Common Causes of Knee Pain

Family and Sports Medicine Physician Patrick Murray, MD, was featured on a special fitness edition of WFLA’s Bloom co-hosted by fitness celebrity Tony Little. Dr. Murray discussed common causes of knee pain and how to prevent and treat it.

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Gayle Guyardo:

I don’t know about you, Tony, but for me, the hardest thing being a fitness enthusiast, I know you are too, is just being sidelined with pain. And that happens with a lot of knee injuries. You had one, right?

Tony Little:

Yeah. I actually had a total knee replacement. I now have a bionic knee.

Gayle Guyardo:

And you still work out twice a day.

Tony Little:

Twice a day, I work out.

Gayle Guyardo:

Twice a day.

Tony Little:

And I try to be very conscious of what I do by squeezing, not jerking the movements and everything like that. But it made a big difference. And it was so cool because my son was the only one with me at the time that woke up in the bed at night and filled my ice, and turned the generator on, brought my feet up.

Gayle Guyardo:

And did all that for you?

Tony Little:

And he was 11 years old. It was the greatest thing.

Gayle Guyardo:

I love it. I love it. Well, we’ve also got a doctor for you, too. Your son was helpful. Now joining us from Millennium Physician Group is family and sports medicine doctor, Dr. Patrick Murray. Doctor, welcome to Bloom.

Dr. Patrick Murray:

Thank you so much for having me.

Gayle Guyardo:

Yeah. This is a perfect subject for us because you just heard Tony had a knee replacement. I had a knee injury not long ago, just a matter of weeks ago. And this is something that can be excruciating, especially if you’re active, right?

Dr. Patrick Murray:

Absolutely. So one of the thing… The three most common knee injuries I get are typically what we call overuse injuries. So it’s a lot of not so much the quick fall, but sometimes I’m starting to exercise more. I want to get off the couch. I want to do a 5K. And now all of a sudden, my knees hurt and I don’t know why. So the first one I hear about typically is what we call patellofemoral pain. So this involves typically under the kneecap right here. Sometimes whether people are born with wider hips, sometimes the muscles are a little imbalanced, what ends up happening is they get this pain around the kneecap here. And now all of a sudden, this kneecap is starting to rub on the other side of the knee joint. Pain typically comes on more so with running, sometimes going upstairs. And some people complain like, “I feel like I just got to let my knee out, just relax it like this if I’m sitting for long periods of time.”

Gayle Guyardo:

Yeah. So actually, Tony, you had the knee replacement.

Tony Little:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Gayle Guyardo:

So how does that work out with the little model that you have there? Where was that typically placed?

Dr. Patrick Murray:

So typically, the knee replacement’s going to go on partially in this part right in here, and then additionally down in this part here, but also under the kneecap as well. They’ll put in composites of both plastic, ceramic, and also metal.

Yeah. I mean, I work out twice a day. I continue to do it. I was known for woodchuck legs.

Gayle Guyardo:

Really?

Tony Little:

I’ve got big legs, right? But I overused it obviously, and I did. And I had the full replacement done. I feel really great. I go to the gym. I do light leg extensions. I do light leg curls. I do everything that I did before. It’s just a lot lighter and a lot more technique. And I seem to be doing all right. I mean, you know how I run across the stage all the time.

Gayle Guyardo:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tony Little:

It’s all lateral movement, which is really tough.

Gayle Guyardo:

Yeah.

Dr. Patrick Murray:

Absolutely.

Gayle Guyardo:

With the right treatment protocol, you could be like Tony and get on with your life. And so what kind of treatments do you do?

Dr. Patrick Murray:

Great. Yeah. A lot of different ones I offer. First is obviously RICE, or rest, ice, compression, elevation if you need it. Then what we do is get people maybe needing anti-inflammatories, sometimes braces. Typically, if it’s under the kneecap, braces like this can be somewhat helpful.

Gayle Guyardo:

Uh-oh. Here we go. Tony’s got his on.

Dr. Patrick Murray:

Exactly.

Gayle Guyardo:

Yeah.

Tony Little:

Just smart to do, isn’t it?

Gayle Guyardo:

Yeah.

Dr. Patrick Murray:

It is. It can not only help protect, keep that kneecap in line as you’re doing your activities, it also can send a signal to your brain to remind you, “Hey, let me keep an eye on this, make sure I don’t fall into any further injuries.”

Tony Little:

That’s cool.

Gayle Guyardo:

He’s famous for all of his fitness equipment. And a lot of it is designed for low impact, which is probably what you recommend. We don’t need to be out there pounding the pavement.

Tony Little:

Yeah. I still walk on the treadmill incline, and that bothers me.

Dr. Patrick Murray:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Tony Little:

All right. I mean, I like incline. I like walking. But the incline does seem to affect the knee a little bit.

Dr. Patrick Murray:

Yeah. So one of the things I always recommend too, is anytime you’re getting with an injury like this, that it sets you back a lot, work closely with physical therapists or fitness instructors to try to build up a well-balanced body. So doing cross-training, starting maybe with low intensity, but high reps to build up your stamina. And then that helps fill out your body, so there’s less chances of injury.

Gayle Guyardo:

Yeah. I was just about to ask you, is there anything that we could do to prevent further knee injuries or just knee injuries in general?

Dr. Patrick Murray:

Cross-training is my favorite thing to do. So I recommend if you’re going to incorporate cardio, if you like running, definitely do some weight lifting, definitely go to the gym. Like Tony talks about, try to keep the leg strong, your hip muscles strong as well because those tend to fail, especially for distance running or cycling. That can really reduce your chances and reduce a lot of the stress on the knee and limit your chances of arthritis in the future.

Gayle Guyardo:

All right. It’s been very interesting. Doctor, thank you so much.

Tony Little:

Can I have your card?

Gayle Guyardo:

Yeah. Even better than that, I have more information. I posted it all on wfla.com/bloom. We’re going to be back with more of the Bloom Fitness Special right after this.