Pain around the kneecap with stairs or squats

Overview

Common in runners and teens.

Weak hips and thighs contribute.

When to get medical care

Causes

Causes include overuse and muscle imbalance.

OwieClear has pages on 1 condition that can cause pain around the kneecap with stairs or squats. Each shows how soon to get care.

Common causes

• Runner's knee (patellofemoral pain)Often treated at home

  Pain around or behind the kneecap that gets worse with stairs, squatting, running, or sitting with bent knees for a long time.

What you can do at home

• Strengthen thigh and hip muscles.
• Reduce activity that hurts.

Medicines

Physical therapy helps.

At the doctor

Diagnosed by exam.

Questions you may be asked

• Activities

The exam

A knee exam.

Tests

• Usually none

Prevention

Train smart.

• Build up slowly

Check your symptoms

Most symptoms have more than one possible cause. The symptom checker looks at all of your symptoms together, plus your age, and shows how soon to get care.

Start the symptom checker

Related symptoms

• Arm or wrist that looks bent, or a possible broken arm
• Arm pain
• Big toe bent back or jammed
• Big toe pain
• Bone loss, or a broken bone from a minor fall
• Bone pain that's constant or worse at night, or a lump on a bone or deep in a muscle
• Bony bump at the base of the big toe
• Bulging, twisted, or spider veins in the legs
• Bump or pain at the top of the shoulder after a fall
• Burning or numb patch on the outer thigh
• Burning or pebble-like pain in the ball of the foot
• Burning pain, swelling, and color change in a limb after an injury
• Can't walk on an injured ankle, or the ankle bone is tender
• Collarbone pain or a bump after a fall
• Elbow pain