We have had a lot of positive feedback over the last few weeks and we hope you found Claire’s block about her hip surgery interesting.
We have decided to tell you about the most common problems we treat here at Heartlands Physiotherapy Clinic. This month is about pain arising from the knee cap also called patella.
A lot of us who are in our middle years get problems usually when kneeling, going down stairs or on prolonged walking expeditions, especially downhill. We will talk about the older knee at a different time.
Today it is about anterior knee pain or patella-femoral pain in the adolescent.
Below is a diagram that shows the bones in the knee including the Patella.
7% of children between 15 and 19 suffer from it, the GP might also call it growing pains as a lot of young people get it when they have a sudden increase in height.
Two kinds of youngsters get it:
1. The active type who over exercise, possibly county standard.
2. The inactive type with limited exercise tolerance.
There is a lot we can do to help as Physiotherapists.
Firstly we always check to see if both hip and ankle control and stability is good and muscles are strong. We may work on those areas first and then treat the knee by strengthening the quadriceps muscle ( the muscle at the front of the thigh ). In the very active group who over exercise we may have to modify the amount of activity initially.
We use close chain exercises such as squats and lunges if possible as they are more functional and use more muscle groups to enhance stability. Please make sure a Physiotherapist checks that you are doing them properly though!!!
Lunges
Give us a call on 01327 706833 or contact us or follow us on Facebook
