Knee pain occurs in patients of all ages and lifestyles. Such pain is observed during physical activity for many reasons: from injuries or bruises to serious illnesses and inflammations. Ignoring it can lead to serious consequences. A common question is what to do if you are in pain? At the first feeling of pain, a doctor should be consulted to avoid hospitalization, treatment should be carried out only by a doctor.
The first manifestation of knee pain is often due to heavy loading, joint wear and deformity. The disease is felt not only during excessive stress, but also during rest, during rest and when performing daily activities. In this article we will look at why the knee hurts, the main methods of diagnosis and treatment.
What is the knee joint?
The knee joint of our body bears a large load and body weight, it bears the majority of injuries and stress when falling, playing sports and lifting heavy objects. The knee joint itself is one of the largest joints in our body.
The knee joint includes:
- joint itself;
- muscle;
- knee caps;
- meniscus;
- generic capsules;
- head of the femur and tibia,
- ships,
- nerve,
- ligament
Each of these components is vulnerable, although you may not always feel pain right away. For example, when the meniscus is dislocated or torn and the anterior cruciate ligament is torn, mobility will be reduced and damage to blood vessels will cause a hematoma. Infection can begin in the knee capsule following infectious diseases. If the patient has a neurological disease, pain may be felt in the knee. Additionally, it can spread into the joints causing pain in the femur, tibia, and muscles.
Causes of joint pain
The nature of pain can be divided into two groups: acute and chronic. Acute pain is characterized by rapidly developing and progressive pathologies. In contrast, chronic diseases develop quite slowly and require lifelong treatment. The causes of such pain vary and so does the treatment.
Let's look at the main causes of pain.
Pain due to injury
The cause of acute pain is trauma and various traumatic actions. You can get injured from a bad fall, playing sports, or wearing uncomfortable shoes. The pain begins a few days after the injury. Usually the knee is slightly swollen and the victim feels quite comfortable pain. Depending on the severity of the wound, scratches may appear on the skin's surface. In addition, being overweight, abusing bad habits, and specific occupations and jobs also increase the risk of injury.
Types of injuries:
- Bruised knee.Damage is frequent and slight. The knee area appears swollen and red, and the surface temperature increases. Even a minor injury to the knee can cause destruction of joint tissue cells.
- Sprain.Sometimes, muscle, ligament or tendon sprains go unnoticed and cause severe pain in the knee, and the joint itself becomes unstable when stepped on.
- Ligament rupture.It can occur due to the leg being twisted forcefully in an unnatural direction and causes severe pain and swelling.
- Cupping tears.Appears due to heavy loads, impact on the knee, twisting of the leg and due to its unnatural position. A torn meniscus prevents your leg from moving normally. Usually occurs in athletes and is accompanied by swelling, bleeding, and an inability to bend the leg. There is a rule regarding sports: the knee may hurt but it will disappear the next morning after training. If the condition does not go away, you need to consult a doctor.
- Joint fractures.Due to bone fractures, soft tissues are also damaged, causing severe pain and knee deformity.
Discomfort in the knees is not always characteristic of diseases in this part. Sometimes a herniated disc can cause knee pain at night. Discomfort can also occur if the knee joint is used too little and the associated muscles lose tone.
Asymmetry of the sacrum and pelvis can also cause pain in the knee joint. It occurs due to differences in the length of the lower limbs, which can be a consequence of congenital features or curvature of the pelvis, including due to scoliosis.
Knee disease
Any inflammation or damage to the structure of the knee causes discomfort, especially when moving. And the infection is not always localized to the knee. With diseases of the joints in general, the whole body is affected, the knees are more damaged due to heavy stress. In addition, with injuries or diseases of the spine, or fractures of the femoral neck, pain may occur in the knee joint. Let's look at some of them:
- Arthritisis an inflammatory process that develops after injury due to infection or metabolic problems. If left untreated, knee cartilage continues to wear away, leading to increasing pain.
- Rheumatoid arthritis– an autoimmune disease in which the body's defense cells negatively affect tissue. The joint loses mobility, appears swollen, has constant pain and is manifested by an increasing feeling of stiffness.
- Rheumatism– as a rule, adolescents are susceptible to this disease, as well as people who have recently suffered from strep. Characterized by alternating feelings of discomfort.
- Gonorrhea (arthritis).It develops in one or both knees. This disease is characterized by the appearance of degenerative-dystrophic processes with the growth of connective tissue and bones that interfere with movement. At the beginning of the disease, you only feel discomfort after walking a long distance, but as the disease progresses, pain begins to appear even after walking a short distance. It's difficult to get up from a chair, squat, or go up stairs. The pain does not bother you only at rest. Destruction or thinning of the shock-absorbing tissue of the cartilage occurs. As gonorrhea develops, people notice brittle knees and joint deformities.
- Reactive arthritis– begins a few days after an intestinal infection. Severe pain combined with swelling and redness of the right or left knee is often a sign of reactive arthritis.
- Bursitis– Inflammation of the joint capsule, leading to severe pain and discomfort when moving.
- Periarticular inflammation– Inflammation of tendons, muscles and ligaments around the knee joint. Painful sensations appear when the load increases on the bent leg.
