Knee Arthritis|Knock Knees|Virtual Knee Surgery

Do you suffer from severe knee and leg pain?

We hope you don't, but if you do then it is time to face this problem.

Severe knee and leg pain usually occurs as a result of sudden twisting or straining motions of the knee or leg. These injuries range from torn knee ligaments, torn knee cartilage, fractured knees and ruptured tendons in the knees. Severe knee and leg discomfort from knee injuries can be debilitating. Most people who sustain such injuries will find that even a simple activity like walking can cause excruciating pain. Can you relate?

Common Causes of Acute Knee Injuries

Acute knee injuries are almost always the result of sports. When playing high impact sports such as rugby, soccer or basketball, it is very easy to sustain a knee injury. When players become physical, it is easy for a knee to sustain a twisting force. These twisting forces unfortunately can lead to knee sprains or ruptured tendons. This occurs when the tendons or ligaments in the knee are twisted beyond their ability to stretch.

Severe knee and leg pain may also come from much other unfortunate circumstances. Tripping and falling down hard on your knees, for example, can easily cause knee fractures. The kneecap, which consists of bone that covers the knee joint, can fracture if hit hard enough. When all of your weight falls on your kneecaps, it can be easy for them to fracture or for a ligament injury to happen.

Preventing Acute Knee Injuries

While preventing all acute knee injuries is nearly impossible, there are some precautionary measures that you could take:

Strive to Increase Flexibility: An excellent way to help prevent strains and tears is to strive to make yourself more flexible. Muscles that are more flexible can stretch more and are capable of tolerating a higher twisting force before the ligaments and tendons rupture or tear.

Work towards Losing Weight: Another factor to take into consideration is your weight. If you are overweight, then you are much more likely to sustain knee injuries. This is because the force of your weight acting on your knees is that much greater. If you are overweight, it is crucial for the health of your knees that you embark upon a weight loss program.

Wear Proper Footwear: Proper footwear is extremely important. The right shoes will help you gain traction on the field, and prevent you from slipping and falling on wet terrain.

Wear a Knee Brace: A knee brace can also be very helpful in preventing knee injuries. Knee braces are fit around your knee and help to support it. They flex easily and will not hinder your movement during physical activities. They do not have to be big and bulky, nor expensive to help provide meaningful support to your knee. In the end, it is important that you do not look back, wondering what you could have done to help protect your knee.

Back and knee pain often occurs when we undertake some physical activities which require quick movements. Not using right techniques when pushing or pulling large objects, a sudden knock or fall can be the cause of this kind of pain. This is because there can be a strain or a tear in the ligament. Certain activities that put strain on the knee may aggravate it making walking, running and general exercise difficult.

Those who have to stand for prolonged periods as a part of their job and professional dancers who have to make repetitive leg movements can be more susceptible to back and knee pain. Stress on your knee joint can soften and deform the cartilage between the bones. This causes pain and stiffness and sometimes you may feel a clicking sensation when you bend your knee.

Being overweight may be the cause of back and knee pain and is the single largest risk factor for joint injury and wear and tear on your knee joints. Excess weight increases pressure on the joints and intensifies the load on your supporting muscles and ligaments when you are doing some physical work. If you do not make a concerted effort to control your weight you are likely to get serious disorders of the knee joint as you get older.

Sometimes no treatment is necessary other than a complete resting of the joint from any aggravating physical activities for relief from back and knee pain. Painkillers are the first line of defense against it. Early diagnosis and treatment may give you relief from back and knee pain making it easy for you to carry on your daily activities.

In order to keep your muscles, bones and joints in your back and knee in good working order and free from pain, you should try to do some form of physical activity everyday. The aim here is to keep your joints in action always, so that they are able to cope up with the additional load when you need to do demanding physical work. People affected with back and knee pain is strongly advised to consult a medical practitioner if the pain persists.

You can also be free from back and knee pain if you follow a regimen of flexibility enabling workouts. These workouts are most useful for increasing the mobility of joints. Some other exercises like aerobics strengthen the muscles and ligaments in the knee protecting it from this kind of pain.

"Knee pain running", is a regular condition for many runners basically caused by the impact of running upon the knee and ligaments. 

If you are to remain healthy and retain your mobility as you grow older, it is always important to maintain your body's flexibility; but over time our bodies acquire a measure of stiffness and tension. The ligaments are elastic bands of fibrous connective tissues that hold the bones together and keep the joints stable. Ligament sprains of the knee vary in severity. Occasionally the ligament is ruptured and the knee joint becomes unstable because the torn ligament is no longer able to perform its function of supporting it. 

Certain ligaments are more likely to be injured because they are found in joints like the knee joint that are exposed to greater forces or are intrinsically less stable. The ligaments are very often damaged during sports activities or if you have to do regular and strenuous physical work as a part of your job.

Some of the symptoms that are associated with knee pain running are that the knee joint may have a tearing sensation that is followed by joint pain and becomes worse when you move. There is swelling in the area and the movements of the affected joint are restricted. Generally this condition is due to pain which comes from inside the knee joint rather than the surface of the knee.

Some of the first aid and primary treatments advised by physiotherapists to relieve pain are to give rest to the knee joint and use ice compressors to reduce pain and swelling. Painkillers are also useful as a part of the treatment. It is advised not to put too much stress on the joint. The physiotherapist also may recommend a set of exercises to build up and strengthen the muscles around the knee joint to get back to the normal range of movements that you were previously able to get out of your knee joint.

