Why knee pain at night? 🤔   There are a few possible causes, but read the full caption for the most common one at the end. 👇🏼   Two common conditions may cause knee pain at night:   Meniscal tears often present with a Sleeper’s sign: a non-severe pain on the inside of your knee that may wake you up if you’re sleeping in the fetal position. 💤   If you are 40+ years old, osteoarthritis is another common cause. (If you are in your 20’s, that’s probably not it) 🙌🏼   If you can’t even lie on the involved side, the first priority is to reduce the pain so you are able to sleep well and be able to recover. Pain modulation is the first order of business here, and modalities and cryotherapy may be the most effective.   In the subacute phase, you may be able to roll onto the involved side and stay there for 30-60 minutes. A combination of hands-on treatment and exercise may be warranted. 💆🏻‍♂️  In the chronic phase, you can lie on the involved side and stay there for 2+ hours. A more aggressive approach with heavy strengthening exercises can usually be taken in these cases. 🏋️‍♂️  But does night pain in your knee means something serious is going on? Very uncommon. Typically the pain is severe, and there are other symptoms like fever, night sweats, deep bone pain, etc. In that case, you need to call your doc right away.  Here is the most common explanation, though:  Usually the pain seems worse at night simply because there are no other distractions. 🤯   During the day, you’re walking, working, and looking at your phone, so the pain doesn’t seem as bad. Once you lay down and bed, and it’s just you and your thoughts, the pain seems worse because you are able to focus on it. 🥴 As always, if you are unsure of what’s going on and you want to be safe, check with a medical professional. 👨🏻‍⚕️ References:  PMID: 31377828 PMID: 24638975 ISBN: 978-0-323-47849-6 #movementismedicine #physicaltherapy #sportsphysicaltherapy #kneepain #stpetersburg #stpetersburg #stpete - @dr.mitko