# Knee Pain-What is it from?



## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

Meniscus....or in that area..
Only diagnostics can tell you positively.

*Consult your doctor...*
They may want to do diagnostics to see how damaged it is...
You may do well with some physical therapy to strengthen the area around a weakened spot...
Just like our equine friends, we also need to condition the entire body and absolutely strengthen more areas of weaknesses...
Be careful in the meantime, watch where you put your feet and baby it but don't coddle it and make it weaker..
Get some real medical advice so a "fix" is achieved cause if you really tear/break the thing it hurts bad!!
I'm no doctor but I wrecked mine and can tell you it was not fun!!
So my opinion, but a strongly advised get seen and get some help before it gets worse.
Feel better.
:runninghorse2:...


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

You kneed (pun intended) to have it looked at. Sounds like IT band irritation. As it runs from the hip to the knee recovery means correct therapy that focuses on the entire band or you wind up with the other end in pain and inflamed.


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## Jolly101 (Jul 2, 2018)

Good advice to have a doctor investigate things. The knee pain could be a combination of things including riding, stepping a certain way, lack of support in footwear, etc. In the meantime, I suggest a good knee brace to help ease the pain and support. I really like the back on track knee braces and thermal therapy. They are very comfortable to wear. Also, make sure that you have adequate arch support for your foot. Without it, your foot will fall inward when walking and this puts strain on your knee.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I am overweight, too. significantly.
I've had knee problems that I thought were so bad I'd need surgery. But, stretching, icing, and building up the opposing muscles made the pain diminish significantly.


if you stand on your left leg, and bend your right knee back, grab the ankle and pull your heel up toward your buttock, (don't pull too hard), do you feel a stretching / pain sensation on the inside of your right knee? 



Stretch that area regularly and frequently


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## horseponydogcrazy (Jun 8, 2014)

Thank you all for your suggestions and advice. I will either going tomorrow or Monday to get some good shoes plus finding a knee brace. 





tinyliny said:


> if you stand on your left leg, and bend your right knee back, grab the ankle and pull your heel up toward your buttock, (don't pull too hard), do you feel a stretching / pain sensation on the inside of your right knee?
> 
> 
> I do not feel any stretching/ pain sensation on the inside of my right knee only pain on the outside of my right knee.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

I Am Not A Doctor (and you should go see one), but I have knee pain on and off. I first noticed it years ago, when my old dog died. Yes, when I stopped walking my dog, my knees started to hurt. My doctor told me that my patellas do not track perfectly, and what holds them in the correct place are my quadriceps. When I don't walk, my quadriceps get weak (especially the inside the leg ones) and my patellas start to rub. 

My solution was to get another dog. Worked well. I have to walk about an hour a day for my quads to keep my knees from hurting. If I didn't walk I'd have to do calisthenics to strengthen my quads and I truly hate those. 

Riding doesn't influence this unless it helps some. 

See a doctor. Getting advice from lay people off the internet for a medical problem is generally not recommended.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

^Avna, I love your solution 

As someone who has had a long term knee injury that I finally got surgery for fairly recently- unless there is an actual injury (and there's not too much to injure there, plus I think you would know if you injured it) the pain is likely weakeness related. As Avna said your solution (and do check in with a dr) is PT. You don't need to necessarily go to a therapist if you do the right exercises. Your goal is to build up the muscles as much much as possible because they likely aren't doing the amount of work they need to be and other body parts that should not be are taking the strain. Your weight is likely hurting, not necessarily causing the problem but you can look up the calculation, every extra pound is something like 4x weight on your knees and 6x on your hips. I know for me with the horses there's a HUGE difference between just walking and walking while carrying a water bucket or something. Riding may be hurting, it may not like the weight I doubt it's the culprit. If it feels ok during/after riding I would keep on going, just try to be aware of it.

Now that my injury is fairly healed I'm working on the same thing, over a year of uneven use has done a number on me even though I was fairly active for most of it. Even if there is an injury which is possible though it doesn't sound likely the advice will be the same.

Good shoes are important. I'm super picky with shoes regardless of any injury lol. I would NOT use a brace unless the doctor says so. It's like wrapping a horse, using a brace will further weaken the muscles which will make the problem worse. While I did use a brace at times I was told it wasn't necessary for me, and I had one doctor offer me an actual brace IF I wanted and others tell me not to bother. (I did buy a BoT compression sleeve, but not the same as a real brace). One thing you can do is my physical therapist started taping my knee recently. That will NOT effect the strength, while a healthy person shouldn't NEED to do it it can be done 24/7 if need be and won't cause any problems (she said she always tapes if she's running or something herself just for the extra support). It made a HUGE difference for me.

And take it easy but also look up GOOD things you can do to strengthen the muscles and relieve the stress on other parts. Don't baby it. I caused my own injury because my knees were hurting (bad build and overuse, as I'm explaining the solution would have been/is to build up the muscles, there isn't anything clinically wrong with me knees) and I stood up awkwardly TRYING to "protect them". Yeah just do things normally. If it hurts don't do it.

How old are you if you don't mind me asking? The general protocol is the same but the older you are the more possible it is you do have an injury without having any specific event, it also factors into what a doctor will do about it.


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## horseponydogcrazy (Jun 8, 2014)

I will be calling the dr. on Monday. I am 30 years old, I will be 31 in October. What is the difference between a brace and a sock compression? Thank you all for your advice.


