Benefits of climbing stairs. Injuries, meniscus tear

The appearance of pain in the knee brings significant discomfort to the patient, but the sensations become completely unbearable when a person goes up or down the stairs. Knee pain when walking up stairs is usually associated with increased stress on the patella. This part of the joint, in turn, works closely with other elements of the joint, so the cause of pain can be associated both directly with joint pathologies and with other causes.

The knee joint is one of the largest joints; it carries out a huge load in holding and moving the body in space. If the knee is damaged by injury or a degenerative-dystrophic process has begun in the joint, then this will undoubtedly affect the person’s sensations. And since walking up stairs involves an increased load on the knee joint, signs of the disease make themselves felt very quickly.

Features of the joint

To understand why the knee hurts when walking up stairs and where exactly to look for the cause, it is necessary to turn to anatomy and briefly consider the features of the knee joint. The knee joint is the connecting link between the femur and tibia. The joint includes both bone formations and ligaments that maintain the strength of the knee and provide a certain range of motion.

The knee joint with all its elements is surrounded by a synovial capsule or joint capsule. It is a sealed formation filled with a special liquid. The joint filling is unique in its properties - the liquid is sterile, it has all the necessary properties for smooth gliding of the articular surfaces.

An important component of the joint is cartilage tissue. It covers the surfaces of bones that rub against each other. Cartilaginous tissue is close in origin to connective tissue; it contains a dense intercellular substance. The basis of cartilage is made up of chondroblasts and chondrocytes.

Almost one hundred percent of cartilage is matrix. Its dense component collagen forms a strong frame, and proteoglycans provide it with firmness and elasticity. Typically, pathologies of the knee joint affect the cartilage matrix, leading to its destruction. Climbing stairs becomes the first marker that something is wrong with the knee joint.

Causes

There can be quite a few causes of knee pain. Some of them relate to traumatic injuries. These are various kinds of bruises, dislocations, postoperative consequences. In most patients, knee pain is associated with pathological processes occurring directly in the joint. Let's highlight the diseases that most often lead to knee pain when walking up stairs.

Gonarthrosis

Gonarthrosis is one of the most common pathologies of the knee joint, affecting approximately every fifth person. The disease, in essence, is a degenerative-dystrophic process, during which qualitative changes occur in the hyaline layer of cartilage tissue covering the articular surfaces. With gonarthrosis, the joint space in the knee becomes significantly narrower, the gap between the bones decreases, and when the cartilage tissue rubs against each other, it is constantly destroyed.

If when walking on a flat surface the signs of gonarthrosis may not appear so clearly, then raising your leg on the stairs and resting on your knee provokes a number of negative sensations. A crunch appears in the knee, pressure and friction of the articular surfaces are felt. If the patient ignores these signs and continues to endure pain when ascending or descending, then gonarthrosis will move to a new stage when spines appear - osteophytes.

The progression of the pathological process leads to qualitative rearrangements of cartilage tissue. As a result of deformation, peculiar growths appear that interfere with normal movement in the joint, knees hurt and the amplitude of activity is limited.

IMPORTANT! When osteophytes reach a certain size, they complicate walking and climbing stairs, and subsequently can even lead to immobilization of the limb.

When moving up the stairs, patients with gonarthrosis hear a specific creaking or crunching sound that appears during movement. There is a feeling of friction between the articular surfaces, as if they were in direct contact with each other.

Gonarthrosis can be primary or secondary. Primary pathology occurs as a result of disruption of metabolic processes in tissues. This disease usually affects older people who have problems with blood supply to the lower extremities. Some endocrine diseases also affect the development of gonarthrosis.

Secondary gonarthrosis is a consequence of injury to the knee joint. This could be a meniscus injury or an intra-articular fracture, or previous diseases of various origins.

Gonarthrosis can be caused by the following factors:

• age characteristics;
• increased physical activity;
• excess body weight;
• increased mineralization of bone tissue;
• deficiency of vitamins D and C, important for bones;
• use of hormonal replacement drugs.

In most cases, gonarthrosis occurs in women, since it is women who begin to suffer from bone pathologies (for example, osteoporosis) during menopause.

Meniscopathy

Knee meniscopathy also causes knee pain when climbing stairs. The meniscus takes an active part in the movement of the knee joint and is often injured, especially if there was a strong blow in the projection to the meniscus. Diagnosing meniscopathy is not so easy because it is often masked by pain resulting from injury. The most common injuries to the meniscus are avulsion, tear, or crushing.

