{"id":216560,"date":"2017-04-08T10:13:26","date_gmt":"2017-04-08T10:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wandsworthphysiotherapy.co.uk\/anterior-knee-pain\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T12:12:42","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T12:12:42","slug":"anterior-knee-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wandsworthphysiotherapy.co.uk\/anterior-knee-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"Anterior knee pain"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><span style=\"color: #339966;\">What are the causes of knee pain?<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>With the London marathon on the horizon there is a common theme amongst the people I see here at Wandsworth Physiotherapy \u2013 that is anterior knee pain (AKP). AKP is a common complaint in many people especially runners and those you take part in team games such as basketball, football or volleyball complain of. Most people will go to the GP thinking they need to have the knee assessed but the first port of call for such a problem should be your local physiotherapist. Painkillers and anti-inflammatories prescribed by the doctor may help initially but to resolve the problem a physiotherapist needs to assess exactly what the problem is.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #339966;\">Why does my knee hurt?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There are a number of common problems that affect the front of the knee.<\/p>\n<p>They include:<br \/>\n\u2022 Patello-femoral pain syndrome (PFPS)<br \/>\n\u2022 Patella tendonopathy<br \/>\n\u2022 Fat pad impingement<br \/>\n\u2022 Synovial plica<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TigyPIH5sk4\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Regardless of what problem you have at the front of the knee the physiotherapist will carry out a number of assessments in your initial session. Typically the physiotherapist will look at the following:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Your gait<br \/>\n\u2022 Squat, single leg squat, hops<br \/>\n\u2022 Palpation \u2013 medial and lateral facet and joint lines, retinaculum, patella tendon, fat pad, inferior pole of patella<br \/>\n\u2022 Patella glides<br \/>\n\u2022 VMO activity<br \/>\n\u2022 Muscle length tension tests<\/p>\n<p>Once they have carried out these assessments they will be able to establish a diagnosis as to what is causing your anterior knee pain. The most common diagnosis for anterior knee pain is patello-femoral joint pain otherwise known as patello-femoral pain syndrome (PFJ syndrome). This is where the kneecap rubs on the underlying bone and creates a peri-patella synovitis (swelling behind the kneecap).<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/H9OhQ9HSsVw\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This type of pain usually worsens with activity such running as well as going up and down stairs, getting on and off the toilet, or standing out from a chair. Risk factors for this type of knee pain include what is known as intrinsic factors such as:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Pronated foot type (flat feet)<br \/>\n\u2022 Inadequate flexibility (tight quads, hamstrings and ITB)<br \/>\n\u2022 Patella position (usually a lateral tilt from a tight ITB)<br \/>\n\u2022 Poor neuromuscular control of the Vasti muscles (VMO)<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #339966;\">Treatment for knee pain<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Treatment for this type of me pain should initially be aimed at reducing pain and swelling. This will include the use of RICE \u2013 rest, ice, compression and elevation. You should also take some paracetamol and \/ or ibuprofen. The next thing to do is to reduce the amount of loading that goes through the knees. This means resting from your sports or running for a predetermined amount of time. Your physiotherapist will help to address local and remote intrinsic factors using things such as:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Patella taping \/ brace<br \/>\n\u2022 VMO strengthening<br \/>\n\u2022 Orthoses<br \/>\n\u2022 Stretching<br \/>\n\u2022 Retraining hip function<\/p>\n<p>Once you have had a number of physiotherapy sessions controlling the pain and addressing some of the biomechanical issues that you may suffer from your anterior knee pain should begin to resolve and you can get back to your sporting activities.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kjvqHFjXKMw\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>If you are suffering AKP come along and see a physiotherapist at Wandsworth Physiotherapy on Old York Road in Wandsworth Town.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What are the causes of knee pain? With the London marathon on the horizon there is a common theme amongst the people I see here at Wandsworth Physiotherapy \u2013 that is anterior knee pain (AKP). AKP is a common complaint in many people especially runners and those you take part in team games such as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":216561,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[344],"tags":[359],"class_list":["post-216560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-injury","tag-knee-pain"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandsworthphysiotherapy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandsworthphysiotherapy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandsworthphysiotherapy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandsworthphysiotherapy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandsworthphysiotherapy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wandsworthphysiotherapy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandsworthphysiotherapy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandsworthphysiotherapy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandsworthphysiotherapy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandsworthphysiotherapy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}