# Why Your Knees Hurt and What to Do

> Doctors explain common knee pain causes and fixes.
- Title: Why Your Knees Hurt and What to Do · Men's Health | Shortify
- Summary: Doctors explain common knee pain causes and fixes. Knee pain often signals meniscus tears, ligament damage, or osteoarthritis; physical therapy and gradual…
- Keywords: knee pain, meniscus tear, acl ligament, osteoarthritis, physical therapy, knee injury, knee stability, Knees, Hurt, Men's Health
- Source: Men's Health — https://menshealth.com/health/a74120826/why-your-knees-hurt-and-what-to-do-about-it
- Author: Marty Munson
- Published: 2026-10-15T13:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: knee pain, meniscus tear, acl ligament, osteoarthritis, physical therapy, knee injury, knee stability
## What Makes Your Knees Hurt
Twists, turns, and pivots cause meniscus tears and ACL injuries.

> CrossFit and Pickleball have probably brought us the most patients with meniscus tears out of anything in the past 10 years
## Weekend Warrior Risks
Sudden high volume training causes patellar tendon pain and swelling.

> Going from the couch to running 10K in five days, or trying to crush nightly pickup basketball games when you haven’t touched a ball in years, basically, suddenly overdoing volume, can cause swelling and pain in the patellar tendon at the front of your knee
## Age and Osteoarthritis
Cartilage wear from age, obesity, or injury leads to osteoarthritis that doesn’t heal.

> Once it’s damaged, it can’t heal. Even with all the NIH money and everything we have now, we still haven’t figured out a way to make it heal back to normal
## 3 Signs of Serious Pain
Pain with swelling, collapsing, or locking signals internal damage.

> …is painful and so swollen you can’t see the dimples around the kneecap on either side. That’s usually a sign of internal damage, like a meniscus or ligament tear.
## Lift Right Strategy
Maintain knee stability with controlled weights to avoid injury.

> Maintaining knee stability and neutral knee alignment, keeping knees in line with toes, becomes difficult with increasing weights
## Drop Extra Weight
Less body weight reduces stress on knee joints.

> Less body weight means less stress on the joints
## Be Consistent
Regular exercise prevents knee damage better than intense workouts.

> Our knees do best when they’re consistently loaded and challenged to stay strong and stable
## Key takeaway

Knee pain often signals meniscus tears, ligament damage, or osteoarthritis; physical therapy and gradual exercise help avoid long-term harm.