Injuries to the knee sometimes require more detailed examination to determine the exact cause. This is to find out whether there is another associated problem other than the usual cause (ligament tear). But whatever is said and done, there is no procedure that can substitute the living cartilage in your body. So taking care of the knee will do you a lot of good to keep your body running smoothly and help you avoid knee pain running.

Many of us take joint health for granted. The strange thing is that you can injure a joint and not even know it. Injury can take place by simply overusing a particular joint or wearing the wrong type of footwear. But once an injury has taken place, it can lead to a gradual degeneration of that joint. The cartilage can begin to tear and bone rubs against bone causing pain and inflammation of surrounding tissues. Joint pain can often manifest after the age of forty and after that the need for joint pain relief can grow more intense. By caring for your joints now, you could avoid pain later.

Which joints require the most care or joint support? Let's take a look at 10 joints that are most prone to injury.

Joint Support for Elbows: Injuries to the elbow joint can occur when playing sports like mountain climbing, racquet sports, baseball, or any sport that involves a throwing or swinging action like golf and volleyball. Elbow injury could also be caused by an occupation that involves repetitive use of the elbow joint.

Joint Support for Ankles: The ankles bear the largest weight. Injuries to the ankle usually occur when we step on uneven surfaces and twist the ankle. Vigorous physical activity such as jumping, landing on a hard or uneven surface can also cause injury to the ankle joint. Joint pain relief becomes vital since it can limit our mobility.

Joint Support for Knees: The knee joint is a weight-bearing joint. Common knee injuries can be due to a blow to the knee by a fall, a sudden stop while running or a twist of the knee, or overuse. Pain can gradually increases with age.

Joint Support for Back joints: Historically the lower back usually incurs more wear and tear. The back bears the weight of the body, but also bears extra stress when we lift heavy objects. Laborers and athletes who do weight training are more susceptible to back aches. Injury can also occur due to poor posture or being overweight. Joint pain relief may be found by massage therapy. Injuries to the back can be difficult to rehabilitate and are more likely to recur.

Joint Support for Shoulders: Being a ball and socket joint, the shoulder joint is flexible and affords wide range of motion. Pain here can arise due to poor posture, wear and tear, overuse, aging, sports such as baseball or tennis, even repetitive household chores that affect the shoulders. Many have found joint pain relief by adopting a proper posture or giving adequate recovery time between sports events.

Joint Support for Neck: A pain in the neck can be due to contact sports, lifting heavy objects or a jerking movement of the neck. It can also be due to poor posture or sitting at your desk for extended periods without stretch breaks. Stretch exercises for the neck can help bring joint pain relief.

Joint Support for Wrist: The most common injury to the wrist is linked to joint impact due to a fall or an accident. The wrist can also suffer injury due to poor positioning of the wrist on a keyboard for prolonged periods. Repetitive use in daily activities can also trigger wrist pain.

Joint Support for Fingers: Wear and tear occurs more easily and shows itself gradually. Simple tasks become difficult such as paring an apple, knitting, or opening the lids of a jar. Joint pain relief may be found by increasing circulation and regular exercise.

Joint Support for Hips: The hips are weight-bearing joints. The cartilage can begin to wear and tear faster especially for those involved in sports like golf, skiing, track, soccer or football. Professional dancers are also prone to hip pain as are those who over-exercise. Many find joint pain relief through low impact exercises.

Joint Support for Toes: Injury here is more common among people who play on artificial turf.. People who wear footwear that does not give support to the forefront joints are also prone to toe injury.

Some of you reading this may think the damage is already done, what can I do? There aren't any ways to bring back time but fortunately there have been scientific breakthroughs that can help restore joint health to some extent.

Knee Pain. Who needs it!?

You may be wondering why your knee hurts, and what you can do about it...

If you have a meniscus injury, you are probably well aware of the discomfort that it can cause you. Sometimes, meniscus tear problems do not just stop at the level of knee pain,...you can also have problems moving your knee as well.

So, what can you do if you have a meniscus tear?

There are different types of treatments that are available to help treat the meniscus tear. Sometimes rest is all that is needed. The problems is, how much time do you have to rest your knee?

You can also try to use ice for your knee in order to reduce pain and swelling issues. This can be helpful, but do you really think that this will help the meniscus heal?

Surgery is a last resort, but it is another way you can address a mensicus problem. Yes, surgery can be helpful, but it can be a costly and an invasive procedure.

Do not get us wrong, all of these options can be helpful, but the use of knee braces should not be overlooked. Many doctors recommend trying a knee brace because they will help add needed stability to your knee and can also help reduce knee pain issues that you may be having. Some knee supports act as a reminder for you to not make knee movements that will be painful. While other knee supports are more high profile and will physically reduce painful movements that may continue to insult your meniscus tear.

Wearing a well designed knee brace can be a very effective and inexpensive way to protect the knee while it is healing. After the knee has healed, knee supports can help to prevent more injuries to the knee. They can help protect the knee joint and ligaments around the knee that are prone to being torn.

When you care about your knees you need to take pain very seriously. We hope that you never have knee pain issues, but if you do you better address them carefully. Small problems can become big ones in a hurry.

