Self Care Articles

Is this your symptom?

• Injury to the knee
• Injury to a bone, muscle, joint, or ligament
• Excluded: muscle pain caused by too much exercise or work (overuse). Covered in Knee Pain care guide.

Types of Knee Injuries

• Fractures are broken bones. They can be caused by a direct blow, by twisting injuries, or falls from a height. If a bone is broken, it is unlikely that you can put weight on the leg. Fractures around the knee can include the kneecap (patella), the bottom end of the thigh bone (the femur) or the top of the bones on the lower leg (tibia and fibula). Fractures of the knee joint can cause a lot of swelling of the knee itself.
• Dislocations happens when a bone is pulled out of its normal position. Dislocations of the kneecap are often seen in sports injuries. They can happen once or recur.
• Sprains are stretches and tears of ligaments. These can occur in injuries when the knee ligaments are stretched and pulled away from the bone they are attached to. These injuries can cause the joint to be unstable (wobbly) and unless it's just a minor sprain, may need surgery.
• Strains are stretches and tears of muscles. These can be minor or severe tears, causing a lot of pain, swelling and bruising.
• Muscle Overuse. Muscle pain can occur without an injury. There is no fall or direct blow. Muscle overuse injuries are from sports or exercise.
• Muscle Bruise from a direct blow.
• Bone Bruise from a direct blow.
• Skin Injury. Examples are a cut, scratch, scrape or bruise. All are common with knee injuries.

Pain Scale

• Mild: you feel some pain, but it does not keep you from your normal activities. Work, activities and sleep are not changed.
• Moderate: the pain keeps you from doing some normal activities.  It may wake you up from sleep.
• Severe: the pain is very bad. It keeps you from doing all normal activities.