Symptom: Knee pain

Introduction: Knee pain

Knee pain: Pain in or around the knee joint. See free access online books about Knee pain below. See detailed information below for a list of 116 causes of Knee pain, including diseases and drug side effect causes.

» Review Causes of Knee pain: full list

Causes of Knee pain:

The following medical conditions are some of the possible causes of Knee pain. There are likely to be other possible causes, so ask your doctor about your symptoms.

• Knee injury
  • Knee strain (type of Knee conditions)
  • Knee sprain
  • Prior knee injury
  • Knee fracture
  • Dislocated knee
  • Dislocated patella
  • Femoral condyle fracture
  • Torn ligament
  • Fractured patella
  • Supracondylar femur fracture
  • Fractured tibial plateau
  • Upper tibia epiphysis and apophysis
• Knee overuse
• Knee infection
• Knee bacterial infection
• Knee inflammation
  • Synovitis
  • Bursitis
  • Knee bursitis (type of Bursitis)
  • Housemaid's knee (type of Bursitis)
• Knee arthritis (type of Knee conditions)
  • Arthritis
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Gout
• Chondromalacia patellae - causing kneecap pain or pain around the knee cap.
• Osgood-Schlatter disease - especially for knee pain in adolescents.
• Osteochondritis dissecans
• Referred knee pain

See full list of 116 causes of Knee pain

» Review Causes of Knee pain: full list

Knee pain: Multiple Symptom Checker

Listed below are some combinations of symptoms associated with Knee pain, as listed in our database. Visit the Multiple Symptoms Checker, to add and remove symptoms and research your condition.

Multiple Symptom Checker - Other Symptoms

• Knee pain: Multiple Symptom Checker

Multiple Symptom Checker Combinations

• Knee pain and Pain (48 causes)
• Knee pain and Nerve symptoms (47 causes)
• Knee pain and Sensations (47 causes)
• Knee pain and Leg symptoms (44 causes)
• Knee pain and Knee symptoms (40 causes)
• Knee pain and Stiffness (29 causes)
• Knee pain and Swelling symptoms (29 causes)
• Knee pain and Joint symptoms (28 causes)
• Knee pain and Movement symptoms (28 causes)
• Knee pain and Joint pain (26 causes)
• Knee pain and Arthritis-like symptoms (25 causes)
• Knee pain and Limb symptoms (23 causes)
• Knee pain and Hip pain (20 causes)
• Knee pain and Walking symptoms (17 causes)
• Knee pain and Back symptoms (16 causes)
• Knee pain and Hip symptoms (15 causes)
• Knee pain and Back pain (14 causes)
• Knee pain and Fever (14 causes)
• Knee pain and Temperature symptoms (14 causes)
• Knee pain and Knee swelling (13 causes)

See full list of 782 Multiple Symptom Checker combinations related to Knee pain

Causes of General Symptom Types

Research the causes of these more general types of symptom:

• Pain (2961 causes)
• Knee symptoms (116 causes)
• Sensations (3157 causes)
• Nerve symptoms (3444 causes)
• Common symptoms (4205 causes)
• Leg symptoms (1066 causes)
• Limb symptoms (1026 causes)

Causes of Similar Symptoms to Knee pain

Research the causes of these symptoms that are similar to, or related to, the symptom Knee pain:

• Knee swelling (16 causes)
• Stiff knee (19 causes)
• Knee locking (18 causes)
• Knee symptoms (116 causes)

Diagnostic Guides for Knee pain

12 MEDICAL SYMPTOM BOOKS: FULL TEXT ONLINE! Read the full text of published book sections related to Knee pain from the following published medical books for more detailed information about Knee pain. Free access (no registration): read all online diagnostic book sections about Knee pain

Copyright notice for book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Misdiagnosis and Knee pain

Leg cramps at night a classic sign: The symptom of having leg muscle cramps, particularly at night, is a classic sign of undiagnosed diabetes. However,...read more »

