Although I am on vitamin D supplement, why does the knee pain persist?

Question

Hi doctor,

I am a 21-year-old female with a height of 5 feet and 2 inches feet and a weight of 92 pounds I am suffering from vitamin D deficiency and having pain in my knees for six months. The pain mostly arises from stress on knees using stairs and disappears with the rest of a few days. On knee r-rays, the lateral tubercle of intercondylar eminence is raised. My RA factor is negative, and ESR is normal on CBC. My MCH and MCHC were slightly low. Currently, I have been taking a supplement (Indrop D) once in two weeks. Why is the pain not being relieved even with a supplement? How long will it take to have my healthy knee back? Being a medical student, I need to walk a lot, and this situation is depressing me.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I feel that the two problems are indirectly related, but not causative. Vitamin D deficiency leads to muscle pain, bone pain and also muscle weakness. The pain in the knee that you are suffering is called anterior knee pain, which is due to muscle imbalance leading to patellar tracking going off track. The muscle pain and bone pain due to vitamin D deficiency will take six weeks to settle, but the anterior knee pain needs you to exercise under physiotherapy supervision to improve knee symptoms (while stair climbing).