The knee joint is vulnerable to many disorders. It is a major joint of the body with very long bones attached to it exerting a lot of leverage.  One study (Kuhland 1998) found that a 59kg person puts about 175kg of force on their tshin bones when they are walking.

The knee is also a site for inflammatory arthritis. Osteo arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, sjoogrens syndrome and of course Doctor House´s favourite Lupus. All of these can produce pressure on the knee joint and affect the alignment and positioning of the joint.

The typical Knee Problems can be divided up into different areas:

• Ligment problems – instability and the feeling of the knee giving way are common with these.
• Meniscus problems – pain in the knee joint with difficulty walking up and down stairs, pain when squatting and cracking of the knee.
• Plica problems – usually asociated with pain at the front of the knee, pain when your knee is bent for long amounts of time and popping or snapping sounds.
• Patella (kneecap) problems  - Usually there is pain at the front of the knee, difficulty climbing stairs and clicking of the knee. If the patella is not in the correct place it can rapidly lead to destruction of the cartilage on the femur bone. For this reason its important to catch and treat this condition early.
• Ankle problems that are creating torsion or stress on the knee joint. Most knee problems are a result of poor biomechanics or overuse, many of these stem from over pronation of the ankle. Over pronated ankles create a twisting force on the tibia that stresses the achilles tendon and at the knee the Illio Tibial Band.
• Hip and pelvis issues that are affecting the operation of the knee joint
• Stressed muscles that operate through the knee joint and disrupting the normal joint movement.
• Joint inflammation due to inflammatory processes or trauma.

The source of the knee problem is usually diagnosed by a combination of a medical history, orthopaedic tests (for example testing the ligaments by stressing them) and occasionally by x-rays or MRI.

Once a diagnosis has been made its possible to develop a treatment plan that could include manipulation, stretches and exercises.