Our last points about getting a knee support: Do not get a knee brace from someone that just reads the label either. It is important to deal with a brace specialist when getting a well designed knee support.

As your body gets older, you may start to notice that you are not as flexible as you used to be. As a result, you may start to incur more sprains and strains to your joints and limbs. These injuries can occur as the result of normal wear and tear and as the result of sudden and unnatural movements. While pain is often the most obvious indicator that an injury has occurred, you shouldn't wait until things progress to something that is more serious. Find a good knee doctor and get treated.

More than a fourth of Americans suffer from injuries that affect the patella. Keep in mind that these injuries can be something as minor as slight pain to a torn ligament. These can result in issues when it comes to moving normally. In some cases, pain and other issues can be indicative of degenerative conditions.

When you suffer from some sort of accident or activity, you need to see a knee doctor right away. You can't afford to neglect your joints at this time. To do so would increase your chances for more malfunctions regarding your knees, chronic pain and even loss of mobility. If you happen to notice pain, inflammation and redness, you need to contact a knee doctor. Sometimes you may also notice a slight fever along with your pain and swollen patella. In this case, there is a serious problem that needs to be addressed right away before it can truly start to affect your overall health.

Joint stiffness is something that can occur in people of any age. Although it is more common in older adults, people who have suffered from previous injuries may also experience increasing stiffness and reduced range of motion. Even though many of these conditions and symptoms are not life threatening, they can be managed with medication, therapy, surgery and physical therapy.

Until you are able to make it to a knee doctor, you should do your best to rest your leg. Heat and Ice packs can help to reduce any swelling. There are even wraps, bandages and stability equipment you can purchase to apply pressure to help minimize swelling and pain. Over the counter pain medications such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen may also provide you with some relief. Try not to let more than three days pass before you get professional help for your condition.

When you finally see a knee doctor, they will need to learn about your medical history. You need to let them know when you first started having problems with your legs and about any other symptoms you may have experienced. They will do an examination of your joint and may even order some x-rays so they can see how bad the damage is. There are many ways you can be treated for your injury. The type of treatment you receive all depends on what you injury is and the extent of the damage that is resent.

Do you want to learn how to avoid knee pain while you run?

How about preventing a knee injury from every happening?

1.) Introduction

Running is a great form of exercise. Plain and simple, but if you have knee pain while you run, it takes the fun out of the sport. So what do you do? - Surely, quitting is not an option. - What if you could use a simple tool to help you move past your knee pain, or help prevent knee pain from ever happening in the first place? - Sound too good to be true? - Well it is not. This is no joke. This free information can help you move past knee pain and also help you to prevent knee injuries from happening in the first place.

2.) An Ounce of Prevention Will Keep You Running Longer

People to seem to always talk about shoes when it comes to knee pain. This is probably quite true, because as the say "every thing is connected" when it comes to talking about your body. - Good shoes help, but if you want to stop a dangerous knee movement, you might need to think differently.

Running can cause a lot of stress on your knee joints and even the slightest wrong movement at your knee can send your pain through the roof. - Sure, rest is never a bad idea, but how many of us can actually lay around until the pain is totally gone? - Work and life always ask more of us, so the ability to lay around and rest seems to be something that is meant for us when we were younger, with less responsibilities to worry about.

Preventing a knee injury before it happens is important. Preventing a current knee injury from getting worse is also very important. It seems that at this moment we realize the power of what happens when your knee is unhappy! - An ounce of prevention can help you keep running for a long time to come.

3.) Knee Support

A low profile, light weight knee support can take your knee protection to the next level. Many different kinds exist, and it is important not to over brace a hurting knee. This is where a brace specialist can come in and help to give you some meaningful advice on brace choices.

A light weight, well designed knee brace can help prevent knee movements that will further your knee pain, and in these moments, you will find that the promotion of healing can begin. - If you have knee problems, you will need to think about the benefits and security that a knee brace can provide to you today.

You have to admit that humans drive their own bodies to their death, every so often, man insists on doing things without regard for the body. Time takes its toll on the body as well, a fact that many people take for granted. Even athletes fade in time, no matter how much one exercises, take pills or deny aging, it is a natural occurrence that takes away with it the youth in all of mankind.

Knee tendonitis is a common ailment not just for sports individuals but for every normal person as well. The knee is a powerful junction that holds together the support for the entire body. The tendons are the ones responsible for connecting these bones to the muscle, thus they may be smaller but they play crucial parts. Without legs, man cannot stand up and what caps the femur to the fibia and tibula but the knees with all its joints and tendons.

When one is suffering from tendonitis, it simply means an inflammation of the tendons, and when it is said to be a knee tendonitis - it means that the tendons supporting the knee are the ones inflamed. Overuse is a common cause of knee tendonitis, many sports individual suffer from it but so can a normal person who by some accident has made the wrong twist and tore up the tendons.

The Three Types Of Knee Tendonitis

1. Patellar Tendonitis: This is also commonly referred to as jumper's knee and is the commonest type of knee tendonitis. The pain is often felt at the front of the knee where the portion of the tendon inserts under the kneecap. Because of this, sufferers are unable to kneel or have a hard time descending from a plight of stairs.

2. Quadriceps Tendonitis: The source of the pain can be similar to patellar tendonitis but only it occurs at the upper half of the knee. Though, this happens rarely and it can easily be controlled with traditional remedies.