Psoriatic arthritis often undiagnosed cause of joint conditions: Patients with the skin condition psoriasis can also have the related arthritis...read more »

Vitamin B12 deficiency under-diagnosed: The condition of Vitamin B12 deficiency is a possible misdiagnosis of various conditions, such as multiple sclerosis (see symptoms of multiple sclerosis). See symptoms of Vitamin B12...read more »

Misdiagnosis of knee pain: Finding the cause of a knee problem is a really difficult and challenging feature in general practice. The age of the presentation of a painful knee has varied significance as many conditions are age related. Onset of...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Knee pain

Diagnostic tests for Knee pain:

Various tests are used in the diagnosis of Knee pain. Some of these are listed below :

• Physical examination
  • Inspect the knee with the person walking, standing and lying
  • A systematic examination of the affected knee looking for signs of inflammation, deformity, swelling, disordered stability and reduced range of motion - e.g. tenderness and warmth indicates inflammation; redness of the skin over the joint indicates gout, pseudogout, rheumatic fever or septic arthritis.
  • Full physical examination looking for signs of systemic disease that can predispose or present with joint pain - e.g. rash and pitted nails of psoriasis; Raynaud's phenomenon of rheumatoid arthritis; doughnut-shaped rash of Lyme disease; butterfly rash of systemic lupus erythematosus; abdominal tenderness of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease; heart murmur of rheumatic fever or subacute bacterial endocarditis.
• Blood tests

See full list of 25 diagnostic tests for Knee pain

Diagnosis Checklist: Questions your doctor may ask (and why!)

During a consultation, your doctor will use various techniques in their assessment of Knee pain. Your doctor may ask several questions when assessing your condition. It is important to remember that your consultation is a two-way process and any extra information you can share with your doctor about your symptoms may help them with their diagnosis. Some of the questions your doctor may ask are listed below:

• How long have you had knee pain? - to determine if acute or chronic.
• Is the knee pain transient? - may be due to rheumatic fever, sarcoidosis, relapsing rheumatoid arthritis or trauma.
• Is it unilateral or bilateral? - Unilateral knee pain would suggest gout, septic arthritis, bursitis, hemophilia, pseudogout, osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer around the knee) and traumatic conditions such as torn meniscus, hemarthrosis (accumulation of blood in the knee joint), sprain of collateral ligaments of the knee and fracture.
• Is there a history of trauma? - would suggest sprain, torn meniscus, bruise or fracture.
• If knee pain is related to an injury, explain in detail how the injury happened? - e.g. did you land awkwardly after a leap in the air?; did your knee get a direct blow?; did your leg twist during the injury?; did you hear a "pop" or "snap"?

See Diagnosis Checklist for Knee pain (43 listings)

Diagnosis Checklist: Associated symptoms your doctor may ask about (and why!)

Sometimes, other symptoms may be present and may help your doctor analyse your condition. The symptoms your doctor may ask about (in association with Knee pain) may include:

• Knee swelling? - if knee swelling is present, how would you explain the joint swelling? - e.g. acute joint swelling (1-4 hours) with intense pain would suggest blood (hemarthrosis), infection or gout; subacute (1-2 days) soft joint swelling would suggest synovial fluid effusion; chronic and bony joint swelling would suggest osteoarthritis; chronic and soft/boggy joint swelling would suggest synovial proliferation such as rheumatoid arthritis.
• Knee locking (sudden inability to extend the knee fully but ability to flex fully)? - suggests torn meniscus, loose body, torn anterior cruciate ligament, avulsed anterior tibial spine, dislocated patella.
• Knee catching (feel that something is getting in the way of joint movement but not locking)? - suggests subluxing patella, loose bodies, torn meniscus, torn anterior cruciate ligament, avulsed anterior tibial spine, dislocated patella.
• Knee crepitus (knee grating with movement)?
• Prominent systemic symptoms? - (e.g. weight loss, fever, malaise) - should consider systemic lupus erythematosus, Reiter's disease, Rheumatoid arthritis, scurvy and rheumatic fever.

