knees aching during menstrual cycle--strange?

This is very interesting, I am 44 years old and started to experience knee aches about 1 year ago, now my knees tend to be very tender and odd pains occur just before my period. I am wondering if whatever aches and pains you have it gets worse before period?

Its an old tale which my mother thinks it's cuz of taking showers during your period it Somehow affects the joints in some people causing pain later on

I am a dance student and have recently been experiencing knee pain around the time of my period.  I talked to my anatomy and dance professors about it and they said it could be hormone related.  During ovulation or pregnancy, womens joints will loosen in the pelvis to allow more room for a baby.  It has been known for other joints in the body to loosen as well during this time.  Your body is smart, but sometimes it overcompensates.  The hormones don't concentrate only on the pelvis and make all the joints, including knees, shoulders, pelvis, etc become loose.  In recent studies doctors have found that women are more susceptible to injury during this time.  The pain can also be happening because your ligaments aren't supporting you like they usually do, causing bone and muscle to slide around more than they should. 
I'm no doctor or scientist or anything, but my professors have been instructing dancers for a very long time and have come across this situation countless numbers of time.  Hope this is helpful : )

Hi everyone

I not happy to find that so many people having the same problem.

Thought I was nuts

I also have this problem to the point I am house bound,

My docs are very good. I must say now I have changed them. :D

I was wonder how many people here Thyroid problems, as 3 people I know with same problem as me with Thyroid problems,

Who all also got better in pregnancy to a point.

I wonder if there is hormones that can cause you feel like the inside of your bones are being broken and it comes in waves?

 

I am happy to find this thread :D 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey! I have been getting the same thing for almost a year now. I'm no expert, but I've been looking at other opinions on the internet and it could be because of a lack of iron. When you're on your period you lose a lot of blood and the body might have trouble making new blood fast enough, so maybe we're just becoming slightly anemic during our periods? Iron supplements could help. I'm going to try it next month.

I am a healthy 29-year-old and I have the same intense knee pain. I would say my other menstrual symptoms are pretty standard, but this knee pain is extremely painful. My knees feel like they are on fire for a day or two before and then for several days during my period. I am physically active, so I'm guessing some of the pain is related to wear and tear over the years. My grandmother also has severe arthritis, so I am assuming that's also somehow related.  I asked my gynecologist and she said it's probably similar to how people get joint pain when it rains. That advice obviously wasn't helpful. As far as easing the pain, I have not found a solution. I take Midol, but that only works for typical menstrual pains. Wearing ice packs does help slightly. Oh, the joys of being a woman!  

I'm a healthy women in my later 40s. Starting a day or two before my period and lasting for about 5 days, I have terrible knee, ankle and hip joint pain. Some months are worse than others but it is painful every month. This started only a few years ago.

I don't remember where I saw it (somewhere online) but I read that this pain was caused by a chemical the body releases (hormone) that is associated with childbirth. It causes the joints/ligaments/etc...to sort of loosen up, so the baby can pass out of the body.

Menstruating and childbirth are vastly different so I'm not sure this is a medically accurate answer. But as women we know so much of what we experience is not easily explained by medicine.

Wow this is crazy, I am glad like alot of you to have come across this thread, I too...lol am having knee issues before my cycle, now this is going on my 3rd month for me I believe and I wholehearted believe it is from the IUD (copper) I had implemented.  I since had it removed its, been about 2weeks, and I am praying to God this will subside, and the IUD did not do major damage.  

I have this, too!  I'm 33 and I have had knee pain during menstruation since I started when I was 11.  Sometimes it is so intense, I don't want to walk.  It's far worse than any abdominal cramps I've ever had during menstration. 

I thought perhaps it was because I had the knee disease Osgood-Schlatter (caused by lots of sports -- forms a divit below the patella and the tibia seems to just out more than normal) as a teen, but I am in my thirties now! :)  When will this pain go away!? 

