12 Causes Of Pain Behind The Knee

Cramps are no joke, folks. From a dull twinge to searing pain, a cramp can strike anywhere, at any time. And it is particularly common in the back of the knee, where it could be the cause of your unidentified pain, according to Medical News Today. The pain that comes from the cramp behind your knee is a result of the muscles in the area becoming overly tight, but the cause of this tightness can vary hugely. As well as using your muscles too much, nerve damage or conditions, dehydration, an overabundance of toxins in your system, pregnancy, or tetanus can all instigate cramps in your legs.

Luckily, a cramp is a short-term condition, and while the pain experienced can be quite extreme, it usually won't last for more than a few minutes. You might find that regularly stretching the muscles that surround and make up the back of your knee, like your calf and hamstring muscles, may provide relief. Altering your walk by taking shorter strides may also cause less impact on your knees. If you're experiencing consistent cramps, though, it may be worth discussing your treatment options with a physiotherapist or doctor.

Talk to any running enthusiast for more than five minutes, and they'll likely start to wax lyrical about their knees. When you run, your knees necessarily take on a lot of work, with the impact of each step moving through and being cushioned by them — and if your running form is poor, your shoes aren't supportive enough, or you're running frequently on hard, unforgiving surfaces, this impact can lead to injury (via Healthline). Over time, your knees can start to suffer from repeated running action (or any type of repetitive impact or stress to the knee, with activities as seemingly low-risk as walking potentially causing strain, says Healthline), and when that happens, you might have a case of runner's knee on your hands.

Characterized by a low-level ache, a runner's knee can be felt in any area of the knee, including the back. This can be felt during everyday activities, or even when you're doing nothing, with your knee at rest. You might also experience some slightly unsettling symptoms like grinding or popping in the knee joint. In most cases, you won't need any significant medical intervention to treat a runner's knee, and by using rest, ice, compression, and elevation (or RICE), as well as pain medication if necessary, it should clear up on its own. If your runner's knee is significant, though, or is due to cartilage damage, you may require further treatment.

Our patellar tendon runs from our shinbone to our kneecap, and forms a large part of our knee, as Cedars Sinai shows. So when it becomes injured, we're pretty sure you'll know about it. Patellar tendonitis occurs when your patellar tendon becomes inflamed, which most commonly happens thanks to repeated impact or overuse of the joint during activities that involve jumping (which is why this condition is also called "jumper's knee"). And as you might expect, when injury presents itself, you may end up feeling a significant amount of pain, as well as swelling and sensitivity around the knee, including around the back.

Given that patellar tendonitis is similar in symptoms to a lot of other knee conditions, you'll likely need a trained medical professional to properly diagnose it. Your best course of action for recovery is to cease any strenuous activities immediately and rest the knee joint until the tendon is fully healed. Your healthcare provider may also request that you perform specific stretches or exercises to bring the area back to full health and strength.

The knee is good at many things, but rotating isn't one of its strong points. As a hinge joint, any rotation to the knee can cause it to become destabilized and injured, and this can impact and injure your meniscus, a small section of cartilage that sits between your bones and acts as a protective pillow (per the Mayo Clinic). Meniscus tears are pretty common, and the tricky thing is, you may not notice them immediately as you might with other knee injuries, with pain sometimes taking up to a full day to appear. When it does arrive, though, the pain will likely be most noticeable when you're applying any twisting motion to the knee.

It's worth bearing in mind, too, that in older adults, meniscus tears aren't necessarily caused by a sudden rotation. As the knee gets older and changes, the meniscus can become more susceptible to tears and injury. Meniscus tears can also increase your likelihood of developing arthritis further down the line.

While many incidences of pain behind the knee are caused by sudden injuries, others are slower — and may be something you have to deal with for life. Such is the case with osteoarthritis, which is highly common in the knee joint (per Versus Arthritis). When our joints become damaged successively throughout our lives, there comes a point when the body can no longer repair them. When this happens, the cartilage that protects our bones from rubbing against each other starts to thin, meaning our bones become more impacted, and our knee joints become painful and less mobile.

Pain from osteoarthritis can impact you anywhere in your knee joint, including around the back of your knee. As osteoarthritis can't be cured, it's important to understand how best to manage the condition, and to make healthy lifestyle choices that can ease pain and encourage function. Exercising regularly, and prioritizing low-impact, joint-friendly activities like swimming are essential to maintain movement in our knees. It's also important to consider the day-to-day impact on your knees, and how you might reduce any additional strain they undergo, whether that's through changing activities, managing weight, or opting for different footwear that can cushion your feet and knees from hard impacts with the ground.

The cartilage in our knees performs an essential job, serving to cushion the impact between the thigh and knee bones and prevent them from rubbing against each other (via National Health Service). Sometimes, though, this cartilage can weaken and break down, and when this happens, things can start to get painful, fast (per the Cleveland Clinic). This condition, known as chondromalacia patella, increases the direct contact and friction between the knee and thigh bones. This results in grinding and pain through the knee, particularly when it's put in a downward-facing movement like descending a staircase.

It's important to point out that while the effects of chondromalacia patella sound dramatic, in many situations it's possible to recover entirely from the condition. To do that, though, it's important to rest the knee as much as possible. A cold pack or over-the-counter pain reliever can mitigate symptoms, and you might also want to think about how you can alter your lifestyle to take pressure away from your knees. If your exercise regimen is especially impactful on your knee joints, for example, you may want to consider lower-impact activities.

If the pain behind your knee is significant, it's vital that you seek medical attention to determine the right course of treatment. But what about in the first instance? How do you treat the knee pain that you've got right now, especially if it's down to a sudden injury or movement?

The first thing you need to do is, quite simply, stop moving (per Healthline). Resting your knee immediately after the pain is experienced is the best thing you can do, primarily to give your knee a rest and to avoid any further damage (via Better Health Channel). Your focus should then be on encouraging healing and reducing swelling as much as possible. Icing your knee throughout the day can bring redness and swelling down, as can elevating it. It's important to raise your knee above your heart when you're elevating the limb — this encourages the swelling to dissipate more than just raising it slightly (per Medical News Today). Compression equipment like bandages or straps are also super helpful to wear around your knee, to give you additional support, particularly when you have to move around. Crucially, though, if these methods do not solve the problem entirely, book in to see your doctor. They can guide you on your long-term options and how to avoid further problems.