Q: I am a 42 years old male who have started running, jogging and mild exercises after a gap of six years. After a week, I started experiencing right knee joint pain. Initially it was in lower right side of the knee. Due to knee pain, I have stopped running and exercising. For the last five days, I am feeling severe pain in my right knee and cannot stand for more than 10 minutes. After massaging, I feel better and I am able to walk a distance. Now I am feeling stiffness of muscles. The blood test came normal (all components including uric acid and calcium). Slight erosion of knee bone was stated by an orthopaedic surgeon. After sitting for half an hour or after waking up in the morning, it becomes very difficult to walk first 5 - 6 steps. How can my knee joint pain be managed?

A:Your symptoms are suggestive of generalised osteoarthritis (OA) including spine and knee joints. Your right leg pain might be due to compression of nerves in the lumber region resulting in radiating pain in the leg. To confirm that and to find any other cause, you are advised to consult a rheumatologist/ or a neurophysician, perhaps a MRI of lumbosacral region will be required to ascertain the possibility of nerve compression. Alternative causes can be internal knee derangement, muscle pull after doing the exercises. Please contact doctor as advice above for full check up.