See Diagnosis Checklist for Knee pain (43 listings)

Stories from Users for Knee pain

Real-life user stories relating to Knee pain:

• Chronic Knee Pain
• Constant knee pain
• Aching pains in hands, feet, and knees. Genetic. Please help!
• sore knees after running
• pains in my legs and knees
• Severe Knee Pain and no help workers comp
• Knee Burning and toes swelling and pain
• knee pain climbing/descending steps
• Sharp, stabbing pain in the right knee
• back of knee pain
• Knee Pain
• unexplained knee and leg pain
• Sharp Pain To Knee
• Knee pain below knee cap and on inside of knee cap also
• numb toes, pins&needles in knees, neck pain
• Knee Pain at night
• double knee replacements ending up with severe hip pain
• Knee numbness and pain
• Clicking knee with intermittent pain
• Knee pain and tingling extremities

Symptom specific forums: The following patient stories in our interactive forums and message boards relate to Knee pain or relevant symptoms:

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• Musculoskeletal (Muscles, joints and bones) (405)
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  • Joint swelling, stiffness, severe foot pain
  • Muscle twitches/spasms
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• Neurological (Nerves) (357)
  • Could this be MS?
  • Numbness and tingling all over
  • Tingling/numbness in arms/hands/legs/face/head [more symptoms]
  • Eye twitch
  • Essential tremor
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• Endocrine (Growth and Metabolism) (93)
  • Symptoms of Cushing's - Tests all negative
  • Has anyone been diagnosed with Wilson's Temperature Syndrome and are being treated??
  • Pitutary tumor
  • I am at my wits end with these symptoms
  • I think I have Cushings, can you help?
  • More user stories

Videos for Knee pain

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Causes of Knee pain listed in Disease Database:

Other medical conditions listed in the Disease Database as possible causes of Knee pain as a symptom include:

• Baker's cyst of knee (and rupture)
• Chondromalacia patellae
• Hoffa's disease
• Howship-Romberg sign
• Iliotibial band syndrome
• Meniscal pathology
• Osgood-Schlatter's disease
• Osteochondritis dissecans
• Patellar tendinitis
• Patellofemoral pain syndrome
• Pellegrini-Stieda syndrome
• Pigmented villonodular synovitis
• Sinding Larsen-Johannson disease

See full list of 116 causes of Knee pain
- (Source - Diseases Database)

Organs affected by Knee pain:

The list of organs typically affected by Knee pain may include, but is not limited to:

• Knee

Detailed list of causes of Knee pain

The list below shows some of the causes of Knee pain mentioned in various sources:

• Acute leukemia
• Ankylosing Spondylitis - knee arthritis
• Arthritis - knee pain
• Baker's cyst
• Baker's cyst of knee (and rupture)

See full list of 116 causes of Knee pain

How Common are these Causes of Knee pain?

This information refers to the general prevalence and incidence of these diseases, not to how likely they are to be the actual cause of Knee pain. Of the 116 causes of Knee pain that we have listed, we have the following prevalence/incidence information:

• 3 causes are "very common" diseases
• 3 causes are "common" diseases
• 2 causes are "uncommon" diseases
• 0 causes are "rare" diseases
• 8 causes are "very rare" diseases
• 104 causes have no prevalence information.

See the analysis of the prevalence of 116 causes of Knee pain

Conditions listing symptoms: Knee pain:

The following list of conditions have 'Knee pain' or similar listed as a symptom in our database. This computer-generated list may be inaccurate or incomplete. Always seek prompt professional medical advice about the cause of any symptom.

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Causes of Knee pain Based on Risk Factors

This information shows analysis of the list of causes of Knee pain based on whether certain risk factors apply to the patient: