What is Knee Tightness? Give the Causes and What You Can Do to Treat it?

Knee tightness causes a severe pain that is not only unbearable but also proves a great hurdle for performing your daily chores. Knee tightness usually occurs as a result of muscle weakness, injury or arthritis in your quads. However, the knee tightness can be treated with low intensity exercises and gentle stretches. In case of severe pain due to tightness in the knee, talk to your doctor to suggest other options to relieve the tightness and pain in knees.

Stiffness and Tightness in Knee

Physical stressors like bearing extra weight, injuries or other mechanical problems lead to knee tightness and stiffness. This may occur in both or only one knee at a time. Other factors contributing to knee tightness include lack of strength, flexibility or excess of weight laid on knees. Sometimes, a medical condition such as any infection, arthritis or gout may also be the cause of knee tightness. Knee injury also causes tightness and stiffness in the knee.

In this article, you will learn about different causes of knee tightness and what ways to adopt to manage the associated pain and stiffness.

Knee tightness along with Swelling and Pain

Pain in the Knee: Your body has an automatic defense system that prevents complications that may be caused by any injury, infection or disease. Pain is one of those alternative ways that your body adopts to prevent your injury from getting worse. Knee pain results in limiting movement and prevents you bearing extra weight. This can lead to prevention of more stiffness on your knees. That’s why pain is considered as an alarm to inform you that your knee need care and treatment now. Pain in the knee also informs you that an injury has caused damage to your knee that should be treated soon.

Swelling in Knee: injury, overuse or bearing extra weight can cause building up excess fluid inside the knee. Excessive fluid building is the leading cause of tightness and swelling in the knee.  Initially, swelling is ignorable and you may not notice it but over time it becomes severe if it is causing an injury. Sometimes swelling may not be visible, you just experience tightness in the knee. Swelling no matter what causes it, leads to limited movement. This is because there’s no more spare in the knee joints to move the joints freely. Knee joints can move up to a certain limit. Swelling causes shortage of space that leads to less movement. Similarly, injurious, internal bleeding and discomfort in one cause build up a fluid. Other causes of fluid build up in knees are cyst formation, gout and arthritis. All these factors cause swelling in the knee.

So the discussion explains that swelling and pain in the knee are two defensive mechanisms of your body that make you alert about a disturbance in your knee and make you ready to protect the targeted organ. Pain and swelling, together, leads to stiffness in your knee. 

More possible causes of knee tightness include:

Injured Ligaments

Hyper-extension of the knee or any trauma can lead to injury in ligaments. However, the ligament injury usually occurs in sports guys or in hyperactive people. Any sprain, tear or rupture can damage your ligament. Injured ligaments cause internal bleeding. That often results in limited movement, swelling, and stiffness in the knee.

Treatment Measures for Injured Ligaments

When you find that your knee ligaments get injured. Follow the instructions jotted below:

• Do regular ice treatments.
• Keep your knee elevated above your heart while taking rest.
• Take painkillers prescribed by a certified healthcare professional.
• Use crutches, brace or splint to protect and support your injured ligaments, especially when you’re healing.
• Take some physical therapy or rehabilitation sessions.
• In case of severe injury to the knee, go for surgery as it requires.

Injured Meniscus

You may observe that sportsmen especially take sudden turns and then stop while playing. The sudden turns, forced rotations, or putting excess pressure on the knee can damage or tear the cartilage present at the conjunction of knee joints. The damage to cartilage bones is commonly known as meniscus injury. Injured meniscus usually occurs during a sport. However, it may also occur while doing something as simple as getting up too fast from squats or climbing up stairs. Meniscal tears also result due to degenerative conditions like osteoarthritis. 

In addition, injured meniscus also causes swelling and pain in the knee. It also causes limited movement and prevents your knee from moving to its full range. Your knee may experience being fully locked in certain positions. The restricted movements often result in stiffness in the knee.

Treatment Measures for Injured Meniscus

Injured meniscus need some treatment measures as noted below:

• Do ice treatments several times a day.
• Keep your knee elevated above your heart while taking rest.
• Take anti-inflammatory but non-steroidal education for pain relief.
• Use crutches while walking.
• Avoid putting excess pressure on injured knees.
• Use a compression bandage to avoid inflammation.
• Pursue physical therapy for immediate recovery.
• Go for surgery if your doctor suggests.

Knee Tightness after Surgery

Knee stiffness is a normal condition after a surgery and it can be improved with proper care and some medications/ however, if left ignored it can cause more complications. Therefore, it’s important to take proper treatment measures to prevent knee tightness after a surgery. Take rehabilitation exercises regularly to build up strength, flexibility and stability so that the knee can heal soon. In most cases, it may take approximately six months to return to your physical work and activities. Take rest during the healing duration and avoid excess movements soon after a surgery.

The most common types of knee surgery include:

• Lateral release.
• Total knee replacement.
• ACL reconstruction.
• Tendon repair.
• Micro fracture.
• Knee arthroscopy.
• Meniscus transplant or repair.
• Knee ligament repair.
• Plica excision.
• Meniscectomy.

Precautionary Measures after a Knee Surgery

You may be recommended a knee brace after a knee surgery. Make sure to use it properly and regularly according to the instruction of your physiotherapist. Try to fit two fingers under the strap. If it makes you uncomfortable, you can also fit a third finger to adjust the tightness. Doctors often recommend the use of braces for four to eight weeks. 

