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To begin with, it would be necessary to define what "below the knee" means. Anatomically speaking, the term "below the knee" should refer to the popliteal fossa located at the back of the knee. However, very often Patients refer to the popliteal region as the tibial attachment of the patellar ligament, located below the knee, even though anatomically it is the front of the knee.
Pain in the popliteal fossa area
Pain below the knee located in the popliteal fossa, i.e. the back of the knee, is most often caused by the muscles that attach there, e.g. the triceps calf muscle, the biceps thigh muscle, as well as the tendon of the popliteus muscle. The pain is most often associated with overload, or sports-related microtrauma related to the inflexibility of these structures, such as a pull, tear, or rupture.
Pain in the back of the knee can also result from the effects of a history of overstretch knee trauma. Such an injury can lead to damage to the posterior cruciate ligament.
Other location of the pain source
Sometimes pain under the knee can have a different source than the patient specifies. He says that the knee hurts in the back - in the popliteal fossa, although the pathology is actually in the front of the knee. Due to a painful anterior compartment of the so-called patellofemoral joint, Patients complain of pain at the back of the knee. This can be due to both the radiation of pain and the fact that the gait mechanics change when we have a lot of pain in the knee in general. This leads to overloading of the muscle and tendon structures attaching to the back of the knee.
Pain below the knee caused by a Baker's Cyst
When diagnosing pain under the knee, it is important to remember Baker's cyst, which is a fluid-filled bursa of the gastrocnemius muscle of the calf. This is a pathological structure that appears under the knee most often as a result of some problem in the knee itself, such as a problem with the patellofemoral joint or due to a damaged medial meniscus. Such a Baker's cyst also occurs in children as an idiopathic structure, that is, one that has arisen without a clear cause.
Osgood-Schlatter disease a possible cause of pain below the knee
A sizable group of patients point to a location near the tibial attachment of the patellar ligament as pain under the knee. However, from the anatomical side, the ailment has its origin under the patella - at the front of the knee. This is a problem associated with Osgood-Schlatter disease (mainly in young people), that is, enzenopathy (Enthesopathy - overload-degenerative change of the tendon attachment) of the attachment of the patellar ligament to the tibia. In mature people, the condition can be caused by inflammation of the deep bursa of the patella. It can be the result of a history of Osgood-Schlatter disease and the calcification there as a result of the disease.
How to cure pain under the knee?
The basic way to treat pain under the knee, especially if there has been a minor strain, is to rest and reduce the strain that caused the pain. Pain relief ointments or gels can also be used, but relief may be temporary. Untreated inflammation of the knee joint tends to recur. Therefore, it is advisable to seek the advice of an experienced orthopedist for proper diagnosis. Pain below the knee can be treated in different ways, and it depends on the cause of the ailment.
Related articles:
Learn about other possible causes of knee pain in other areas of the joint.
Bibliography:
- Siddharth P. Jadhav, Snehal R. More, Roy F. Riascos, Diego F. Lemos, and Leonard E. Swischuk. Comprehensive Review of the Anatomy, Function, and Imaging of the Popliteus and Associated Pathologic Conditions. RadioGraphics 2014 34:2, 496-513
- National Library of Medicine - "Popliteal Fossa Pain in 24 Year-old Female" - Kwan Woong Choi, MD,corresponding author Kyung Bong Yoon, MD, Duck Mi Yoon, MD, and Do Hyeong Kim, MD - 2012
- Medical News Today - "What is a Baker's cyst (popliteal cyst)?" - University of Illinois — By Yvette Brazier on December 14, 2017
