Have you found that one of your knees feels better than the other? Is discomfort isolated to just one of your knees? Despite the fact that our knees handle similar stress patterns each day, many people find that one knee seems to wear down faster than the other. It’s common for a patient to present to our office in need of therapy or a replacement procedure in one knee while their other knee is relatively healthy. Why does this happen? In today’s blog, we explain some of the common reasons why one knee may wear down faster than the other.
Reasons For Uneven Knee Degeneration
There are a few different reasons why one knee may feel worse than the other. Let’s take a closer look at some of the common reasons for uneven knee degeneration.
- One Handles More Stress – Our knees handle similar stress patterns for the majority of the day, but there are likely times when one knee ends up handling more stress than the other, and you might not even be aware of it. Perhaps you always lead with your right leg when going up and down stairs, or you work in the trades and regularly get down on your left knee to perform work. These subtle differences in stress endurance may not be noticeable after a day, but if you’re doing these things for years or decades, eventually the uneven stress on your knees can cause one to wear down quicker.
- Injuries – Another common cause of uneven knee degeneration is due to a previous injury. Perhaps you injured your knee, your hip or your ankle when you were younger and you never fully recovered from that injury and tissue damage. If an area of your body is weaker than others as a result of injury, nearby structures have to handle more stress to make up for this deficiency. If you end up putting more strain on your right knee to protect your left ankle after a fracture, that knee may wear down faster because of the extra stress it handles because of an injury that never got back to full strength.
- Muscle Imbalances – Muscular imbalances can also impact how the knee joint is able to comfortably handle stress. If nearby structures like the hamstrings, quadriceps and glute muscles are weaker than other muscle groups or the opposing muscle groups in the other leg, it can lead to uneven strain on one knee and speed up the degenerative process. Developing strong and balanced muscle groups can help ensure one knee isn’t more stressed than the others.
- Athletics – Even if an athlete remains uninjured, there’s a possibility that they will put uneven strain on their knees. A football player that drives off their right knee when running routes, a pitcher that is constantly landing on their lead leg when throwing a pitch or a soccer player that has a more dominant leg may find that their sport leads them to put uneven strain on their knees, and they may feel the effects of this wear and tear later in life.
- Genetics/Gait Abnormalities – Finally, there’s also the chance that genetics or a gait abnormality are contributing to your knee issue. Perhaps one leg is ever so slightly longer than the other, which would impact how stress is placed on each knee, or your hip structure changes your gait, leading to amplified stress on one knee over the other. Working with a physical therapist can help you overcome some of the genetic or structural factors contributing to your knee degeneration.
Whatever your cause, we’re confident that we can pinpoint the issue and develop a treatment plan suited to your needs and goals. For more information on knee degeneration and the treatment options available to you, reach out to Dr. Botero and his team today at 865-450-1218.
