Assessing Knee Pain: Seriousness and Symptoms
How Do I Know If My Knee Pain Is Serious?
At some point in your life, you’ve probably experienced knee pain, as it’s something that can affect people of all ages. It’s very common, and it’s not always a sign that you’re experiencing any serious symptoms. However, because of this, it can be hard to determine how to know if knee pain is serious and requires attention from a medical professional.
Before you seek medical attention, you should take a moment to assess any possible causes – some problems like minor injuries can heal within a few days of you observing your pain without exerting yourself too much.
Following An Injury
Injuring your knee won’t always lead to serious or lasting damage, but if the incident was severe enough, you may need to seek assistance. You should call your doctor if you are experiencing:
Large amounts of swelling
Inability to extend your knee
Inability to put weight on your knee
Deformation of your leg
Severe pain following an injury
Alternate Causes
An injury isn’t the only issue that’s going to require medical assistance, and receiving knee pain relief might not come through resting or relaxing your knee. Your knee can degenerate over the years, and you might be experiencing symptoms of that instead.
Arthritis
While there are a lot of different types of arthritis that can affect the mobility in your legs, it’s quite common to experience knee pain or the inability to move without pain due to this issue. There are a number of reasons why you might be experiencing arthritis, like degeneration in your cartilage. It’s not always something that can be prevented and often happens with age.
You may also experience arthritis in the form of Gout. An issue that happens when you have uric acid crystals building up in the joints of your knee. It more commonly affects other parts of the body, but can also affect your knees. This isn’t a degenerative issue but can be experienced as a reaction to a poor diet. Your body processes uric acids naturally, but too much can be difficult to keep up with. Avoid eating too much seafood, alcoholic beverages, and fruit drinks that have been sweetened.
Bodily Issues
Having discomfort in your body can alter the way you go about your day, and if you’ve got issues that affect how you walk, such as pain in the legs – that can have an impact on your knee. Proper posture is important, and without it, there are a number of painful side effects you might experience. In this case, knee pain relief can be found through correcting your posture and walking position, without exerting too much.
Carrying excess weight can also lead to pain in your knees, as well as faster degeneration if it’s something that you’re dealing with consistently. Being overweight can put far too much stress on your knees, as the cartilage won’t have an easier time with muscle growth. Instead, you’ll find that the degeneration of your joint cartilage will accelerate faster than those who carry less weight.
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If you frequently take part in sports that put a lot of stress on your knees, like a lot of jumping and action around the joints, you might also experience an accelerated degeneration of the cartilage. If you have any other questions regarding how to know if knee pain is serious, you should consider consulting a professional or looking into it further with your symptoms.