The meniscus is an important element of the knee joint, which is often injured - when climbing stairs, a person clearly feels discomfort

In most cases, the meniscus is damaged from the inside. With multiple injuries, chronic valgus or varus deformation of the meniscus may occur, as well as cystic degeneration of the external meniscus.

It is a mistake to think that meniscopathy is the result of sports activities. Quite often, the disease can occur as a result of an unsuccessful step on the leg, a blow to the knee, or a twisted leg. Patients suffering from arthritis, gout, and weak ligaments are at risk of acquiring meniscopathy.

When climbing stairs, meniscopathy is clearly felt. The person feels local pain inside the joint itself, mobility is sharply limited and the patient can no longer move to the next step. When the process worsens, swelling or bruising appears in the knee, and the chronic period is characterized by dull pain in the knee. If there is a concomitant pathology, for example, a knee injury, then the true symptoms of meniscopathy will appear somewhat later, until the signs of the underlying disease pass.

Bursitis

A disease of the knee joint associated with damage to the tissue of the joint capsule and its inflammation is called bursitis. Pathology occurs rapidly. Sometimes in the morning patients walk up the stairs normally, but by the evening they cannot overcome a single stairwell. The reasons for the development of bursitis include traumatic injury to the knee joint, infection from a cut, and active physical activity involving the knee joint.

REFERENCE! It is quite easy to notice bursitis by a significantly increased volume of the knee joint, since inflammatory exudate is actively produced.

Walking up stairs in patients with bursitis is significantly difficult because the knee swells and it is extremely difficult to step on the top step. Fortunately, when symptoms of bursitis occur, patients quickly seek treatment at the clinic.

Arthritis

Damage to cartilage tissue is often accompanied by inflammatory processes - arthritis. The disease affects the cartilage, capsule and synovium. Depending on the cause of the disease, arthritis can be post-traumatic, reactive, rheumatoid, deforming and gouty. For example, gouty arthritis is a consequence of metabolic disorders, and reactive arthritis is a response to toxic effects on tissue. The causes of rheumatoid arthritis are still unknown.

Patients with knee arthritis experience severe knee pain that forces them to stay indoors or use the elevator exclusively.

Patients with arthritis find it extremely difficult to climb stairs. The pain in the knee joint can be so severe that during acute periods patients do not leave the house. During the period of remission, when going down the stairs and going up the steps, there is a crunching and discomfort, a feeling of swelling in the knee.

Periarthritis

The disease is associated with arthritis, but is a more extensive pathology, involving not only articular surfaces, but also tendons and muscles in the pathological process. Many patients note that the first signs of periarthritis appeared in the process of walking up the stairs.

The symptoms of periarthritis are the same as those of arthritis - pain, swelling in the knee, redness of the joint. Discomfort when walking is felt almost constantly, since more joint elements are involved.

Tendinitis

The disease is quite common among knee joint pathologies. Tendinitis affects the tendons of the knee joint where they connect to the bone.

REFERENCE! The disease affects people regardless of age and gender, but still more often the pathology occurs in people involved in sports (cycling, basketball, volleyball), in adolescents and patients over forty years of age.

The tendon attached to the tibia is responsible for extension of the knee joint and extended movements of the joint. When walking up stairs, active movements provoke pain, since the tendon does not allow the previous range of movements. Typically, pain is felt during the period of pushing off with the foot on the lower stairs, when a person needs to lift his leg up to move to the next step. If a person walks several floors, the tension in the joint increases, the pain increases and it does not go away for a long time.

Treatment

If a person’s knee hurts when walking up the stairs, then this is a clear sign of articular joint pathology. When the first signs of pathology appear, you should consult a doctor to diagnose the disease. Often patients cannot visit the clinic in the near future. In this case, patients should take steps to reduce knee pain.

First aid

As first aid, you can use the following advice from your doctor:

• limit physical stress on the knee;
• give your knee a rest by placing a cushion or pillow under it;
• To relieve pain and swelling, you can apply ice or any cold object;
• For two days you should avoid hot procedures – baths, saunas;
• To prevent swelling, you can also bandage your knee with an elastic bandage - this will also help immobilize the limb for a while.

If the pain persists, you can take Panadol or Naproxen as a pain reliever. Treatment with Aspirin and Ibuprofen can only be started on the second day after injury, since these drugs thin the blood and can increase bleeding.