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## Filou (Jan 16, 2014)

Similar story
My kneed started popping out of the socket when I went to college. I went from riding for a few hours a day to riding once a week. It took about 2 years on minimal riding for my muscles to give out enough that the knee started popping out. 

I started doing squats and other leg exercises and it fixed, then I found some horses to ride and didn't have to exercise anymore for the issue. I also get stiff knees which I think is just from riding in general, it's pretty taxing on your knees especially for jumping, or work with shorter stirrups. Longer stirrups may help. 

My knees haven't popped out for a few years now!


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

horseponydogcrazy said:


> I will be calling the dr. on Monday. I am 30 years old, I will be 31 in October. What is the difference between a brace and a sock compression? Thank you all for your advice.


OK you're young enough that you shouldn't have any chronic sort of injuries. Which means that it's likely just weakness rather then an injury (as you would know if you had an acute injury). (I was 27 almost 28 with my injury, so learned about those differences lol.)

I find the term brace covers about everything. A sock compression doesn't have support it just squeezes your leg, so there's some support but it will also help with circulation. I like my BoT one. The brace will actually hold your leg more firmly. I wouldn't recommend getting either one unless your doctor says so. And TBH while I do like my brace, knee braces in general are awful. They don't stay up they aren't comfortable and while I did notice a benefit wearing my brace for a bit the longer I wore it the more uncomfortable it was to the point I couldn't wait to take it off. It was better then wrapping it for day to day use, but wrapping it was more ideal. I actually quite my job and just sat on the couch for a time. So you can try taping, or if there's an actual injury wrapping it. But I'd just wait and see what the doctor recommends.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Pain is your body's way of telling you something is wrong. More than likely it is something minor that can be remedied, however pain, even in your knee can signal something serious such as cancer. Our National Canadian hero, Terry Fox, experienced knee pain. His parents took him to the doctor and found out he did indeed have cancer. This was 40 years ago. Medicine has come a long way since then. All you have to do go see the doctor, take care of yourself.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Knees and backs are the weak points in bipedalism. Back to knuckle-dragging and we wouldn't be having these problems!


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

@Filou seems squats can cure quite a bit. Work for incontinence too. Even better than kegels in some instances and when combined sneeze and laugh all you want.


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## horseponydogcrazy (Jun 8, 2014)

Thank you everyone for advice. I am going to see the dr. tomorrow it was the earliest they had. With the knee pain can your foot start hurting too? Thank you and happy riding.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Good luck!

I think it's very dependent on the problem. Nerve pain can spread, when my knee is bad these days it is achy and that type of pain can spread. I had an actual injury so the sharp pain while it did spread never felt like it was my foot.

It's also possible you're walking oddly to compensate which puts stress on your feet, I know I did have issues with my feet hurting, but it was clearly not directly related to my knee.


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## horseponydogcrazy (Jun 8, 2014)

Thank you everyone. I had my orthopedic appointment yesterday, the dr. thinks it could either be synovitis or a meniscus injury. I won't know for sure until I get an MRI. 

I am guessing for now that I can't ride?- until I know what's going on w/my knee and get treatment.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Did he say you couldn't ride? Interesting enough the mensicus itself doesn't hurt, it's basically cartiledge but if it tears it will irritate the membrane which is essentially causing synovitis. It was actually my meniscus I tore (on the inside) and I was riding 5 horses a day for awhile. I eventually gave up lol, but a leisurely trail ride is likely fine. For me it didn't hurt unless I was using my inner knee (squeezing for example). I'm not saying you SHOULD ride lol but if the doctor didn't say not to it should be ok to do some light hacking or something, whatever you feel up to.

The meniscus is why I asked about your age, typically younger people like us have an acute injury and they often recommend surgery while older people who injure it often have degeneration as a primary cause and surgery is NOT recommended for it. (and other things follow the same rules I'm sure!) I know you said this just started one day and no injury. So I'm not saying you need surgery, but your age does factor in how they will treat it. As you are young and active they will likely be more aggressive. I don't know much about synovitis.

When's the MRI? I know mine was a pretty good wait.


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## horseponydogcrazy (Jun 8, 2014)

My orthopedic dr. just put in a referral yesterday, said it could take up to a couple weeks. Hopefully I will from them next week. 

If my insurance doesn't pay for most of it, I will have to choose the cheaper option which would be an steroid injection.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Just see what the MRI says. No guarantee you'll need anything more then a steroid shot.

Everything was fully covered by my insurance but in my case surgery was the only option. I hope all you need is steroid shots! Could be you just aggravated it and then by using it (constantly after all it's your knee!) it's aggravated it more.

Crossing my fingers for you!


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## horseponydogcrazy (Jun 8, 2014)

Thank you everyone for your advice and suggestions. I had my MRI yesterday, unfortunately I won't know my results until next Friday at my follow up appointment with my orthopedic dr. Thank you all again. Happy trails


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

That was fast!!

Hoping for good news!


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## horseponydogcrazy (Jun 8, 2014)

Update and Good News: I got a message from my orthopedic dr. today. I have a small sprain on one of my ligaments on the side of my knee and cyst on the back of my kneecap. 

He said some physical therapy and maybe a brace, will learn more on Friday at my next appointment.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Well that's good, hope it's an easy fix!! It sure sounds uncomfortable though


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