Transcript
Hi, It’s Dr. Centeno, and this is part of my “You’ve Got the Power” series on what you can do at home to understand why your, in this case, knee hurts. I’m going to focus on the inside of your knee.
So, if you’re stuck at home, what can you do to figure out why the inside of your knee is hurting? Now, regrettably, healthcare has always been a situation that’s a little bit asymmetrical in that the doctor knows more than the patient.
So, the goal of all of this is to give you the power to understand what’s going on, and I’m going to share my physical exam secrets learned over a lifetime of treating patients with pain.
So, we’re going to focus on the inside of the knee today, and I want you to focus on palpitating or pressing on three different critical spots on the inside of your knee. The first is going to be the inside joint line. Now, to find this, you’ve got to feel the inside of your knees starting behind the kneecap.
Blue: Inside Joint Line
And if you move up and down there, you’re eventually going to find a depression. (So, again, this is behind your kneecap on the inside of your knee.) And if you move up and down, you’ll find a depression in there. And once you found that, you can then follow that depression all the way back, which is going to be the joint line where the two bones meet. And you want to see if that’s tender, both in the front, the middle and the back part of the inside of the joint line.
Red: Inside Pes Area
And then you’re going to go to the inside Pes area. So, the inside joint lined area here is blue off on the right. Then this inside Pes area is red. And so your going to go from there.
Yellow: Inside Hamstrings
So, you’re going to start back in this area now (see above). And if you go from there down and towards the front, that’s what’s called the Pes Anserine. And those are tendons that attach there. And that’s like the tennis elbow spot of the knee, very common spot that can be tender.
And then if you go up from the back part of the knee there into the inside hamstrings tendon, that’s another common spot of tenderness. And that’s the yellow.
So again,
- Blue – joint line,
- Red – Pes area, and,
- Yellow – the inside hamstrings.
Related: Rotator Cuff Tear Home Exam
So, what does all this stuff mean and why should it be important to you?
- Well, if we’re talking about the inside of the joint line, again, that blue area, then that could be the meniscus or arthritis in the inside of the joint if you’re tender.
- It you’re tender more on the inside Pes area, there are three tendons that come together there, and that’s, again, the tennis elbow of the knee. So, it’s a common area where the tendons get pissed off, especially in patients who have low back problems, because those tend to rip up this tendon through issues with the nerves.
- And then the inside hamstrings. This is the inside hamstrings tendon and again, patients with low back problems can make this tendon issue worse.
So obviously, if it’s inside of the joint issues, you might need something like a platelet-rich plasma injection or a stem cell procedure in the knee – and that’s more of looking at an MRI.
If it’s these tendon areas, either the inside Pes area or the inside hamstrings, then that may be a more focused treatment on those tendons and possibly an evaluation of your back. So you may want to look at my low back sensation video to see if there are any nerve problems in your back.
So, if you want to take the next step in helping your knee pain without surgery by using your own platelets and stem cells, sign up for an at home telemedicine exam now.
That means that we have Regenexx doctors waiting who can see you while you’re at home during the shutdown or afterwards. And they can evaluate you over a telemedicine portal, so you can sit right at home. They’ll send you an exam that you can do on yourself that’s more extensive than what I just did. And they will help you figure out what the next step is for you.
So, thanks so much for watching and have a great day. And remember: You’ve got the power!
