Knee Pain Health Center

What may increase your risk for problems from your knee symptoms?

Many conditions, lifestyle choices, medicines, and diseases interfere with your ability to heal or fight infection. You may be at risk for a more serious problem from your knee symptoms if you have any of the following. Be sure to tell your doctor.

Conditions

• A problem or condition present since birth (congenital defect)
• Previous knee injury
• Previous surgery to knee area
• Being a woman. Women have a higher risk for knee injuries than men.

Lifestyle choices

• A job or hobby that requires kneeling, such as roofing, carpet laying, or surfing
• Alcohol abuse or withdrawal
• Drug abuse or withdrawal
• Smoking or other tobacco use

Medicines

• Blood-thinning medicines, such as warfarin, heparin, and aspirin
• Chemotherapy or radiation therapy
• Corticosteroids, such as prednisone
• Medicines to prevent organ transplant rejection

Diseases

• Cancer
• Diabetes
• Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
• Gonorrhea
• Gout
• Hemophilia
• Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection
• Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP)
• Infectious arthritis
• Inherited bone disease
• Kidney disease
• Lupus
• Lyme disease
• Malnutrition or an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia
• Multiple sclerosis
• Obesity
• Osteoarthritis
• Osteomyelitis
• Osteoporosis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Septic bursitis