I've used acupuncture for knee pain with many people over the years.
There are 3 common types of knee pain from muscular imbalances that seem to come up again and again. These patterns tend to be relatively straight forward to work with, if you know what you're looking for.
To be clear, these are not the only types of knee pain, there are many more reasons why your knee could be hurting and ideally you would come in for a proper assessment, but short of that, here's some tips of how to work with these common forms of knee pain.
Pain Below The Knee Cap
This might be referred to as "sub-patella pain" or diagnosed as "patellofemoral syndrome" (or "runner's knee") or "patella tendonitis" or "patella tendinopathy". In this type of knee pain, the main issue is primarily an imbalance in the quad muscles with the main offender being the rectus femoris. All four quad muscles are large powerful muscles that all attach into the same tendon bellow the knee cap. When there is an imbalance in the forces here, it can lead to issues, especially when you start to increase the load with running. The rectus femoris runs along the midline of your thigh and is the only quad that crosses the hip as well as the knee joint. To help out here you can try foam rolling through the front of your thigh, taking your time and stopping to breath and let go at any spots that are particularly sore. You can also stretch out this area with the classic quad stretch, being careful not to stretch where there is pain.
Pain On The Outside Of The Knee
This might be referred to as "lateral knee pain" or diagnosed as "iliotibial band (ITB) syndrome". Also a common injury for runners.
With this type of pain, the common mistake is to focus on rolling out the ITB. The ITB itself is just a band of fascia, it does not contract like muscle. The tension in this fascia comes primarily from the tensor fasciae latae (TFL), which is a hip flexor right around where your pockets are, and the gluteus maximus.
So to help, you're better off focusing your attention up around the hip with something like a tennis ball. You can still roll along the outside thigh, but you'll want to focus more in the hip area.
Pain On The Inside Of The Knee
This might be referred to as "medial knee pain". It might still be diagnosed under "patellofemoral syndrome", or it could be "pes anserine bursitis" or from injury to any of the other structures around the inside of the knee. If there is any buckling or weakness or you knee giving out, this one should be checked to make sure there isn't a joint component to the pain.
The main muscles we want to be checking for are the vastus medialis (the inside quad or "teardrop" muscle) and the adductors group. If there is pes anserine bursitis, typically the pain is just below the knee on the inside shin bone, we need to work on the sartorius (a hip flexor), adductor gracilis and semi-tendinosis (a hamstring).
To help you can foam roll through the inside of your thigh. It might take a little experimenting to get the right angle. You should also check in with the hip as instability there can lead to instability in the knee.
I hope these tips help you out.
If some simple self treatment is all you need, that's fantastic. If you're looking for a more comprehensive and systematic approach to your knee pain, consider coming in to Acupuncture Grove in Bondi Sydney. Servicing areas such as Bondi Junction, Bondi Beach, Coogee, Clovelly, Bronte, Waverly, Randwick, Maroubra, Double Bay, Watson's Bay, Vaucluse and surrounding Sydney suburbs. You can book online here or reach out with any questions here.
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