Children and adolescents
- Jumper’s knee (patellar tendonitis)
- Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis
- Osteochondritis dissecans
- Patellar subluxation
- Referred pain: slipped capital femoral epiphysis, hip fracture
- Tibial apophysitis (Osgood-Schlatter lesion)
- Trauma: ligamentous sprains (anterior cruciate, medial collateral, lateral collateral), meniscal tear, fractures including epiphyseal fracture , muscle strains
Young adults
- Inflammatory arthropathy: rheumatoid arthritis, Reiter’s syndrome, Pigmented villonodular Synovitis
- Medial plica syndrome
- Patellofemoral pain syndrome (chondromalacia patellae)
- Pes anserine bursitis
- Septic arthritis
- Stress fracture/Stress reaction
- Tendonitis (quadriceps, Patellar tendon, etc)
- Trauma: ligamentous sprains (anterior cruciate, medial collateral, lateral collateral), meniscal tear, fractures, muscle strains
- Referred Pain: neurogenic, hip and leg pathology
Older adults
- Crystal-induced inflammatory arthropathy: gout, pseudogout
- Osteoarthritis
- Popliteal cyst (Baker’s cyst)
- Metastatic cancer
Common Knee pain by Anatomic Site (Figure 1) Anterior knee pain - Jumper's knee (patellar tendonitis)1 - Patellar subluxation or dislocation2 - Patellofemoral pain syndrome (chondromalacia patellae)3 - Tibial apophysitis (Osgood-Schlatter lesion)4 Medial knee pain - Medial collateral ligament sprain5 - Medial meniscal tear6 - Medial plica syndrome7 - Pes anserine bursitis8 Lateral knee pain - Iliotibial-band tendonitis9 - Lateral collateral ligament sprain10 - Lateral meniscal tear11 Posterior knee pain - Popliteal cyst (Baker's cyst)12 - Posterior cruciate ligament injury13 |