You’re finally back on the basketball court. Or hitting the hiking trails. Or starting that couch-to-5K program you’ve been planning. Then your knee starts talking to you. Aching after activity. Stiffness climbing stairs. Maybe swelling. Maybe a concerning click or pop.
Knee injuries are incredibly common when people ramp up activity in spring, especially impact activities like running, jumping sports, or hiking with elevation changes. Your knees have been relatively quiet all winter, and suddenly they’re managing significant forces they’re not prepared for. Let’s discuss the most common spring knee problems and how to protect yourself.
Why Knees Get Injured
Your knee is a hinge joint that handles enormous forces—several times your body weight with each running step. It relies on strong surrounding muscles, stable ligaments, and healthy cartilage to function properly.
Winter inactivity weakens the quadriceps, hamstrings, and hip muscles that protect your knee. It reduces flexibility in muscles and connective tissues. Then spring arrives and you immediately demand your knee handle running, jumping, or hiking—activities requiring strength, stability, and endurance it doesn’t currently have.
Common Spring Knee Injuries
Runner’s Knee (Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome)
This is the classic overuse knee injury when people start running or increase activity too quickly. Pain develops around or behind the kneecap, caused by the kneecap not tracking properly in its groove.
Symptoms include pain during or after running, aching when sitting with bent knees for extended periods, pain going up or down stairs, and sometimes a grinding or clicking sensation. Weak hip and quadriceps muscles, tight IT bands, and doing too much too soon all contribute.
IT Band Syndrome
The iliotibial band runs down the outside of your thigh from hip to knee. Repetitive bending and straightening—especially running or cycling—can irritate where it crosses the knee joint, creating sharp pain on the outer knee.
You’ll feel pain on the outside of the knee, often starting partway through a run and worsening as you continue. Pain typically improves with rest but returns when activity resumes. Weak hip muscles and tight IT bands contribute to this problem.
Patellar Tendinitis (Jumper’s Knee)
The patellar tendon connects your kneecap to your shinbone. Jumping activities—basketball, volleyball, even aggressive hiking with lots of downhill—can inflame this tendon when you haven’t prepared adequately.
Symptoms include pain just below the kneecap, especially with jumping or squatting, tenderness when you press on the tendon, and stiffness after rest that improves with gentle movement.
Meniscus Tears
Your menisci are cartilage pads that cushion your knee joint. Twisting motions—pivoting in basketball, turning quickly on a trail—can tear these structures, especially in knees that aren’t strong or stable.
You might feel a pop when it happens, followed by pain, swelling (often developing over 24 hours), difficulty fully bending or straightening the knee, and sometimes a catching or locking sensation.
MCL and ACL Strains or Tears
Ligament injuries happen with sudden stops, direction changes, or direct impacts. The MCL (medial collateral ligament) on the inner knee and ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) deep inside the knee are most commonly injured in sports.
Symptoms include immediate pain, rapid swelling, instability or the knee giving out, and difficulty bearing weight. These injuries usually require professional evaluation to determine severity.
The Too-Much-Too-Soon Problem
Most spring knee injuries share a common cause: doing more than your knee is prepared to handle. You go from minimal activity to running several miles. Or you jump into pickup basketball without building the strength and conditioning the sport requires. Or you tackle a challenging hike your knee muscles aren’t ready for.
Your enthusiasm is great, but your knee needs preparation. Tissues adapt to stress gradually. Overwhelming them with sudden demands creates injury.
Building Knee Strength and Stability
Before launching into spring activities, spend 2-3 weeks strengthening the muscles that protect your knee.
Strengthen Your Quadriceps
Strong quads stabilize your kneecap and absorb impact forces. Squats, lunges, and step-ups build quadriceps strength. Start with bodyweight versions and progress to added resistance as strength improves.
Don’t Neglect Your Hamstrings
Hamstrings work with quadriceps to stabilize your knee. Bridges, deadlifts, and hamstring curls strengthen these often-neglected muscles. Balanced quad and hamstring strength protects knee ligaments.
Hip Strength Matters Too
Weak hip muscles—particularly the glutes—allow poor knee alignment during movement. This increases knee stress and injury risk. Side-lying leg lifts, clamshells, and hip bridges strengthen critical hip stabilizers.
Improve Flexibility
Tight quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves alter knee mechanics. Regular stretching maintains flexibility and reduces injury risk. Focus on gentle, sustained stretches held 30 seconds, not bouncing or forced positions.
Smart Progression: The 10% Rule
When starting or increasing activity, the 10% rule prevents overload injuries. Increase your running distance, hiking duration, or training volume by no more than 10% per week. This allows your knee—and all tissues—time to adapt.
If you’re starting from zero, begin conservatively. First week, run or hike just 10-15 minutes. Second week, increase to 15-20 minutes. Build gradually over several weeks to longer durations.
For sports involving jumping and cutting movements, ease in with shorter sessions at moderate intensity before playing full games at full speed.
When to Get Your Knee Checked
Some knee pain is normal when increasing activity—mild muscle soreness, temporary stiffness. But certain symptoms warrant evaluation. Get checked if you experience significant swelling, inability to bear weight or walk normally, severe pain, the knee gives out or feels unstable, you hear or feel a pop accompanied by immediate pain and swelling, pain that’s getting worse instead of better, or symptoms persisting more than a week despite rest.
Early evaluation identifies what’s wrong and ensures appropriate treatment. A minor problem caught early is much easier to fix than a chronic issue that’s been ignored for months.
Treatment Approaches
At Performance Health, knee injury treatment focuses on identifying the specific problem—not all knee pain has the same cause, reducing pain and inflammation, strengthening weak muscles contributing to the problem, improving movement patterns that stress the knee, and gradual return to activity with appropriate modifications.
Many knee injuries respond well to conservative treatment when addressed promptly. The key is proper diagnosis so treatment targets the actual problem.
Don’t Ignore Knee Pain
Many people try to push through knee pain, hoping it will resolve on its own. Sometimes minor issues do improve with rest. But often, continuing to stress an injured knee makes things worse and creates chronic problems.
Cartilage damage doesn’t heal well. Ignored ligament injuries can lead to instability and arthritis. Overuse injuries that aren’t addressed properly often become chronic conditions that limit activity for years.
Your knee pain is telling you something. Listen to it.
Protect Your Knees, Enjoy Your Summer
Knee injuries don’t have to sideline your spring and summer activities. Build strength and flexibility before ramping up activity. Progress gradually—use the 10% rule. Listen to your body and respect warning signs. Get pain evaluated promptly rather than hoping it will go away.
Your knees carry you through every run, every hike, every game. Give them the preparation they need and the attention they deserve when problems arise.
If you’re experiencing knee pain or want guidance preparing for spring activities, contact Performance Health. We’ll evaluate your knees, identify any problems, and create a plan to get you active safely and keep you active all season. Don’t let knee pain keep you from the activities you love.