Knee / Leg Pain

The term "shin splints" refers to pain along the shin bone (tibia) — the large bone in the front of your lower leg. Shin splints are common in runners, dancers and military recruits.

Medically known as medial tibial stress syndrome, shin splints often occur in athletes who have recently intensified or changed their training routines. The increased activity overworks the muscles, tendons and bone tissue.

A hamstring injury occurs when you strain or pull one of your hamstring muscles — the group of three muscles that run along the back of your thigh. You may be more likely to get a hamstring injury if you play soccer, basketball, football, tennis, or a similar sport that involves sprinting with sudden stops and starts.

A hamstring injury typically causes a sudden, sharp pain in the back of your thigh. You might also feel a "popping" or tearing sensation. Swelling and tenderness usually develop within a few hours. You may also experience bruising or discoloration along the back of your leg, as well as muscle weakness or an inability to put weight on your injured leg. Specific rehab exercises have been shown to reduce pain and recovery time versus waiting it out.

A torn meniscus is one of the most common knee injuries. Any activity that causes you to forcefully twist or rotate your knee, especially when putting your full weight on it, can lead to a torn meniscus.

Each of your knees has two C-shaped pieces of cartilage that act like a cushion between your shinbone and your thighbone (menisci). A torn meniscus causes pain, swelling, and stiffness. You also might feel a block to knee motion and have trouble extending your knee fully. This injury is not always a surgical case. Believe it or not many humans have asymptomatic meniscus tears.

Osgood-Schlatter disease is a condition that causes pain and swelling below the knee joint, where the patellar tendon attaches to the top of the shinbone (tibia), a spot called the tibial tuberosity. There may also be inflammation of the patellar tendon, which stretches over the kneecap.

Osgood-Schlatter disease is most commonly found in young athletes who play sports that require a lot of jumping and/or running. Overuse paired with a recent growth spurt may trigger the ailment.

Osteoarthritis, commonly known as wear-and-tear arthritis, is a condition in which the natural cushioning between joints -- cartilage -- wears away. When this happens, the bones of the joints rub more closely against one another with less of the shock-absorbing benefits of cartilage.

The rubbing results in pain, swelling, stiffness, decreased ability to move, and sometimes, the formation of bone spurs.