jointsguruKnee pain is very common symptom in every age group. Usually people associate knee pain with older age only. So when a young patient comes to me in my OPD. He is always very anxious and surprised. Dr , How can it possible? I am just 20 years of age and I am having pain in knee joint. My father and even grand father who is above 70 are not having any pain at present ? How come I have arthritis in knee at such age?
Well, This is not a arthritis pain. Arthritis is usually complete damage of knee joint cartilage and it happens usually in advance age. In young age pain in knee joint is due to Chindromalacia Patella. This is different from knee arthritis of old age.
What causes pain in knee??
Chondromalacia Patella usually affect younger population. Most patients are young female, mostly athletes or sportswoman. They can be dancer or gym goers too. So most of them are involved in heavy activities. Repeatedly knee bending, sitting on the floor , use of excessive stairs and Indian style toilet can also cause knee pain. There is a myth in our society that using stairs is a very good habit. Well it is always not true. It can harm your knee also. Using inclined treadmill for running can also cause knee pain.
What is meaning of Chondromalacia??
Chondromalacia is combination of two words. One is Chondro means cartilage and other is malacia means softening. So if we use our knee excessively than there is chances of knee articular cartilage softening. It causes pain in knee joint.
Patient when visit to dr , we recommend X ray of the knee joint.It can tell us if there is any alignment problem in knee joint. Some time patient have very high positioned patella and it is called patella Alta. This causes excess mobility of patella and it causes knee pain.
If X ray is non conclusive than we can go for a good quality MRI of the knee joint. MRI can tell us about stage of the disease.
Treatment of Chondromalacia is following
1. Avoid high demand activity like Gym, Sports or stairs.
2.Do not squat , skipping or inclined treadmill.
3. Use knee cap for support if activity is needed.
4.Calcium and cartilage support medicines
So this is about Chondromalacia Patella. I hope this article will be useful for you all.
