knee pain has been the story of my life the past 11 years i am only 24 it started when i was 13 from playing basketball always thought it was growing pains,then i quit growing at 14.so the pain was on and off till about 20 21 then it was everyday all day for a few years.i havnt had health insurance since i was 20 so the past 4 yrs there was nothing i could do,and cold weather made it so much worse,then i finally got insc. this summer went to doc had MRI torn meniscus,had surgerey 4 months ago it is alittle better but still hurts alot.and i have been hooked on hydros for 2 yrs and i am trying to get off them now and going to a pain doc in 3 days and i pray he can help me tapper off.good luck
The best thing you can do is exercise that knee and strengthen the muscles so that the ligaments and tendons and cartilage don't have to do most of the work. It's possible you may have a new injury, so have a doctor look at it and ask about a course of physical therapy. Also, in my own experience, Aleve works better than tylenol or ibuprofen on orthopedic pain. Just be sure to take it with food as it can be pretty hard on your stomach.
I had knee surgery over 20 years ago, and it always aggravated me until I took up roller blading. The side-to-side motion is really good for building up the knee muscles. No more trouble after that.