What can cause knee pain below the knee cap when bending your knee when you walk?
Public Comments
1. Well, If your a teen, one of the common things is osgood slaughtlers (Sorry, wrong spelling)I have it and that's where my pain is.
2. If there is a bump that hurts when pressed its most likly Osgood's
3. could be torn meniscus,torn cartilage,pulled ligament or my favorite chondra malasia of knee, not sure of spelling, but you can google it.probably time for an m.r.i.good luck, all are equally painful and will worsen with time.
4. you may have a patellar tracking disorder. what usually happens in these is that the patella (knee cap) is pulled too far to the outside due to tight structures there and/or insufficient muscle forces from the inside to pull it in. this leads to griding of the patella on the lateral condyle of the femur (thigh bone), degeneration of the cartilage underneath the patellar surface, and ultimately pain with movement.
abnormal patellar tracking can lead to chondromalacia patellae, and can be caused by a tight iliotibial band (a band of tight tendonous-like material on the outside of your thigh down to your knee), a tight lateral retinaculum (more tendonous-like material, only on the outside of your knee), a weak vastus medialis muscle (quadricep muscle), or an abnormal firing pattern of the vastus medialis and lateralis (2 of the 4 quadricep muscles).
other possible causes for this would be damaged meniscus or ligaments, bursitis, or synovitis. only a physical exam could tell for sure. damage to the meniscus would typically result from a traumatic incident, as would bursitis in some cases. synovitis (inflammation of the fluid within the knee joint) and the various patellar tracking disorders generally occur insidiously.
osgood-shlatters occurs only in the early teenage years, and would have pain more of on the very first part of the leg after the kneecap. it results from overusage of the quadriceps muscles, which leads to an increased bony deposition on the tibia (leg bone).
i would suggest seeing a physical therapist for a physical evaluation if it has been bothering you for awhile or if it impairs your daily activities