Secondly, you can use crutches . Crutches are the best tool to avoid putting extra pressure on your knees. You should use crutches until your physiotherapist says it’s okay. Doctors usually recommend using crutches for two to four weeks. After this duration you can use the hot tub, take bath and swim on your own without any hurdle. 

Third one is your diet that plays a key role in preventing damage to knees after a surgery. Drinking plenty of fluids and following a healthy diet can help you recover soon. Eat fiber rich foods like vegetables and fruits so that you may have regular bowel movements. This will help you move around as much as you want.

Treatment Measures for Knee Stiffness after a Surgery

After a knee surgery, you should take care of your knees. You should follow the instructions given below to recover soon:

• Do ice treatments several times a day.
• Elevate your knee while lying down.
• Have good quality sleep and take rest as much as you can till your knee fully recovers.
• Take medications regularly, if recommended by your doctor.

Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis

These are the most common  causes of knee tightness. Studies suggest that osteoarthritis occurs when your knee cartilage starts to erode that often leads to misalignment. Rheumatoid arthritis happens after a damage to the lining of knee joints. This often leads to inflammation in the knee joints. Both types of arthritis result in knee tightness, limited range of motion, deformity of joints, and limited function. You can prevent the damage caused by two types of arthritis by taking slight exercises that can strengthen the muscles present surrounding the knee. The exercise also can help promote knee stability and improve range of motion.

Treatment Measures to Manage Arthritis Stiffness

• Do special exercises designed for knee arthritis treatment.
• Take pain re;if drugs before taking an exercise.
• Do heat treatment before starting your exercise.
• Do an ice treatment after finishing a workout.
• Always practice low intensity workouts like swimming, walking. Or an elliptical trainer.

Strong and Weak Leg Muscles

Experts suggested that the leg muscles, especially the muscles surrounding your knee must be in healthy condition. You should take care of strength and flexibility of your leg muscles as they provide support, strength, and stability to your knee joints and promote unlimited motion in your knees. Strong and healthy leg or knee muscles actually help alleviate knee tightness. Similarly, strong muscles in the buttocks, knees and legs are considered essential for preventing stiffness in knees after an infection or injury. Many studies have found that showed several benefits of storing leg muscles in relation to knee tightness prevention. 

According to a 2015 study involving nearly 1000 men and women who were at the high risk of arthritis found that strong quadriceps and hamstrings help prevent pain and stiffness in knees.

In addition, having strong quadriceps may help reduce risk of future knee problems including, arthritis, injuries or fluid building. Stronger muscles also help support knee joints.

Moreover, a 2018 research had suggested that weak quadriceps were linked with an increased risk of knee pain especially in women with age above 30. However, the percentage of knee pain in men in old age is less than women. Thus studies explained that strong leg muscles are closely associated with knee pain. Weak muscles don’t work properly to prevent stiffness, pain and tightness in knees the stronger one do. Studies also claim that there is a sex-specific difference in  risk factors of worsening the pain between men and women.

Treatment Measures for Weak Leg Muscles

Weak leg muscles not only cause damage to your knee health but they also worsen the symptoms of gout, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. 

Follow the instructions to make your leg muscles string as you need:

• Take regular exercise that can support strength and mobility in your knees and legs.
• Do leg stretches to increase flexibility in your leg muscles.
• Attend regular sessions with massage therapists for better functioning of leg muscles.
• Promote good movement patterns with hip abduction exercises.
• Practice specific yoga poses that help relieve pain in hamstrings and quadriceps.
• Do stretches to enhance knee joint stability.

If symptoms remain persistent, talk to your physiotherapist to suggest another treatment plan that may take into account your specific needs.

When to Seek Medical Help?

Although the treatment measures for every cause of knee tightness mentioned in this article have a certain medical basis, it is always suggested to see your doctor before implementing any treatment measure. As the doctors have cleared us about the cause of your knee pain and knee tightness. You and your healthcare professional together can plan better to treat the condition. Your doctor may ask for a lab test, imaging test or physical examination. These things may help them to understand the causes of knee tightness, severity of symptoms and state of your knee.

Therefore, it is recommended to seek help from a doctor specialized in joint issues and musculoskeletal problems. Contact an orthopedic surgeon if you need knee surgery.

Top Tips for Knee Stretches and Knee Workouts

Here are a few guidelines for you, which should be followed necessarily when you are doing knee stretches or knee exercises.

• Always start with warming up your muscles before beginning stretching.
• To avoid muscle tearing, always pose smoothly and stop bouncing. 
• Do stretches just two to three times a week for 15 minutes. Overdoing can cause harm to hamstrings.
• Avoid longer sessions of stretching.
• Low intensity stretching always helps you increase your motion and knee flexibility, so do it.
• Perform stretches or extension of a mirror so that you may maintain a proper posture that can support your knees while exercising.
• Stretch booth slides of body equally.
• Avoid overstretching as it can cause knee tightness.
• Don’t stretch farther than your muscles are ready to as overdoing can cause pain in the knee.

Conclusion

Knee tightness has become a common health condition but proper care, treatment and preventive measures can help you get rid of knee tightness and knee stiffness. If you have a knee injury or infection that is leading to build up fluid in your knees, commit a treatment plan with the help of your certified healthcare professional to avoid the stiffness, pain and tightness in your knee. 

Stretching and slight knee exercise can help you relieve the symptoms. If these measures do not affect your tightness and symptoms get worse, talk to your doctor. They will guide you in a better way and may suggest some plan to relieve the symptoms so that you can perform life activities normally.