The levels of your natural anti-inflammatory hormone, cortisol, are naturally lower at night. Staying still in the same position will also cause your knee joints to stiffen up. Another reason could be related to how your brain perceives pain and this may change in the small hours.
The best sleeping position for knee pain is on your back, ideally with your leg elevated. Sleeping with your knees up using a leg wedge pillow can help improve blood flow, take pressure off the knee, and relieve knee pain when trying to sleep.
Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, Nuprin) Naproxen (Aleve, Anaprox, Naprosyn)
Examples of NSAIDs include diclofenac, ibuprofen and naproxen. Two other anti-inflammatory painkillers with a similar effect are celecoxib and etoricoxib. These are COX-2 inhibitors (also known as coxibs). They are taken as tablets or directly applied to the painful joint in the form of a gel or cream.
Gout Knee
Gout is a common cause of knee pain at night while sleeping. A build-up of uric acid causes crystals to form in joints which result in inflammation, excruciating pain and swelling. Gout knee symptoms frequently flare-up very suddenly at night as the crystals form in the joints at lower body temperature.
The joint may become stiff and swollen, making it difficult to bend and straighten the knee. Pain and swelling may be worse in the morning, or after sitting or resting. Vigorous activity may cause pain to flare up.
Lying down can cause inflammatory chemicals to pool in the fluid that cushions your joints, which makes them stiffen up. And your perception of pain may be heightened during the nighttime because you're not distracted by anything else.
“Knee pain, especially with degenerative arthritis of the knee, often gets to the point where it can hurt at night,” says Redish. Your best bet is to sleep on your side with a pillow between your legs. The pillow will cushion your knees so they don't rub together, says Redish.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
Over-the-counter NSAIDs , such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) and naproxen sodium (Aleve), taken at the recommended doses, typically relieve osteoarthritis pain. Stronger NSAIDs are available by prescription.
In people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the body releases less of the anti-inflammatory chemical cortisol at night, increasing inflammation-related pain.
Fibromyalgia often is mistaken for RA, osteoarthritis (OA), Lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, underactive thyroid, depression, and lupus.
Make an appointment with your doctor if your knee pain was caused by a particularly forceful impact or if it's accompanied by: Significant swelling. Redness. Tenderness and warmth around the joint.
Voltaren Emulgel helps with the relief of localized traumatic inflammation and pain such as knee pain. As one of the largest and most complex joints in our body, the knee is prone to damage, particularly in runners, which can lead to knee pain.
Knee swelling occurs when excess fluid accumulates on or around the knee joints. Doctors call this an effusion, and some people call it water on the knee. Sometimes, swelling (and the pain that accompanies it) will go away with home treatments. Other times, it may require visiting a doctor for medical treatment.
Conventional radiographs – Routine X-ray examinations
Specifically, an X-ray of a joint with osteoarthritis will show a narrowing of the space between the bones of the joint where the cartilage has worn away, as shown in the image below. Anteroposterior (front to back) X-ray image of the knee showing osteoarthritis.
The pain may feel worse at the end of the day, or when you move your knee, and it may improve when you rest. You might have some stiffness in the morning, but this won't usually last more than half an hour. The pain can be felt all around your knee, or just in a certain place such as the front and sides.
The main symptoms of osteoarthritis are pain and sometimes stiffness in the affected joints. The pain tends to be worse when you move the joint or at the end of the day. Your joints may feel stiff after rest, but this usually wears off fairly quickly once you get moving. Symptoms may vary for no obvious reason.
RA is symmetrical, where a patient feels symptoms in the same spot on both sides of the body, often in the joints in the feet and hands. Osteoarthritis, in contrast, begins in an isolated joint, often in the knee, fingers, hands, spine and hips. While both sides may hurt, one side is more painful.
Statistically, it does seem that more people experience arthritis-related pain when the winter arrives. A 2013 study from Spain found 50- to 65-year-old patients with rheumatoid arthritis were 16% more likely to report a flare-up when temperatures dropped below average.