Causes and Remedies for Knee Cap Pain
Sometimes a complaint of knee cap pain brings responses like “you’re not a spring chicken anymore”. There is a problem with that statement though: the one that doesn’t have pain in the knee cap is just as old as the one that has the pain. If you have any kind of knee cap pain you probably already know there are a lot of different reasons for the pain. There are also triggers that you can take care to avoid so you don’t make the pain in the knee cap worse.
Reasons Behind Knee Cap Pain
You can suffer an injury like a torn ligament or ripped cartilage that can cause you a lot of pain. In knee cap health it is important to understand not only the causes of the pain but what you can do to prevent the pain from recurring. In most cases the reasons behind knee cap pain is usually over exercising, athletic sports and improper stretching before exercising. A lot of people are unaware of the other reasons for knee cap pain like:
- Arthritis – Inflammation and swelling in the joint
- Tendonitis – Inflammation of the tendon
- Dislocation – An injury that causes the patella to be displaced from its normal track
- Bursitis – Inflammation of the bursa or the cushion between the joints
- Disease – Osgood-Schlatter disease, osteochondritis dissecans and gout
Getting Treatment for Pain in the Knee Cap
I’m sure your doctor can give you lots more causes than this. The important thing is to get the correct diagnosis and treatment for the knee cap pain you have. Some treatments require surgery and others simply require rest and physical therapy.
- Ice packs – This helps to ease the pain in the knee cap but doesn’t do much for pain under knee cap.
- Physical therapy – This helps stretch the tendons and ligaments that may have been hyper-extended while exercising.
- Herbal remedies – There are a number of herbal remedies that can help ease the discomfort of knee pain including pain below the knee or pain under knee cap.
- X-Rays – Your doctor may have to do some testing including x-rays or CT scans.
Herbal Remedies for Pain Below the Knee Cap
Before the discovery of synthetic drugs, all people had to treat pain and other conditions with were herbs and spices. They are usually taken orally and can help ease the pain. In knee cap treatments these herbs are very helpful:
- Oregano – is a great antioxidant and kills bacteria
- Ginger – helps reduce osteoarthritis which usually occurs behind the knee or when you have pain below the knee cap.
- Tumeric – Tumeric is known for its anti-inflammatory properties.
Following Doctors Orders
Once you have a correct diagnosis from your doctor, it is important to follow their plan of treatment very carefully to make sure your knee cap pain goes away and doesn’t return. This may mean ceasing some activities that may have caused the problems in the first place. Not following their orders could lead to more serious damage.
Filed under Blog by on Dec 9th, 2009.