- Cartilage disease– Destroys the cartilage that surrounds the knee joint and cushions friction and shock.
- Tumor– When they appear, blood vessels are compressed, the joint capsule is deformed, causing pain and limiting movement.
- Osteoporosis– Tissues weaken, become more fragile, calcium content in bones gradually decreases.
- Osteomyelitis– Inflammation of bone tissue appears in the affected area, accompanied by swelling, fever and acute severe pain.
- Osteoarthritis– inflammation in the joint capsule gradually localizes to the ends of the bones. The cartilage wears away and thins, causing the bone ends to no longer slide easily when moving the limb. Pain occurs.
- Osteoarthritis– a disease that affects all components of the joint.
- Patellofemoral pain syndrome- usually occurs in young patients. During physical activity, the kneecap moves forward. This happens due to incorrect position of the foot, excessive and heavy load on unprepared muscles.
- Osgood-Schlatter disease– Knee pain when bending, going up stairs, squatting.
- Nerve damage and nerve tissue disorders.Pain, numbness and tingling appear in the lower limbs and loss of mobility. Pinched nerves occur due to inflammation, tumors, or previous trauma. Or neuritis develops - inflammation of the nerves in one or more areas. The pain is intense, mobility and sensitivity are reduced, and the limbs involuntarily contract.
- Blood supply is impaired.
- Many other infectious diseases.Complications arise that contribute to the appearance of weakness and pain.
In addition to the listed diseases, others can contribute to pain: synovitis, tendinitis, tendinitis, gout, neuropathy, cysts and others.
Therefore, knee pain is always a sign of a pathological process affecting the cartilage, bone or soft tissue structure of the knee itself or damage to the nerves that supply it.
Diagnosis of knee pain
To begin treatment, it is necessary to establish an accurate diagnosis from the doctor in the clinic using diagnostic measures.
Patients seeking an appointment with a chiropractor, orthopedic traumatologist, surgeon or rheumatologist. If necessary, after examination and examination, the patient can be transferred to another specialist.
At the appointment, the doctor collects a medical history - complaints, symptoms and problems related to the patient, infections and chronic diseases. The doctor may then palpate the area of concern and ask the patient to perform various movements and tests. For example, bend and straighten your knees. This will provide initial information about the level of discomfort.
To obtain additional information and determine the correct diagnosis, the patient is sent for one or more examinations:
- radiography (X-ray);
- ultrasound examination (ultrasound);
- magnetic resonance therapy (MRI);
- computed tomography (CT);
- arthroscopy (a special instrument, an endoscope, is inserted into the joint);
- puncture to collect synovial fluid;
- Laboratory tests (general and biochemical blood tests, serological tests).
To diagnose neurological diseases, MRI and CT are used, depending on contraindications. Some diagnoses require more precise testing.
To relieve knee pain, you can see a chiropractor, physical therapist, orthopedist, or massage therapist. The osteopath will help restore the normal position of the pelvis and internal organs, which has a positive effect on their functioning, improving nutrition of all spinal structures by stimulatingActivates blood circulation and improves posture by eliminating spinal deformities.
Knee pain treatment
It is impossible to choose the best medicine for knee pain on your own. This is because it is first necessary to find the true cause of the symptoms and determine the type of pathological disorder in the body.
Knee joint treatment is performed comprehensively. This group of measures includes:
- drugs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or chondroprotectors - their effectiveness lies in preserving moisture in cartilage cells, inhibiting enzyme activity and stopping degenerative processes);
- preparations and solutions for external use;
- osteopathy;
- carry out special exercises and gymnastics, physiotherapy;
- physical therapy techniques;
- Massage;
- Vitamin complexes are drugs prescribed to improve metabolic processes in the body.
Many different types of physical therapy treatments can be used to treat musculoskeletal disorders that cause knee pain.
Exercise therapy classes are simple and accessible to people of all ages because the individually designed program ensures the creation of precisely dosed loads. For complex therapy, local analgesics are also prescribed, for example, dimethyl sulfoxide ointment (with contraindications: severe diseases of the kidneys, liver, cardiovascular system, pregnancy, lactation) oranti-inflammatory gel - it is instantly absorbed into the body. skin, penetrating into its deep layers, reduces swelling and pain.
Pain can also be eliminated using high-frequency techniques: morphological changes remain, but the pain gradually decreases and becomes easier. In addition, special orthopedic devices are often prescribed - bandages, knee pads, braces, bandages, casts and other similar devices. This allows you to transfer load from the knee and unload, reducing the risk of re-injury and promoting quick recovery. Plasmolifting is rarely used - injecting plasma taken from the patient's own blood directly into the affected knee joint or the soft tissue around it.
Sometimes a bone realignment procedure or surgery is performed (for example, if bone fragments need to be removed).
The doctor also prescribes pain relievers that do not have a negative effect on joint cartilage.
Pay attention to your diet - a balanced diet can prevent inflammation.
If you have problems with your knees, you should not self-medicate and engage in various procedures to avoid surgical intervention (surgery) and possible complications. This attitude can only make the situation worse and require more serious and complex therapy. Therefore, it is important to consult a doctor who will make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe competent treatments, procedures and medications that will be effective. Take care of yourself and your health!