3. Iliotibial Band Friction Syndrome: This pain for this radiates from the outer side of the knee. It is caused by exercise and prevention can only be achieved with proper rest.

Signs And Remedies For Knee Tendonitis

Aside from the obvious pain, simply touching the knee can be painful enough. Acute pain due to simple walking or running can easily be helped b y resting. But more severe types of the knee tendonitis keeps a person tied to his or her bed. There is extreme pain and small twitch can bring gruesome pain.

If in case you are just standing up for sometime and not doing anything "sporty" and then you feel pain around the area of your knee, you already have a severe type of knee tendonitis.

Acute pain from it can easily be treated by some minutes of resting, surgery is not yet an option. Pain relievers as well as anti-inflammatory drugs are recommended at this time. When the pain is worst, splinting the knee can help or if pain is at its maximum, only surgery can relieve anyone of it.

Adequate rest is the best advise for the relief of pain from kneecap. One should not try to exacerbate the knee or the consequences will be brutal.

If you have been an active runner or athlete over the years, you have surely felt all sorts of pain in your hamstrings, quads, calves and feet. Many times it is just the soreness or tightness that comes with running multiple miles per day, a mild pain that you can still perform through.

However, if you begin to feel consistent pain around your kneecap, you may be experiencing something a little more serious than just the typical soreness that can come from running. You could be feeling symptoms of Patellofemoral pain syndrome, or PFPS, a common knee disorder which typically affects senior athletes or those who frequently take part in running and jumping sports.

Patellofemoral pain is also known as retropatellar pain, peripatellar pain and anterior knee pain. More commonly, it is called runner's knee.

What Is PFPS?

When your knee bends and straightens, as it does when you run, your kneecap - the patella - slides along a slot on your femur. This slot is called the trochlear groove. If your knee is performing properly, the patella will move in many directions within the trochlear groove, providing you with the ability to jump, move side to side, rotate and perform a full range of motions without friction.

However, PFPS occurs when the surfaces of your patella and femur repeatedly rub and stress the tissues along the patellofemoral joint. This leads to pain, weakening of the joint, and sometimes a bone bruise. In some cases, PFPS may also be caused by the weakening of the articular cartilage or swelling within the joint.

What Leads to PFPS?

There is no universal cause for PFPS. It may depend on genetic factors or the amount of stress on your knee over time. Below are a few of the main factors that can lead to PFPS.

• Overuse. Repeated bending and straightening over time will cause PFPS, especially among runners or older athletes who still remain active. When the knee is constantly bent, it increases the pressure points between your kneecap and the femur, irritating the patella.


• Alignment. The angle between your hip and your knee, the Q angle, can be a factor in PFPS. Research has shown that those with a larger than normal Q angle are more susceptible to PFPS because your patella then tracks more to the outside. As female athletes mature and their pelvis widens, so does the Q angle, increasing the risk of developing PFPS.


• Muscular Weakness or Tightness. An imbalance in the strength of your quadriceps will affect the tracking of the patella, as will tight muscles and tendons. Flexibility is essential in the movement of the knee and hip.


• Flat feet. If your feet have little to no arch, you may be more likely to suffer from PFPS. Your tibia compensates for your feet when you run, placing atypical pressure on the patellofemoral joint.

There are operative and non-operative treatments for PFPS, though both could require a long-term adjustment of your physical activity. Your orthopedist will guide you through treatment and recovery so you can still enjoy the things you love.

Medial collateral ligament is a strong band of fibrous tissue on the medial aspect of the knee. One of the main functions is to resist excessive valgus strain (inward force) on the knee. Injuries to the medial collateral ligament (MCL) are usually seen in sports like skiing, football, rugby, etc. It usually get injured along with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) or the menisci of the knee.

Mechanism of injury
Usually an excessive force on the outside of the knee causing the knee to buckle inwards excessively causes injury to the MCL. Also, excessive force from the inside causing the ankle to move outwards can cause a similar injury.

Other mechanisms of injury can involve forceful rotational movement along with hyperextension of the knee and excess valgus strain. This then involves injury to the menisci in addition to the ACL along with the MCL. This classic clinical picture is called the O'Donoghue's Triad.

Sympmatology
Usual symptoms during presentation are: pain over the medial aspect of the knee, swelling and a feeling of the knee being unstable or wobbly. Joint effusion (due to collection of blood) can occur immediately or in a while.

Grade of Injury
Depending on the severity of injury, MCL injuries are classified from grade I to grade III; grade I being minor strain due to over stretching and grade III being total disruption of the ligament. Needless to say, treatment and rehab depends upon the grade of injury.

Treatment
'PRICE' treatment is the initial treatment of choice. Further treatment is guided by the grade of injury as well involvement of other ligaments. Injuries to the MCL in combination with the menisci usually require surgical intervention.

Joint pains are very disadvantageous because they can interfere in the normal functioning of people. From an Ayurvedic point of view, joint pains occur when there are digestive problems in the body, which leads to the buildup of toxins in the spaces between the joints. Hence, when the joints are moved in the slightest, pain is felt in them.

Some people live with excruciating joint pains that don't go despite treatment. They look upon these pains as a part of growing up. However, with the right kind of medicine these pains can be totally eliminated.

