knees and know if something is not right. They should be similar in shape and size. They’re not supposed to be different sizes or shapes.
You could also just touch the knee. You could poke around on the front and the sides, and if it’s tender to the touch or it feels squishy there’s a really good chance that there’s something wrong with your knee.
The longer you wait and prolong getting your knee pain evaluated and correcting the problem, you’re setting yourself up for long-term problems – arthritis, degeneration, and loss of function.
One of the things that we take for granted is are all the things that we’re able to do on a regular basis – like caring for ourselves, basic household chores, going to work, etc. When the knees are involved in the equation, you’ll quickly notice it’s harder to do the simple things.
If you’re having a knee problem, you should absolutely get it evaluated. If it doesn’t feel right or it doesn’t look right, chances are there is a problem.
