Stiff knee

Hi,

I have a problem with my knee area. I am a keen walker and go to the gym regularly. For the past 6 months I have been having some problems with my left knee/upper tibia with the following symptoms.

• After walking for 30 mins my knee becomes stiff and walking becomes painful with a pain in the lower knee area that cannot be pinpointed.
• Occasionally I get severe stabbing pains down the top of my tibia. It feels like it is inside the bone.
• Once the pain starts I cannot bend my leg easily beyond 90 degrees without significant discomfort and manual intervention by pulling my lower leg into my thigh
• I cannot walk down hill once the pain starts, especially down steps. I am almost dragging my leg as it has to remain almost locked out to keep going.
• If I sit for any extended length of time in confined conditions (typically a train) where I cannot stretch my legs the pain comes on and I have to either stretch my leg out or walk around.
• Once the condition starts it gets progressively worse until I rest it. Once rested it tends to ease off fairly quickly...in about the same amount of time it takes to come on.

I have seen a physio a few times about the problem but all the normal tests done have come back without a conclusive diagnosis. I have not had any invasive examination or MIR scans yet and don't really want to go down that line if I can avoid it. I have done specific exercises to strengthen the muscles supporting the knee as advised by my physio.

Generally I am fit and of a healthy weight.

I have trawled the web for similar symptoms but cannot find a set of symptoms similar. Can anyone help me?

If you have seen someone good for assessment and they haven't been able to pick up anything obvious on examination, and you have tried time (watchful waiting) and exercise, then it sounds like you probably do need further investigation in terms of x-ray/MRI. This can then hopefully pick up anything structural that may be going on. Otherwise, it's really a guessing game, and if there is nothing obvious, then it's not a very good guess either! Hope that helps.

Thanks for the reply Andy. I think I'll keep going with the exercises for now to see if further strengthening will improve things. If not I'll take your advice and go for the MRI/Xray option. Thanks again for the response.

After reading your post, would agree with the previous that it may be best to get an MRI scan, especially if it is not something that can not be pinpointed suggesting it could be more than one structure affected (muscle/tendon etc). This may eventually aid your rehabilitiaton by prescribing specific exercises relevant to that area to ensure effective recovery. In the meantime, may be worthwhile undergoing a biomechanicial assessment especially if you have flat feet or overpronate, as that can affect the overall mechanics in your lowerlimbs as you could be displacing you body weight on structures in your lowerlimbs that are not used to sustaining such pressures resulting in pain. If this is the case, orthotics are usually provided. Other than that, a good warm up before any physical activity is essential as this warms and softens your muscles, ensuring good bloodflow and nourishes your joints. Good luck with it all, hope this helps.

Hi Peaches,

Thanks for taking time to respond. I am currently keeping going with the strengthening exercises which I think are helping. Just back from the gym now and noticed that I had some slight hamstring pain before the knee started to give me problems tonight which might be a clue to what's going on. I think I'll put some focus on stretching and warming up as you suggest to see if this helps out. Thanks again.