Systematic therapy

Doctors recommend non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and chondroprotectors as the main therapy for the treatment of knee pain. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are basic in the treatment of diseases of this kind. Today, patients have the option of using cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors, which do not cause such harmful effects on the gastrointestinal tract. These are progressive drugs that must be used strictly according to the instructions: Xefocam, Meloxicam, Diclak, Voltaren, Naproxen. It is recommended to take non-steroidal drugs strictly according to the instructions, and contraindications to the use of medications are stomach ulcers, liver and kidney pathologies, and cardiovascular diseases.

Among the extensive group of NSAIDs, the doctor will always select an effective remedy for the patient

A group of chondroprotectors is designed to protect cartilage tissue from destruction. Chondroprotectors are used most effectively as prophylactic agents, but these drugs also help at the first stage of degenerative changes in the joint.

The active substances included in chondroprotectors are glucosamine and chondroitin. These components are part of cartilage tissue and are basic in the restoration process. With the help of chondroitin and glucosamine, cartilage tissue is restored, but only with minor damage.

The functions of chondroprotectors are as follows:

• activation of the mechanism for producing proteoglycans, collagen, hyaluronic acid, glycosaminoglycans;
• protection of cartilage tissue from degenerative changes in the joint;
• providing an anti-inflammatory effect;
• activation of the production of intra-articular fluid.

Chondroprotectors must be taken in courses of at least four to six months, after which a break is taken for four weeks and therapy begins again. It is necessary to treat knee pain in several courses. The most famous chondroprotectors are Artra, Dona, Elbona, Teraflex, Chondroitin-AKOS, Rumalon, Alflutop.

In severe pathologies, if the knees continue to hurt, the doctor may resort to surgery. Surgeries on the knee joint are quite expensive; the highest price is for the knee joint replacement procedure, when parts of the joint are replaced with metal ones.

Knee pain when climbing stairs is one of the first signs of joint pathology. You should not think that knee pain is a consequence of fatigue - it would be more correct to visit a doctor and make an accurate diagnosis. If the pain is caused not by injury, but by degenerative-dystrophic changes in the joint, then the patient will face long-term therapy.

Living in the city, we often use transport and do not find time to go to the fitness club. However, each of us has an excellent opportunity to spend from 540 to 750 kcal per hour by going up/down the stairs.

The approximate energy consumption when climbing at a frequency of 60-70 steps per minute is 0.14 kcal per 1 kg of weight. Thus, a woman with a body weight of 70 kg spends about 10 kcal per minute when climbing stairs. Hence the popular recommendation. Energy consumption when going down stairs is slightly lower. And if you decide, then it is advisable to start with 10-15 minutes and increase to 30-40 minutes.

Walking on stairs significantly reduces body fat, tones muscles and normalizes blood pressure. Climbing stairs also activates the erector knees, the powerful hip erectors (hamstrings and glutes), and the calf muscles (calorizer). Moreover, after three months of such “training”, lung volume increases by 8.6% on average, waist size decreases by 2%, and cholesterol levels drop by 3.9%.

Walking on stairs has the same effect on the body. Moreover, many gyms have long had a stairmaster simulator, which simulates climbing stairs.

You can enhance the effect with weights. Take a 5-7 kg dumbbell in each hand. The versatility of the steps is that you can not only walk or run on them, but also perform exercises.

Always warm up your knees well before starting the exercise. Make sure the soles of your shoes won't slip off the steps.

Choose a flight of stairs with at least three floors (minimum 10 steps each). This is enough for a start, then you can move on to more floors. Stadium steps are a great choice if they are available to you.

Workout 1 - Walking Stairs with Dumbbells

1. Take dumbbells weighing 5-7 kg. Don't be surprised by the light weight - by the end of the climb your thighs will be smoking from the strain. If not, next time use heavier dumbbells. In a few weeks you will be able to lift with a 10kg dumbbell in each hand.
2. Keep your arms hanging freely down. Start climbing.
3. At the end, don't let yourself rest, turn around and start descending at a controlled, average pace. Take your time.
4. Once down, rest for a couple of minutes, then begin the next climb. After going up and down, you should feel tension in your thigh muscles. By the third round you will find it difficult to control your legs - this is a sign that it is time to stop. Your hips will be very sore for two days after this session. Most of your muscle soreness will come from eccentric repetitions while descending stairs under control. Although it is not as difficult as lifting, it is harder work on the muscle fibers - they will suffer some micro-damage. But you shouldn’t be afraid, such injuries will help activate new cell nuclei, and your thighs will acquire definition and density.