Treatment with Simple Home Remedies

Remedy # 1

Take the juice of a ginger. Crush some vidanga (Embelia ribes, False Black Pepper) to a fine powder with some rock salt. Mix all of these and take them in quantities of three grams each time with honey. Lick on this thrice a day.

Remedy # 2

Massage the paining joints with the oil extracted from the seeds of the Bishop's weed. Warm the oil a little before massaging. A similar kind of relief is obtained by massaging with the oil of neem (Azadirachta indica, Indian Margosa).

Remedy # 3

In case of joint pains due to cold weather, add a fistful of Bishop's weed seeds and one teaspoon of salt in two cups of water and boil it. Keep a sieve on this, and then keep a cloth on the sieve. The cloth will get moistened with the warm fumes of the solution. Use this cloth to foment the painful joints. This will remove the pains.

Remedy # 4

Some joint pains are felt more acutely in the knees, fingers and shoulders when lifting some heavy weight. These are very persistent pains in most cases, and they do not dissipate despite treatments. In such pains, tomatoes are the best solutions due to their rich vitamin C content. Eat four to five raw tomatoes in a day, and eat one bowlful of thick tomato soup twice a day - in the morning and the evening. This provides great relief within a fortnight of continued use.

Remedy # 5

If there are sharp and sudden joint pains in any part of the body, then grind an amalaki (Emblica officinalis, Indian Gooseberry) in water that is a little warm. Then add a slightly crushed piece of cardamom in the water. Drink this concoction once a day. This will retain the zest and vigor of the body and also prevent all the inexplicable pains that arise suddenly in different parts of the body.

Remedy # 6

Take a petal of the yellow oleander flower, known as kaner in Hindi, and grind it to a paste in groundnut oil. Apply this paste regularly on the regions where the joint pains arise. Continuous use will totally eliminate the pains.

Remedy # 7

You can also grind some cloves of garlic and apply the paste on the affected joints. This will remove the pains in a short while. But the problem with this remedy is that the garlic paste needs to be washed off within a few minutes, or it will lead to boils on the skin.

Remedy # 8

Prepare a paste of mustard seeds with a little water. Apply this oily paste onto the affected joints. The pains will be eliminated in a short while.

Remedy # 9

This is a regimen that will take care of joint pains, but it takes some patience. Every morning after waking up, eat castor seeds in the following manner. On the first day of the routine, eat one peeled castor seed, on the second day two and so on keep increasing the number by one till the seventh day. From the eighth day onwards, begin reducing the number of castor seeds by one. Do this till the number comes down to one. The joint pains will vanish by then.

Remedy # 10

Cook some seeds of Bishop's weed in water. Let the water boil and the fumes come out. Bring your affected joints in contact with the fumes. This will make the joint pains disappear.

Remedy # 11

Put some bitter oil in a pan. Add some seeds of the Bishop's weed and some cloves of garlic. Use this oil to massage deep into the regions where you get frequent joint pains. This remedy has the potency to remove any kind of joint pains if done diligently.

Remedy # 12

Crush two cloves of garlic and add them to some sesame oil. Warm the oil and massage it deep into the paining joints. You will find immense benefits from this therapy.

Remedy # 13

If the pains are not that severe, then a simple steam fomentation with a cloth will also help. The cloth must be moistened with the vapors and then pressed deep into the affected areas. Fomentation must be done for at least twenty minutes a day, and preferably at dusk.

Remedy # 14

Prepare a brew of ginger juice in castor oil. Take no more than 10 milliliters of castor oil and a teaspoonful of the juice of ginger. Drink this twice a day - at dawn and at dusk - on an empty stomach.

Treatment with Special Ayurvedic Methods

Since joint pains are related to the accumulation of ama, the first step in their treatment is to remove all the toxins. This is done by making the patient fast for a day. After this, fomentation is applied on the swollen joints with dry heat. Castor oil is used extensively in Ayurveda to perform massage in case of joint pains. Herbs prescribed in various potencies are galangal, garlic, guggul and punarnava. Dashamoolarishta is the preparation most commonly prescribed, and treatment is generally carried on for three weeks.

Knee inflammation is a very common occurrence of minor injuries inflicted on our knees. Many of these injuries could come about at any time a result of several conditions. These injuries could come about caused by direct injury, falls, poor footing, sudden and jerky movements, lifting heavy weights and doing exercises not having enough warm up. Other than these kind of traumatic events, inflammation of the knee joint can also happen in most infections just like viral fevers and perhaps where immune mediated inflammatory alterations occur in the body.

The main principle can be both local release of inflammatory mediators or migration of inflammatory immune cells to the knee joint. These mediators would respond to the injury which has took place in the knee or in some cases would injure the lining membranes of the knee joint thereby precipitating a vicious cycle. The increased circulatory leaks in the structure would precipitate inflammation in the damaged joint and sensory nerve endings arousal would bring about Knee Pain symptoms likewise.

As a result, an individual can hope to pass though a swollen knee pain solely after treating these inflammation related responses. Most of the time, the human body itself can pass though such conditions except if we support the procedure, the length of time taken for recuperation will be a lot longer.

Therefore, learn about a few of the steps to use in minimizing these inflammatory responses.

1. Rest - most likely one of most significant steps of minimizing inflammatory response is to break the vicious cycle that happens with further insult which worsens the inflammatory condition and lengthen the process of recovery. Hence, complete bed rest, utilization of crutches to stop weight bearing, use of splints...etc can be utilized in relaxing a knee joint.

