As you wake up and step out of bed your knee almost crumples out from under you. This has been happening more and more lately and you can’t figure out what is causing it. The truth is, while you may be accusing your knee of being the culprit, it’s possible that the real blame should be put on your back.
There are many disorders such as sciatica that affect not only your back but stretch down to your knee as well. Keep reading to find out how your back of knee pain may be connected to your back and how you might be able to get a little bit of relief.
1. How are the Two Connected?
The nerves in your lower back are directly connected to the ones in your knee. When something disrupts or presses on these nerves you won’t only feel it in your back but your knee as well.
For example, as you get older some of the disks in your back may shift. If this happens it will send pain signals to the back of your knee. Sometimes you may just have a pinched nerve in which case, you’ll feel it in both places.
If you do start feeling pain in your knee and can’t explain it, you may need to get your back checked out. If you don’t you could end up getting an expensive knee replacement only to still have chronic knee pain after surgery.
2. The Signs Your Back is Causing the Pain
If you’re not sure if your back is causing your knee pain there are a few signs that you can look out for that will tell you. Diagnosing a few of these symptoms may help you and your doctor figure out what to do as far as treatment goes.
Knee Pain is Happening Along with Back Pain
The most obvious sign that your back is the cause is if you’re feeling back pain along with with the knee pain. It could not be so obvious. Some people brush off slight, subtle back pain because it’s more annoying than painful.
This could lead to again, you getting expensive surgery. Before you go through this, sit back for a moment and think. How much do you sit during the day?
If you have a desk job where you sit most of your day it could be causing strain on your back without you even realizing it. Sitting for long periods of time can cause a disk to shift or push water out of it and make it bulge out. This bulge will put pressure on the nerves we were talking about and hurt both your back and knee.
Tightness in Your Hamstrings
Do you find yourself massaging your hamstrings on a normal basis? Tightness in your hamstrings that won’t go away is the beginning signs that something is not going right with one of the nerves in your back.
When your hamstrings become inflamed and swell due to your back it will affect how your knee works. No matter how much you try to stretch it to fix the problem it won’t work. This pressure will eventually cause damage to the meniscus in your knee.
Your body will try to fix it but the damage is ongoing. It won’t be able to keep up with it and so the problem will remain until you have your hamstrings looked at.
Bunions
It’s strange but yes, bunions can be a direct result of a back issue and where there are bunions and back problems there is knee pain. When the nerve that supports the outside of your foot is strained or damaged, it can lead to the bone in your big toe tilting.
When this bone tilts it creates pressure and on down the line this pressure will cause a bunion to form. So when you get a bunion, don’t ignore it. Go to a doctor and figure out what the source is.
3. Can it be Treated?
Thankfully pressure on the nerves that connect your lower back to your knee can be corrected. Most of the time this correction comes in the form of medical means or physical therapy.
Medical Means
If the problem is left unattended to for a long period of time, there is the possibility that you’ll now have to get surgery done. Your doctor will try to do about anything else before it comes to this, however.
You can get a steroid injection to decrease the inflammation. You may also head to Vitality healthcare to have a stemcell injection which will heal any damaged tissue that may be causing an issue.
Physical Therapy
Before you start getting injections, your doctor may suggest that you go to physical therapy. A specialist can sit down, determine the source of your pain, and then begin a series of exercises and stretches with you to correct it. In most cases, they will teach you these exercises so you can continue doing them at home.
Your Back of Knee Pain Could be Caused by Your Back
If you’re feeling a large amount of pain in your knee, don’t jump straight into knee surgery. Instead, talk to your doctor to see if your back could back causing your back of knee pain. One of the disks in your back could be pressing down on a nerve without you even knowing it.
A lot of the symptoms we talked about can be caused by sitting at your desk all day. Look into standing ergonomic desks to get you off your feet and take some pressure off your poor back and knees.