Pain in the knee joint is a very common occurrence in a person’s life. It can be caused by many factors. As a rule, the main reason is that, due to its anatomical structure, the knee joint is quite prone to injury, it is subject to a large daily load, especially in overweight people. It may also be the appearance of symptoms during intensive sports, in the course of daily homework or professional activities.
Causes of knee pain
The knee joint is made up of many different elements, each carrying its own functional load. Why does my knee hurt? The following factors can cause pain in the knee joint:
- traumatization;
- damage;
- dystrophy of any element.
Knee pain is a symptomatic manifestation of a large number of knee joint diseases. What Causes Knee Pain? To accurately determine the cause in a particular case, diagnostic measures are required. Pain can be caused by trauma to the elements:
- ligament apparatus;
- tendon formation;
- damage to the cartilage layer.
For various knee diseases, in addition to pain, specific manifestations will be characteristic, determined in laboratory, instrumental and other studies.
Joint pain
If the knee hurts after a long rest or a heavy load, this is arthritis. This pathology of the knee joint is detected in about 5-15% of patients who consult a doctor about pain in the joint area.
Fact! Arthritis is a disease common to all age groups of the population, but young people are more susceptible to the disease.
The hallmark for most arthritis is a sharp pain in the knee, that is, acute onset - within 1-2 days.
Arthritis is an inflammatory process, so acute pain in the knee joint is accompanied by symptoms such as:
- edema;
- swollen;
- hyperemia;
- severe pain that worsens at night.
With arthrosis and damage to the cartilage of the meniscus, the pain manifests itself or increases with motor load on the knee joint, that is, the pain will be relieved if there is no load on the knee, unlike arthritis. With arthritis, the pain syndrome is of a different etiology, and it will not work to get rid of it by reducing the load and paralyzing the joints. In addition, arthritis can affect several joints at once, except the knee.
arthrosis
Another very common knee disease, accompanied by severe pain. Pathology is found in 35-40% of people who come with knee pain, as a rule, this age category is over 40 years old, both the left knee and the right knee are often affected at the same time. Severe pain may not appear immediately, but the sensation gradually increases over time: for someone a week or two, for someone-for a month. Unlike arthritis, the knee only hurts when you put a load on it:
- At first, a person feels sick after a long walk.
- Over time, even walking a short distance brings a lot of discomfort.
- Later, the patient has difficulty getting up and down stairs.
- It is difficult to get up from a chair, that is, bend your knees with a load.
- The pain syndrome disappears if you relax, paralyzing the joints.
Over time, without proper treatment, the symptoms become very severe:
- the joint is deformed;
- there is a crackling sound while walking or extending the knee.
- the pain intensified.
Pathogenesis is due to structural destruction, degeneration of the cartilage layer of the articular cavity, leading to joint deformity. Primary or age -related arthrosis occurs as a result of natural wear of cartilage, secondary - is the result of injury or some other cause. Such causes can be infectious arthritis, tumor lesions of bone or cartilage tissue, as a result of which the disease can appear in people of different age categories.
Meniscopathies
They are also a common cause of joint pain.
For reference! Among patients who seek help because they experience pain in the knee joint, approximately 25-35% experience meniscus injuries of various etiologies.
This pathology is noted in people of any age, a variety of professional activities and is equally common in men and women. Menisci injured during active movement:
- At the moment of injury, a characteristic clicking sound is heard, after which it can be suddenly painful in the knee.
- Then crisp or crepitus on the knee.
- After that, a sharp pain is felt, which is increasing.
- A person in this condition cannot move at all in the knee joint.
The pain may subside after a while, and the meniscopathy becomes chronic. But without proper treatment, edema develops, swelling of the joints, and movement in them can be blocked, which is accompanied by severe pain and can lead to the development of arthrosis. The risk groups are:
- people suffering from gout or arthritis of the joints;
- diabetics;
- people with weak ligaments or overweight.
The disease is diagnosed using computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, and treated, depending on severity, conservatively or surgically.
Tendinitis
Tendonitis is an inflammatory process in the muscle tendon tissues, at the site of their attachment. The disease most often affects active children and adolescents, athletes:
- cyclist;
- basketball players;
- volleyball players;
- athlete.
The disease exists in two forms:
- Tenosynovitis is an inflammation of the tendon sheath.
- Tendobursitis is an injury to the tendon bag.
The cause of this phenomenon is not only injuries associated with active movement, but also diseases such as:
- gout;
- arthritis;
- immune deficiency conditions;
- contagious disease;
- excessive physical activity;
- muscle imbalance of the force acting on the joint.
With tendonitis, the knee is paroxysmal painful, that is, the pain increases with load on the tendon, in severe form or in the final stages of the disease, rupture of the inflamed tendon is possible. The disease is diagnosed in various ways, sometimes it can be detected by laboratory methods, for example, when the cause is an infection.
But if the cause is gout or an inflammatory process in the joint itself, then radiographic research methods and magnetic resonance imaging can detect the disease.