2. Use of knee ice pack - using ice could be helpful in the initial moments of the injury to slow up the inflammatory mediators released and also to prevent influx of mediators from elsewhere. The constricting nature of the blood vessels in reaction to cold could be helpful in exerting this effect.

3. Compression - as vascular permeability encourages fluid accumulation, using compression would avoid the fluid from leaking out and cause swelling and also lessen the inflammatory response.

4. Anti-inflammatory medications - utilization of such medications would alleviate the associated swollen knee pain and also the tendency to release inflammatory mediators.

5. Elevation - this is a technique to lessen the blood circulation on the injury site that leads to build up of excessive fluids and also to help the draining of congested blood vessels in the region.

Putting aside the above inflammation minimizing methods, when the underlying cause is a medical problem or elsewhere in the body, it would be essential for such conditions to be treated along with the previously mentioned treatment techniques.

It starts out as a sore knee. As time progresses on, it turns into a soreness that will not go away. Before you know it, you have chronic knee pain. It can hinder your life in many ways, such as making getting around much more difficult. You may even feel like there is nothing you can do about it. You may have even considered radical surgical procedures to fix the issue. There is a less invasive, simpler procedure that simply requires a change in habits and the addition of a few supplements each day. By the end of this article, you will have a better understanding of what supplements can help ease joint pain, as well as what each individual supplement does.

The first and perhaps most important supplement is Glucosamine. Glucosamine helps strengthen joints, as well as tendons, ligaments, and bones. Another supplement that is good to pair with Glucosamine is Chondroitin, which also helps aid in the process of strengthening bones, joints, and other connective tissue. It is important, however, that you avoid Chondroitin if you are allergic to shellfish, as that is usually the preferred source of Chondroitin.

To ease inflammation and pain that comes along with this particular issue, you can take supplements such as essential fatty acids, which are marketed as fish oil or flax seed oil. This will help reduce inflammation of tissues, as well as take away some of the associated pain.

Overall, it is important to do your homework and educate yourself about these particular supplements. As always, please check with your doctor before starting any new supplement regimen, and always follow the directions on the label.

Knee pain is one of the most common complaints we see in our office. Although most doctors will exam, diagnose then just treat the knee, there are many other factors that often can cause or, at the very least, contribute to the ongoing problem. Other than simply masking the painful condition with cortisone injections or pain killers, another typical "treatment" choice for doctors reminds me of an old joke. A patient sees his doctor for pain and says, "Hey Doc, it hurts when I do this. " The doctor then says, "Don't do that!" This is another easy solution for him or her, but is not a very realistic one for you. After all, why should you stop doing the things you love to do just because your doctor doesn't want to spend the time it takes to find the real cause of your problem?

For instance, most lateral knee pain of runners is due to something called iliotibial band syndrome or ITBS. The Iliotibial band is located at the end of the muscle that runs along the outer part of your thigh called tensor fascia latae. What can cause this syndrome? Any problem from the hip to the foot can actually be the culprit in an ongoing knee problem. The cause of an over contraction of the tensor fascia latae muscle is often due to a weakness of the hip abductors, which bring the leg out to the side of the body. Another cause could be what are called trigger-points in the thigh or calf muscles. These are nodules or knots in the muscle that causes weakness or over-contraction.

How do we find the problem?

Only through a thorough physical exam and muscle testing regimen can we ultimately determine which part of the kinetic chain (in this case: the hip, knee, foot and ankle) is distorted thus causing the painful condition, irregardless of where the actual pain is.

How do we fix this type of problem in our office?

After locating, testing and identifying the problem area whether it is a weak muscle(s), an over contracted one or the presence of trigger-points, we then treat by reducing the spasms, strengthening muscles and eliminating the trigger-points by various techniques. In our office, we have found the most beneficial form of treatment in reducing and eliminating trigger-points is deep tissue laser therapy. Our Class IV Laser not only reduces trigger-points, pain, swelling and inflammation but more importantly actually promotes and accelerates healing.

This is really the only way to permanently and realistically eliminate painful musculoskeletal conditions as opposed to masking the pain with tissue deadening procedures such as cortisone and pain killing medications.

Have you recently been having hip joint pain? It could be a simple issue such as arthritis. As we age, our bodies begin to wear down. This includes the tendons, muscles and bones in our bodies. As it is a weight bearing joint, the hip joints often suffers greatly as we grow older. If you have had a recent injury to any part of your body, this could be the culprit of your hip joint pain.

Many of us don't consider it, but if you injure your leg, it is easy to understand how it could affect your hip. The bones grind together and cause inflammation and pain when you jam your leg or back into a position that it is not accustomed to. Spinal injury is a major reason for hip pain and must be examined to make sure that it is not causing undue stress to this area of your body.

A little trip can cause a lot of pain. You may not always know the cause of your hip pain immediately. You may fall and not feel the pain for a day or so. If this is the case, try taking an over the counter pain medication to relieve your symptoms.

If your symptoms worsen or do not go away shortly, you need to seek medical attention. Any pains that are severe should also be attended to promptly.

Hip joint pain can be caused by arthritis, many times. It is very common in older people and people who are involved in athletic activities or have recently done heavy lifting. Try taking ibuprofen, naproxen or acetaminophen to help the pain. Most of the time, hip joint pain is caused by either the swelling of the joint, as with arthritis, or by the swelling of the tendons around the joint. This is called tendonitis.