I spoke with my doctor about it a while ago, but he didn't seem very concerned.  "Women's Problem," right? 

I usually just get through knee pain by consoling myself that I don't have cramps and that it will only be a few days. 

I never had this problem since last year. my doctor told me that i am lacking iron and vitamin b12. he also recommended to eat veges and red meat. I gets better, if i take care of my diet. but if i come back to my routine diet(including chicken, fast food, soft drinks and so on) the problem exist. 

I came across this thread when I was looking into my own knee pain. I was wondering if there where other people who were affected as I was. I have no idea what is the cause of my pain but I am begining to have an idea.

When I was young I always had sore legs due to growing pains. As I got older the pain didn't really go away, it just lessened. I would wake at night feeling like my legs were on fire. I would contstantly be going to the doctors because of the pain. I've had x-rays and ultrasounds but they haven't found anything. I was tentatively diagnosed with Chondromalacia patellae which is a soft Patella due to normal growth. I was advised it was very common in girls and I would grow out of it at 25. I am now 27 and have had no such luck with growing out of these pains.

One day while i was watching Mystery diagnosis I saw a case about a lady that developed severe allergies but no one knew what was the cause. She started keeping a diary of when her symptoms would appear. From this she started noticing that her symptoms would appear along with her menstrual cycle.

She took her diary to the doctors with her and from this she ended up being diagnosed with having an allergy to the hormone progesterone that increases during the menstrual period. She did have to undergo a lot of tests as this allergy is a form of rare autoimmune disease, but once diagnosed she was able to start treatment.

After watching this I started thinking about when I got my knee pain and keeping a diary. I've only done this for the past 2 months but signs are encouraging. I noticed that my knee pain started during my menstrual cycle which led me to this post to see if other people were experiencing knee pain at the same time.

Perhaps what we are all experiencing is a type of this allergy but not as severe as this other lady which led me down this path. It's quite common for autoimmune diseases to affect the joints and muscles. Apparently this disease is rare and difficult to diagnose. Diagnosis usually occurs because of the diary and notes that are kept by an individual.

I plan on keeping a diary for a couple more months before going back to my doctor and demanding more tests, especially blood tests. Due to the nature of autoimmune diseases I may need to have tests well outside of my cycle as well as during my cycle when I have the knee pain to see if there is any change in antibody levels etc. I hope this helps out in some way.

This sounds like you need a good source of herbal calcium and silica.  Also switching to distilled water will flush out the inorganic and hard minerals, giving relief from rubbing, etc.  It will NOT touch the good organic minerals because they have already become 'self' in the digestion process! Hope this helps!  :) Cleansing, changing my diet, exercising and switching to distilled water has changed my life.  120 pounds lighter and in the best shape of my like.  31 and feelin' young ;) 

I am totally the same!

I have had menstrual cramps in my knees since I was about 15 and I am now nearly 20.

I have been told it usually happens to physically active women and girls, which makes sense for me as I have played netball since I was 8 and exercise 6 days a week. Nothing I take, or rub in helps with the pain...just gotta sit and wait it out!

I have hemachromatosis which is too much iron in the blood. My knees ache before my period, the issue is not iron related. Also, never take iron supplements unless you have been diagnosed as needing them. Hemachromatosis is a fairly common disease, especially among people of Irish heritage.

I have been getting the same knee pain for years now, i have struggled with this problem for years and at times it affects my day to day life.  It became worse after my second child to the point that getting on and off the toilet was a problem. getting down on the floor with my children was almost impossible to get up.  Can not do a sqwat to save my self, getting on and off the couch any bending what so ever is near impossible 2 weeks befor a period.  Driving the car a continue ache.  I have also spoken to my doctor and they have fobbed me off.  I have also began getting pain in my sholder joints the same as my knees at the same time.  I also played sport volleyball , netball and swimming alot but it is strange how the pain is 2 weeks befor a period.  hope someone can come up with an answer open to anything at the moment. =-(