These three issues could make your knee feel stiff and tight

Knee Feels Stiff and Tight

Like the hinge on a busy office door, your knees bend hundreds or even thousands of times per day. However, your knee is much more complex than a door hinge. It’s made up of three bones, and the knee also contains ligaments, tendons and cartilage. In addition, this joint is supported by muscles in the thigh and calf. 

Issues with any of these structures could cause your knee to feel stiff or tight. Physical therapists can help treat these symptoms, but they must first pinpoint their cause to treat them effectively. 

Three issues that can cause your knee to feel stiff and tight

Knee injuries and conditions can benefit from physical therapy in many ways. Therapists can build you a knee therapy plan that can improve joint flexibility and mobility. They can also help reduce soreness and pain in your knee. Therapy plans are designed to help slow the progression of degenerative conditions and decrease symptoms in the future. 

In order to meet these goals, therapists need to know what’s causing your knee to feel tight and stiff. Here are three issues that physical therapists commonly see causing these symptoms: 

  1. Overexertion — Most people have pushed their bodies while exercising. This can help increase your fitness level, but it can also cause injuries to soft tissue in and around the knee. Muscles are especially likely to be injured when pushed too far during an exercise routine. Soft tissue injuries from overexertion can easily be the source of stiffness and pain in your knee. 
  1. Osteoarthritis — This condition can happen in almost any joint of the body. It occurs when the soft tissue of a joint becomes inflamed, and the wear and tear that happens naturally in your knees can lead to osteoarthritis. In the early stages of this condition, you might just feel stiffness or tightness when moving your knee. But you’re likely to develop symptoms like pain and swelling as well as your arthritis progresses. 
  1. Quadriceps injury — The quadriceps muscles are located at the front of the thigh right above the knee. These four muscles are partly responsible for moving and supporting the knee joint. An impact to the thigh or repetitive movements during exercise can cause these muscles to be overstretched. These factors can also lead to quad muscle tears, and both issues can make it more difficult to move your knee. 

Excel Sports & Physical Therapy can help if your knee feels stiff and tight

Have you been dealing with feelings of stiffness and tightness in your knee? Our Excel Sports & Physical Therapy team is ready to help you find effective physical therapy for your symptoms. We offer free screenings designed to reveal the source of your knee symptoms. Our team can also build you a personalized treatment plan to target this source, and your plan could include beneficial therapy techniques like: 

Take the next step to start getting our help with your knee issue. Contact our team today for more information or to schedule your initial appointment.