Hip joint pain can also be caused by conditions that may require medical intervention such as a hip or stress fracture. These are serious conditions and you put yourself at risk for other health conditions if you don't get a proper diagnosis from a medical professional.

Knee aches. They may have become your constant companions; the throbbing, the aching sensations that engulf your knee.

You may have tried your own home remedies- ibuprofen, ice, heat, rest, massage - but the discomfort keeps coming back. The pain may be in one knee or both. The pain or instability problems that you may currently have may also only occur with activity, or even when you are at rest.

Who needs that!?

Knee discomfort can arise from any number of conditions, many of them centered around muscular skeletal issues and inflammation. Many of the causes of aches and pains can stem from instability, misalignment, or swelling within and around the knee joint.

Whatever the particulars of your situation, in all likelihood you are frustrated with it all, and you just want the problems to stop. Period. Still, thoughts of possible surgery or time-consuming therapy may be just as unpleasant as your current pain problems themselves and you may be wondering about what your options are currently...

What about using a knee brace? Seriously, think about it for a second.

It's easy, it's affordable, and it just may be the answer you've been looking for. This may be the turning point for you, discovering how you can benefit from these kinds of supports.

While only a qualified physician can definitively diagnose the cause of your aches and pains, a brace can help relieve pain and discomfort by helping to add the stability that you can use. A knee brace is designed to help support the muscles, ligaments and tendons affecting the knee. It is also designed to help relieve the stress on the joint, and help keep the patella properly aligned. Consequently, whatever the underlying condition (or conditions) causing your discomfort, a knee support can be the answer you are looking for...

Knee braces are comfortable to wear and easy to use. They do not have to be oversized and heavy to be effective... This is a common misconception for some people. They are available in a variety of styles, some soft and pliable, others more firm and rigid, depending upon the extent of your knee aches and pains. Moreover, you can generally perform your usually activities while wearing a knee brace, as most are designed to allow for broad mobility.

Braces can be adjusted to fit the almost every knee, and generally do not have to be custom made to fit you or to be effective. This makes them more affordable and readily available for use. They are comfortable to wear and may offer the perfect solution you need to help manage the discomfort caused by knee aches.

In the end, the choice is yours. Do nothing, or do something. If you wait your problems might get worse. The reason why knee braces are so helpful is not just the stability that they help provide, but they are also a low cost option that you can use right away to help support yourself.

In today's article we're going to discuss types of knee pain.

So, what if you have knee pain?

The first thing that you need to pay attention to is to get an accurate diagnosis of your knee pain. You can get that by visiting a physical therapist or a specialist doctor or your general physician.

A specialist or physical therapist can make a diagnosis with manual testing. In other words, the specific health care practitioner can do some specific movements on your knee to assess the ligaments, to assess the joint integrity, and make a determination on the possible cause of your knee pain.

Most common, you will have an X-ray, and if a follow-up study is needed, you might go for an MRI to diagnose if you have a tear to your ligaments or cartilage. If you have severe arthritis, that will show up on an X-ray as well.

After an accurate diagnosis is made, it is important that the correct plan of treatment is prescribed for you.

Now, there are different types of knee pain. And depending on the type of knee pain that you have, based on the diagnosis, the correct plan of treatment will be made.

So, if you have patellar tendonitis for example, this might simply be cured by working to restore your muscle imbalance, working with a physical therapist on strengthening the muscles surrounding your joint and restoring flexibility. You might even need to have some taping to your patella to improve the tracking of your patella and engage the correct muscles to restore proper tracking.

A second type of cause for knee pain would be a tear of some sort.

Now, if you've got a tear in a meniscus or cruciate ligament, mostly you're going to have to have some sort of invasive procedure. Whether it be an arthroscopic procedure, or a more severe where a cruciate or a posterior cruciate ligament might be damaged. The surgeon might need to attach that and anchor it to the bone.

A third type of knee pain is attributed to muscle imbalances like patella tracking issues.

This plus other inflammatory conditions of the knee like tendonitis of the medial and lateral collateral ligaments are very common and a common cause of knee pain. By restoring your muscle imbalance this can be corrected.

For me, one of the main root causes of joint damage as well as joint pain is muscle imbalance.

At http://www.PhysicalTherapyTV.com we have a special report that show you how to deal with muscle imbalance and avoid common knee injuries.

In conclusion, it is important that you get an accurate diagnosis first before attempting and procedure or exercise since it could lead to more damage to your knee.

Your knees take a lot of stress during the day, especially if you are a sports person or someone who does regular physical activity. Often, if the load is too great, or there are bad biomechanics involved, then you can end up with a chronic injury. These can develop over time, and can come in a number of forms. They are very painful and can be quite serious if not treated properly.

Types Of Overuse Injuries

There are many different types of knee overuse injuries, and it is very important that you know which one that you have in order to treat it correctly. Here is a list of common chronic knee injuries:

* Patella Instability

* Runners or Jumpers Knee

* Osgoods-slatter's Disease

* Chondramalacia

* Patella Tendonitis

* Arthritis

* Bursitis

All of these can be a result of excess loads and stress on the knees that they cannot handle. Although they are very different in their causes and their treatment, it is likely that bad biomechanics and an abnormal stress on the knees have contributed and cause the injury.

