Medial Knee Pain

Medial knee pain is pain that occurs on the inner side of the knee and can be due to a number of problems.

It may come on gradually over time or may develop suddenly after an knee injury. It may be a general inner knee pain, movement may be restricted or there may be a sharp pain.

It is very common to get pain on the medial side of the knee, because muscle weakness and/or tightness (which is very common) can subtly change the way the knee moves. This causes more force to go through the inner side of the joint, rather than distributing weight evenly through the whole joint, which results in damage to the inner side of the knee and therefore medial knee pain.

Here you will find a summary of the three most common causes of medial knee pain. Click on the links to find out more about each condition including symptoms and treatment options for each. If you want more help working out what is wrong with your knee, visit the knee pain diagnosis section.

1) MCL Tear

What is it: Damage to some or all of the fibres of the Medial Collateral Ligament on the inner side of the knee

Onset: Sudden onset due to a force through the outside of the leg eg tackle, or sudden twisting of the knee eg skiing

Symptoms: Inner knee pain, swelling, bruising, instability, stiffness

Aggravating Activities: Bending the leg, walking, stairs, sports

Features: There are 3 grades of MCL tear, depending on how severly you have damaged the ligament

Treatment Options: PRICE, knee brace, exercises

Find out more about MCL Tears

2) Medial Cartilage/Meniscus Tear

What is it: Tear in the cartilage lining on the inner side of the knee joint

Onset: Can occur suddenly with a force through the knee, sudden twisting of the knee or gradually through wear and tear

Symptoms: Medial knee pain, swelling, locking, instability, difficulty straightening the leg

Aggravating Activities: Walking, running, squatting, stairs esp going up

Features: There are 4 types of meniscus tear depending on how the cartilage has torn

Treatment: PRICE, exercises, surgery

Find out more about Meniscus Tears

3) Arthritis

What is it: Wear and tear most commonly to the cartilage lining the medial side of the joint

Onset: Symptoms gradually come on over time. Most common over the age of 50.

Symptoms: Morning stiffness, inside knee pain, swelling, clicking/grinding, reduced leg movements

Aggravating Activities: Worse after prolonged rest or activity, cold weather

Features: There are 3 classification stages of osteoarthritis, mild, moderate and severe based on how badly the joint is affected.

Treatment: Depends on the severity but arthritis treatments include exercises, medication, heat/ice, acupuncture, injections and knee braces

Find out more about Arthritis

Want to Know More?

To find out more about these common causes of medial knee pain, choose from the links above. However, just because there is inner knee pain, doesn’t necessarily mean the problem is on the inner side of the joint. Pain can refer to different places so eg a problem above the joint can produce a feeling of inside knee pain.

If your pain doesn’t sound quite like any of these problems, visit the Common Causes of Knee Pain section to find out about the most common knee problems.

Alternatively, if would prefer to diagnose your pain using other specific symptoms, how the pain started or the specific location of the pain, go to the Diagnose Your Pain section for help working out was is causing your pain and to learn what you can do about it.

Remember, the only way to accurately diagnose your problem is to see your doctor.

Go to Diagnosis Section or Homepage

© knee-pain-explained.com 2010-2013.
Updated 30th April 2013
All rights reserved. Terms & Conditions apply