Workout 2 - Stair Exercises for Beginners

Once you feel confident on the steps, you can add simple physical exercises to your walking. Before training, be sure to warm up, walk 2-3 flights, and then proceed to the main part.

Perform the exercises one after another, devoting 15-30 seconds to each:

1. Running up the stairs;
2. Jumping;
3. Toe raises;
4. Long steps;
5. Cross lifts;
6. Lifting on hands and feet.

Repeat the exercises in the same sequence 3-4 times. As you train, increase the duration of the session by increasing the number of circles. If pain or discomfort occurs, stop exercising and consult a doctor.

Workout 3 - Advanced Ladder Exercises

Warm up and walk 3-4 flights, and then proceed to the main part of the lesson.

Perform the exercises one after another, devoting at least 30 seconds to each.

1. Running up the stairs;
2. Jumping onto a step from a squat;
3. Uneven-high squats (first on one side, then on the other);
4. Push ups;
5. Reverse push-ups.

Repeat the exercises in the same sequence 3-4 times. This is a difficult workout, so perform the exercises in a controlled manner, pay attention to technique and coordination (calorizator). As you train, increase the duration of the session by increasing the number of circles.

And don’t think that the most ordinary staircase can be replaced with all kinds of steppers or exercise machines. So use elevators and public transport less, and take the stairs and walk more.

If you seek medical attention, the risk of complications increases significantly.

Possible causes of pain

The only physiological cause of pain when walking up stairs is muscle strain. It can occur due to prolonged standing or heavy physical activity. Lactic acid accumulates in muscle tissue, which leads not only to moderate soreness, but also to a feeling of severe pain. Such symptoms of muscle strain disappear quite quickly - just a short rest is enough.

When pain when going up or down stairs becomes constant and gradually intensifies, then its natural origin is impossible. With a high probability, the knees are affected by inflammatory or degenerative pathology.

Rheumatoid arthritis

Gout

When to see a doctor

The vast majority of knee joint diseases respond well to conservative therapy if a person seeks medical help when the first, mild symptoms occur. Even when diagnosing pathologies that are still incurable, it is possible to quickly achieve stable remission. At this stage, the disease is almost clinically silent and does not spread to healthy joint structures.

It is advisable to consult a general practitioner - therapist. After carrying out a series of diagnostic measures, he will refer the patient to a rheumatologist, orthopedist or traumatologist.

Diagnosis of the disease

At the first appointment, the doctor examines the patient, listens to his complaints, and studies the medical history. To confirm the initial diagnosis, a number of instrumental studies are carried out. Using radiography, it is possible to detect destructive changes in the tibia and femur that have formed, narrowing of the joint space, and signs of subchondral osteosclerosis. , are prescribed to assess the condition of the cartilage layer of the joint, blood vessels, ligaments, and nerve trunks. Performed according to indications.

The results of general clinical tests (leukocytosis, elevated ESR levels) allow us to establish the presence of an inflammatory process. Serology is necessary to exclude or confirm rheumatoid arthritis.

First aid

If mild pain occurs when walking, then only a short rest is often enough to eliminate it. You can get rid of moderate or severe pain by taking one tablet of any kind - Nise, Ketorol, Ibuprofen. They cope well with discomfort in the knee and, Bystrumgel. You cannot use heat as first aid until the cause of joint pain is determined. This can trigger muscle spasms or increase inflammation.

How to treat diseases

When determining treatment tactics, the doctor takes into account the type of pathology, the severity of its course, and the severity of symptoms. An integrated approach to therapy is practiced. It is aimed at eliminating all signs of the disease and preventing its progression. Patients are recommended to have a gentle motor regimen and wear soft or semi-rigid elastic ones.

Medications

In the treatment of pathologies manifested by pain when walking up stairs, drugs of various clinical and pharmacological groups are used. These can be antibiotics, muscle relaxants, group B, anticoagulants, venotonics, basic agents,. When calculating single and daily doses, the doctor must take into account the patient’s age and the presence of chronic diseases of internal organs.

Massage technique

Classic massage is most in demand in treatment. At the beginning of the session, the massage therapist performs stroking and rubbing, and then proceeds to kneading, vibration, and superficial palpation. It affects only the muscles, without affecting the bone and cartilage structures of the knee. Complete the procedure of rubbing and stroking. After 15-20 sessions, blood circulation in the joint improves, muscle spasms do not occur, pain noticeably weakens, and stiffness of movement disappears.

What exercises should you do?

