Medial Knee pain and the Saphenous Nerve

If you've been in a physical medicine practice for any length of time, you've seen patients with stubborn tenderness along their medial knee. Sometimes this shows itself to be a clear result of MCL sprain or osteoarthritis, or Patellofemoral dysfunction, or Pes Anserine tendinopathy. But often -- far more often than our education typically biases us to believe -- there may be a neurogenic inflammatory driver. In other words, the tissues of the medial knee have become mechanically sensitized by inflammatory cytokines secreted by their nerve. In this case, the infrapatellar branch of the Saphenous nerve. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/... This video is a quick overview on how I assess and treat saphenous entrapment/neuritis. If you have further interest, I highly suggest doing a Pubmed search on this fascinating condition, and/or perusing these references below. Settergren, R. (2013). Conservative management of a saphenous nerve entrapment in a female ultra-marathon runner. Journalof Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 17(3), 297–301. McCrory, Paul & Bell, Simon & Bradshaw, Chris. (2002). Nerve Entrapments of the Lower Leg, Ankle and Foot in Sport. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.). 32. 371-91. Dunaway D et al. (2005) The Sartorial Branch of the Saphenous Nerve: Its Anatomy at the Joint Line of the Knee. Arthroscopy: The Journal of Arthroscopic & Related Surgery.21:5. 547-551. Ombregt, L. (2013). Pressure on nerves. In A System of Orthopaedic Medicine (3rd ed., pp. 21–27). Pecina, M. M., Krmpotic-Nemanic, J., & Markiewitz, A. D. (2001). Tunnel syndromes: Peripheral nerve compression syndromes. Boca Raton: CRC Press.