In the early stages of disease development, conservative therapy helps, which involves immobilization of the joints with gypsum, and restriction of motor activity. Various medications are prescribed:
- ways for tissue repair;
- anti-inflammatory drugs;
- antibiotics.
Physiotherapy procedures are also prescribed. In further cases, with necrosis, surgery to remove dead tissue and plastic tendon formation is performed.
knee bursitis
This is a disease of the articular bag, which is characterized by inflammatory processes and the presence of exudative fluid.
For reference! The cause of bursitis is persistent, excessive pressure on the joints.
If we talk about pathology of an infectious nature, then the following factors can be the cause:
- damage to the skin in the knee area;
- open wound injuries;
- various septic conditions;
- the presence of infection in the blood;
- overweight;
- increased load on the joints.
Also, the pathology is secondary, as a complication of gouty disease or arthritis of the knee joint. Like any inflammatory process, bursitis will be accompanied by symptoms:
- pain syndrome;
- significant changes in joint shape;
- the presence of swelling in the knee area;
- redness;
- severe difficulty in movement.
The severity and visibility of these manifestations will depend on the severity and localization of the process.
Depending on the localization of the inflamed joint capsule, there are types of pathology such as:
- prepatellar;
- suprapatelyar;
- infrapatellar bursitis.
This pathology, as a rule, is relatively easy to diagnose and treat, except in cases with elderly patients, where it is chronic and difficult to treat.
Cyst Baker
Another pathological phenomenon of the knee joint, which brings a lot of pain and problems. The cyst is also called a popliteal hernia, it is a protrusion in the popliteal fossa. Typically, between the tendon, gastrocnemius and semimembranosus muscles, on the posterior surface of the knee area, there is an intertendon bag. As a result of the following factors, pathological conduction is formed in the joint cavity, which penetrates into the intertendon bag:
- trauma;
- dystrophic changes;
- inflammatory process.
As a result, the bag increases, becomes noticeable, and this is called a Baker cyst. In the early stages of development, it can be invisible, does not cause obvious discomfort, that is, it is asymptomatic. Later, due to the increase in size, the knee is very sore, as the cyst begins to compress the nerves and blood vessels, and the mobility of the joints is also affected. Flexion movements become difficult, and are also accompanied by severe pain.
Dissecting osteochondrosis
This disease is also a common cause of knee pain. Typically, the articular surfaces that make up the knee joint are lined with cartilage. This pathology is due to the fact that small areas of the cartilaginous layer become necrotic and flaky, as a result of which free bodies are formed in the joint cavity, which causes many problems.
It manifests itself symptomatically as follows:
- mild pain and discomfort;
- when moving, the pain increases;
- swelling may develop.
Separate fragments of cartilage tissue, once inside the articular cavity, can impede movement, which the patient complains of, and when moving, you may hear a clicking sound or a buzzing sound. After exfoliation, the defect remains on the smooth articular surface, which contributes to traumatization of the joint and in the future will lead to osteoarthritis or other pathologies.
Doctors consider frequent joint injuries to be the cause of the development of the disease, but sometimes there are patients who have not had a previous injury. Diagnosis is based on computed tomography methods, magnetic resonance imaging and X-ray examination.
Gout
Gout or gouty arthritis of the knee joint occurs as a result of impaired metabolism, which leads to excessive formation and deposition of uric acid salts, called uric acid. They accumulate in the joint cavity itself and around cartilage and tendons, and cause inflammation.
With this disease, there is severe pain in the joints, the knee area becomes red and swollen. If gout becomes chronic, then vein deposits cause obvious joint deformation, which leads to violations, the impossibility of performing a normal range of motion.
The disease is diagnosed with the help of x-rays and blood tests for uric acid. It is difficult to treat, but in the early stages of development, special diets and drug treatments are used.
The cause of pain in the knee can be many different pathologies with completely different etiology and pathogenesis. So, only a specialist doctor can answer the question of why a sore knee is definitely after diagnosis.
General principles of treatment
Everyone is wondering if the knee hurts, what to do? Many people, with the appearance of mild pain, discomfort, prefer to endure, because they think that it will pass by itself, this can not be done. The knee joint is painful because it is a manifestation of various pathologies, and in the absence of timely, adequate therapy, this pathology can lead to serious consequences.
If the knee is sore, then the treatment involves pathological therapy that causes the pain. Based on the results of diagnostic studies, the doctor prescribes appropriate therapy and decides how to treat the diseased joint. This may be the following method:
- special therapeutic and preventive training;
- ointment;
- compress.
In the case of inflammatory phenomena, anti-inflammatory substances are prescribed, and if there are problems with cartilage tissue, then various chondroprotectors or corticosteroid drugs.
For reference! It is possible to perform a puncture, both for diagnosis and for treatment, for example, in the case of Becker's cyst.
Sometimes, with advanced pathology, surgical treatment is indicated, which is also varied. In most cases, they use arthroscopic surgery: to remove the articular body or cut an area of affected tissue. Also, if other therapies are not effective, knee arthroplasty is used, which is the replacement of an articular element or the entire joint with an artificial implant. Therefore, the answer to the question "what to do if the knee hurts" is an immediate visit to the doctor.