Immediately after eliminating severe pain, the patient is sent to a physical therapy doctor with diagnostic results. An individual set of exercises is compiled taking into account the type of pathology, its stage, and the presence of complications. A physical therapy doctor is present at the first classes. He shows how to perform exercises correctly so as not to damage the cartilage and ligamentous-tendon apparatus. All movements during training should be smooth, slightly slower. What exercises are most therapeutically effective:

• rotation with legs bent at the knees in a lying and sitting position (imitation of cycling);
• shallow lunges and squats with emphasis on a wall or chair;
• swing your shins from a lying position on your stomach.

If it hurts you to climb stairs, it means that the muscles responsible for movement are swollen .

The speed of lymph in such dense, hard muscles is reduced and, therefore, the lymph cannot quickly and fully remove constantly occurring waste from the muscle cells. As a result, the cells momentarily increase in size, beginning to put pressure on the nerve endings located next to them. This is how it occurs, which manifests itself when climbing stairs.

Treatment using the Nikonov method on muscles

Hip pain when climbing stairs can be eliminated . To do this, you need to identify the problem muscles and act directly on them. An effective method for eliminating painful sensations is the technique of influencing muscles according to the Nikonov method with fixation of the problem muscle, developed by Nikolai Borisovich Nikonov. Over the course of 30 years, the myologist has improved his skills, which has allowed him to achieve significant results in the treatment of pain. Patients who seek help from Nikonov feel significant relief after the first session of influencing muscles using Nikonov’s method.

How it works

At home, it restores the flow of lymph and activates cell function. At the same time, the latter decrease in size, stop putting pressure on the nerve endings, and the process of intoxication stops. The efficiency of the cells is restored to the physiological norm, the pain goes away.

Treatment is recommended to be carried out at the patient’s home in order to avoid unnecessary stress during a visit to the clinic.

Why does pain occur?

Pain in the hip joint when climbing stairs is caused by tight, problematic muscles that are responsible for movement. When climbing stairs, muscles contract. At the same time, the speed of lymph in problem muscles decreases, therefore, the outflow of waste products slows down. The muscle cell cannot quickly rid itself of its waste products and momentarily increases in volume, as a result the patient experiences pain in the hip joint when lifting.

I am a myologist and for 30 years I have successfully eliminated pain in patients who have difficulty climbing stairs. My patients explain to me that pain in the knees is also caused in the knee joint, but since the mobility in the joint does not change, I do not consider this version.

When climbing stairs, pain in the knee joint is caused by the quadriceps muscle of the reed, the attachment point of which is in the area of ​​the knee joint.

When the quadriceps femoris muscle swells, it becomes firm to the touch and cannot quickly straighten or contract to its full normal length. I begin to eliminate those involved in climbing the stairs, and the pain in the knee joint goes away.

Looking through the magnification of an electron microscope at muscle fibers in patients who complain of knee pain when climbing stairs shows how the muscles deteriorate. In a healthy person, normal muscle looks like this:

In patients who complained of knee pain when climbing stairs, the pain became more severe as swelling in the muscle fibers increased.

Explanation for the photo above:

• Figure A shows swelling between muscle fibers (white) when complaints of pain were minor and intermittent.
• Figure B shows quadriceps swelling causing persistent knee pain when climbing stairs.
• Figure C shows swelling of the quadriceps muscle so severe that the muscle fibers are separated from each other. With this muscle condition, climbing stairs without support is impossible due to severe pain in the knee joint.

Treatment for knee pain when climbing stairs

I eliminate swelling from the muscle fibers by influencing the muscles using the Nikonov method with fixation of the problem muscle. As a result of the impact, the pain disappears!

Doctor Nikonov

Recently, patients began to come to me with joint pain when climbing stairs without changes in the knee joint.

Professor Philip Conaghan, the world's leading authority on musculoskeletal disorders at the University of Leeds, believes joint pain when climbing stairs is caused by osteoarthritis, which is a degenerative disease of joints in which cartilage wears away at the ends of bones. Then I asked the professor: “What causes pain in a joint if the cartilage wears out?” Professor Conaghan could not answer. He suggested that pain in the knee joint was caused by inflammation. I asked him to clarify: “If pain is caused by inflammation, then an MRI should show this, but in millions of people, an MRI only shows soft tissue swelling. And why don’t medications relieve pain in the knee joint when climbing stairs, but my effect on the muscles using Nikonov’s method, aimed at squeezing out swelling from the muscle fibers of the quadriceps femoris muscle, eliminates the pain?”