Knee Pain in Active Adults: Causes, Treatment, and Prevention

Are you an active adult struggling with knee pain? Whether you're an avid runner, a dedicated pickleball player, or someone who enjoys staying fit, knee pain can significantly impact your quality of life and athletic performance. As a physical therapist who's both experienced and treated knee pain, I'm here to share insights that could help you return to your active lifestyle.

What Causes Knee Pain in Active Adults?

Knee pain can stem from various factors, not just from obvious traumatic injuries. Here are some common causes:

1. Weak or Deformed Feet: Poor foot structure (Bunions or lack of toe spacing) or weakness can alter your gait, putting excessive stress on your knees.
2. Poor Ankle Mobility: Limited ankle motion can force your knee to compensate, leading to increased strain.
3. Limited Knee Range of Motion: Stiffness in the knee joint itself can cause pain and altered movement patterns.
4. Muscle Weakness: Weak muscles surrounding the knee, particularly in the quadriceps and hamstrings, can lead to poor joint stability.
5. Poor Hip Range of Motion and Stability: Hip issues can cause misalignment and uneven stress distribution in the knees.
6. Overuse: Repetitive motions in activities like running or cycling can lead to wear and tear on the knee joint.

Understanding these causes is crucial in addressing your knee pain effectively.

Our bodies are remarkably adaptable, constantly changing in response to the demands we place on them. While this adaptability is generally beneficial, it can sometimes lead to problems. When we consistently use poor movement patterns or maintain certain postures for extended periods, our bodies adapt to these suboptimal states. This can result in some muscles becoming overworked and tight, while others become weak and underused.

For instance, a runner with weak feet might develop an altered gait pattern that puts excessive stress on their knees. Similarly, a pickleball player with poor hip stability might overcompensate with their knees during quick directional changes. In both cases, the brain may have long ago decided to alter activation patterns in the muscles around the knee as a protective mechanism, and other problems and pain start to surface with continued use.

These imbalances don't just affect the knee itself. They can create a chain reaction throughout the body, altering our overall movement patterns and posture. Over time, this can lead to a lack of resilience - our bodies become so accustomed to these imbalanced patterns that we struggle to move efficiently in other ways when needed.

Our Holistic Approach to Treating Knee Pain

At Activated Movement Physical Therapy, we don't just treat the symptoms; we look at the whole picture. Here's how we approach knee pain treatment:

1. Comprehensive Assessment: We examine not just your knee, but your entire lower body mechanics, including your feet, ankles, hips, and back.
2. Muscle Energy Techniques: These hands-on methods help restore mobility to stiff joints and relax tense muscles around the knee complex.
3. Foot and Ankle Rehabilitation: We address any weakness or lack of range of motion in the feet and work on improving ankle mobility and stability.
4. Be Activated Techniques: We use assessment and reflex work to address underlying muscle activation patterns that can be causing pain in activities.
5. Targeted Strengthening: We design exercises to strengthen the muscles supporting the knee, including the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calf muscles.
6. Hip and Core Strengthening: Improving hip stability and core strength can significantly reduce stress on the knees.
7. Mobility Exercises: Gentle stretches and range-of-motion exercises help improve flexibility and reduce stiffness in the knee joint.
8. Sport-Specific Training: We provide guidance on proper technique for activities like running or pickleball to reduce knee strain as well as provide a program to progress you to the amount of loading you need for your activity
9. Education: We empower you with knowledge about your condition and teach you self-management techniques.

A Personal Journey: My Experience with Knee Pain

If you have read any of my other articles, you know by now that I have my own story of knee pain and how I was able to overcome it. You are right to think that I am a mess, but at least we are all in good company!

I first had knee pain as a young athlete with patellar tendonitis from playing basketball. A physician told me that if I was a high level athlete they would try to help me more with the pain to allow me to play, but that the risks of injections were not worth it for a recreational athlete like myself. I am actually grateful for him not giving me any sort of steroid shots, but I was left without any real plan for how I would get better!

After years of battling intermittent pain in sports, two different things helped me get rid of knee pain. First, I started to lift weights consistently. This led to better loading tolerance in my tendons and healing in the tissues that were stressed from so much jumping in basketball. Second, physical therapy friends helped to point out asymmetrical movement in my hips that caused increased load through my left, painful knee when running and jumping. With a few movement drills and consistent strengthening, I rarely feel pain except when I take a few months off of taking care of myself!

Taking the Next Step

Living with knee pain doesn't have to be your new normal. Whether you're a runner, a pickleball enthusiast, a cyclist, a rec center Michael Jordan, or just someone who wants to climb stairs without wincing, there's hope. With the right approach, you can overcome knee pain and return to an active lifestyle, often with better form and function than before.

Remember, your body is adaptable and resilient. Sometimes it just needs some expert guidance to remind it how to move correctly. If you're tired of knee pain holding you back from the activities you love, why not take the first step towards recovery?

At Activated Movement Physical Therapy, we're here to help you understand your pain, treat it effectively, and get you back to doing what you love. Don't let knee pain limit your active life – let's work together to keep you moving, pain-free.

Ready to tackle your knee pain with a comprehensive, whole-body approach? Reach out for a consultation. Your comfortable, pain-free, active life is waiting!