How To Treat Overuse Injuries

There are a few things that you need to do to make sure that you treat your knee overuse injury correctly. If you follow these tips then you will be able to reduce your pain significantly.

• Ice: This is important as usually there is a lot of inflammation and swelling involved in the injury. Ice will help decrease this, and thus the pain. When the inflammation goes down there is much more chance that the knee will heal.


• Rest: This is extremely necessary. If you cannot rest totally, then you should do relative rest. This means that you need to stop doing what is hurting you. You can keep fit and train in other areas, but if it causes you pain then you need to stop.


• Correct Biomechanics: If you have bad biomechanics then you will likely be putting extra stress through the knee. This is a very common cause of an overuse injury and it is very important that you correct the problem. For example if your patella is not moving correctly, you can get a lot of pain, you can correct this with a knee strap and it will make it move in the correct position and take the pain away.


• Rehabilitation: Doing the correct exercises is very important. You probably need to strengthen the area as it is likely that you have an imbalance somewhere.

What has inflammation got to do with joint pain?

Normally, a healthy immune system triggers the inflammatory response in order to deal with the sporadic threats like injury or inflammation. But in the case of many women, these inflammatory responses are constantly at a low level. This chronic, but low-grade inflammation prevents the regeneration of cells and at the same time repair as well as gradually tear down tissues which also include the ones in your joints.

Causes of joint pain due to chronic inflammation

The causes of chronic inflammation can be attributed to a diet which is too high on the amount of refined carbohydrates and at the same time too low in essential fatty acids. A high carbohydrate diet can extend for a long time in terms of high levels of insulin which can disrupt cellular metabolism and spreads inflammation. Undiagnosed allergies in terms of foods or sensitivities can also contribute to inflammation when those are eaten. A lot of women with chronic inflammation can also suffer from digestive problems due to an inflamed digestive tract.

Another factor contributing to inflammation can be stress. Cortisol is a hormone which is released when a person is under stress. The most common which can be experienced by everyone is sustained stress and can cause an inflammation in no time.

Most of the women report their first joint pain when they are in a state of perimenopause or approaching menopause. During this transition hormone shift can occur especially fluctuating estrogen levels can have a heavy impact on how joints feel. Since, estrogen normally has an inflammatory effect in the body, falling estrogen levels can also increase the symptoms of chronic inflammation.

Joint pain remedies-

There are a lot of ways through which you can relieve your joint pain and you can start with the underlying causes. Dietary changes can help a lot such as reducing the amount of refined carbohydrates as well as sugar can make a dramatic difference to your pain in the joints. Healthy eating comprising of foods such as including more of fruits and vegetables which contain anti-inflammatories and at the same time adding a high quality multivitamin can refuel your nutritional deficiencies. Other treatment for joint pains can include;

• Omega-3 fatty acid supplements
• Changes in lifestyle like stress relief as well as moderate exercises
• Physiotherapy

you can find all types of joint remedies at our site with the price you wanted to see.

Like some people over 40, I am developing joint pain. I am also a fitness fanatic. These two characteristics can work well together or be disastrous. After going through other, similar workout regimens, I had huge health gains but pretty severe joint pain. It was beyond "no pain, no gain" stuff -- this was full-on pain in the bone. So, when I discovered Georges St. Pierre (GSP), one of the best MMA (mixed-martial arts) fighters in the world, had just released a home workout regimen on DVD, I had to check it out. I was, of course, a bit skeptical and concerned, as GSP is not a very talkative guy and I was still a bit sore from my last cycle of another regimen. I was not disappointed, though, as GSP Rushfit is not as hard on the joints as my previous workout cycle. GSP is also a fairly colorful guy, as well, which made the DVDs much more watchable than I thought they would be.

The GSP Rushfit package itself is a fairly comprehensive kit. It includes the main course on several DVDs, along with bonus DVDs with extra workouts for full-body conditioning and one for balance and agility. Also included are three training calendars -- one for the beginner, medium and expert, and extra guides with workout tips and nutritional information. Seven workouts are included in total, each lasting around 50 minutes (including warm-up and cool-down). The package is obviously professionally done, so there are no complaints about book or video quality.

One may be surprised that GSP does not actually lead the exercises. His trainer, Erik Owings, conducts the actual workouts while Georges participates alongside. Erik is the more vocal of the two, with GSP contributing color commentary when appropriate. Erik Owings is an accomplished MMA fighter himself, so the workouts are certainly MMA-themed. You certainly get a "fighting focus" with these routines, and Erik does an adequate job of transforming mundane exercises into fighting techniques. This is not, of course, a self-defense course, but it's certainly MMA-themed. Most men, and plenty of ladies, will still enjoy this thoroughly, as it breaks the monotony of other workout routines.

GSP Rushfit's main advantage in this genre is that it's a bit less harsh on the joints. I found that after my cycle of GSP Rushfit I was not in as much pain as I would be after a run-through of other multi-week fitness plans. My knees and elbows were not banged up, and I felt that GSP Rushfit's focus on stretching and joint warm-ups eased the pressure on my joints. This was a huge benefit for me and it's the reason why I will be putting the other DVD series on the shelf for a long time.

GSP Rushfit has been a very entertaining and effective method for my home-based workout regimen. It's easy on my joints but keeps intensity high, and for that reason, I'm sticking with it.