Bursitis of the knee joint is not a very common disease, but it is necessary to know about it for those people who are at risk of leg injuries. Knee bursitis is an inflammatory process of bursa. That is a synovial bag. In this article, you can learn how to treat bursitis of the knee joint, what symptoms it is accompanied by. In addition, you can find out about the possible causes of the development of this disease.
Causes of the development of the disease
Before answering the question of how to treat bursitis of the knee joint, you should understand the reasons that can provoke it. The most common factors that lead to its development are the following:
- Prolonged and constant physical activity, where the knee joint is involved or there is strong pressure on this area.
- Kneeling or wrong kick.
- Infection at the site of abrasion or cut on the knee.
- Excessive load on the knees with existing obesity in humans.
- The patient has infectious diseases, for example, tuberculosis, syphilis, gonorrhea, brucellosis.
- Training in extreme conditions, when there is an increased risk of injury.
The development of the inflammatory process in the knee joint will be characteristic not only for athletes and people who lead an active lifestyle. This condition can occur in anyone even after a minor injury.
Symptoms
Before treating bursitis of the knee joint, it is necessary to diagnose it and distinguish it from other diseases.
In the inflammatory process, the periarticular bag begins to fill with a large amount of fluid. She begins to compress nearby tissues, which provokes swelling in the joint area, which is characterized by redness and soreness. About 10 synovial bags are located in the joint, each of which can be affected by inflammation. Depending on which of them will be damaged, the bursitis of the knee will have different localization.
If inflammation develops in front and above directly from the patella, then prepatellar or suprapatellar bursitis will be diagnosed. If inflammation has developed below the patella, then infrapatellar bursitis is diagnosed. Anserine bursitis also occurs in which the synovial sac, called the goose foot, becomes inflamed. It is located on the inside of the knee. All these varieties of bursitis have their own specific symptoms, as well as developmental features. Let's consider them separately.
Suprapatellar bursitis
A distinctive feature of this form of the disease lies in the presence of a round, painless tumor localized in the upper zone of the knee joint. It has a soft consistency, in the amount of not more than 10 cm. Suprapatellar bursitis of the knee is accompanied by a deterioration in the mobility of the knee joint, general malaise, and body temperature often rises.
Prepatellar bursitis
This type of ailment is characterized by the formation of painful edema or severe swelling in the patella area, that is, in the area that is located above the patella. During flexion and extension of the knee, severe pain is felt, which increases with increased load, but in some cases it may be absent. With the development of the disease, the mobility of the joint begins to be severely impaired. Compared to other types of bursitis, the prepatellar species most often becomes chronic. That is why you should not ignore the symptoms of the disease, but it is better to seek help at the clinic. After the diagnosis, the doctor will tell you how to treat this type of knee bursitis. With self-medication, there can be disastrous consequences.
Infrapatellar bursitis
This type of disease affects the periarticular bag, which is located under the patella. Athletes are most susceptible to this type of disease, as they are more likely to get a knee injury when running or jumping. Infrapatellar bursitis often has mild symptoms. For some time, bursitis is manifested only by minor pain, which is localized in the knee joint. Such soreness is felt while walking or when standing. In rare cases, swelling or stiffness of the knee appears.
Treatment. Features
We continue to consider how to treat knee bursitis, the causes, and the symptoms of the disease. In more detail it is worthwhile to dwell on the features of the therapy of this ailment. In most cases, treatment involves the use of physiotherapy. The purity of a positive result will largely depend on the participation of the patient in therapy. A key component of treatment is adequate rest after exercise, which has led to increased pain.
If after physiotherapeutic procedures there is only a deterioration, it is necessary to exclude the tuberculous etiology of the disease, since massage, physiotherapy, and thermal procedures provoke the deterioration and progression of this disease in its extrapulmonary form.
The action, which has an annoying pronounced effect on the knee joint bag, should be minimized. When the patient begins to feel that he can perform various kinds of actions without illness, a gradual restoration of activity will indicate that there is no further increase in a serious condition, and the patient is recovering.
If the patient ignores the symptoms, or tries to adapt to the resulting pain, this can lead to the transition of the disease into a chronic form. That is why treatment should be started immediately. Moreover, regardless of the severity and condition of the patient.
But how to treat knee bursitis? Medicines, gymnastics, ointments for local use should be prescribed by a doctor only after he determines the degree of the disease.
Antibiotics
If bursitis of the knee is of an infectious origin, that is, when bacteria enter the joint bag, then in order to prevent the development of purulent complications, antibiotic therapy should be started in a timely manner. It is important! But how to treat knee bursitis? The medicine in this case should be selected by a specialist based on the sensitivity of the pathogen. If the disease is still progressing at the initial stage of therapy, then the joint bag is hidden and cleansed surgically.
Treatment of bursitis of the knee joint at home can be carried out with the help of anti-inflammatory drugs that are used orally. This should include drugs based on phenylbutazone, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, as well as diclofenac. In the case of muscle spasms, muscle relaxants, such as Baclofen or Diazepam, are used. To relieve acute pain, injections of corticosteroids, for example, Hydrocortisone, Diprospana, and also Methylprednisolone are used.
What else can be said about the treatment of knee bursitis at home with medications? In the case of antibiotic therapy, the patient is prescribed a course of penicillin or cephalosporin antibiotics. As mentioned earlier, the selection of a drug will be carried out depending on the severity of the inflammation and the origin of the infection. At the middle and easy stages of the development of the disease, drugs for oral administration are prescribed, and in the most difficult situations, intramuscular injections are prescribed.
Ointments
So, we have figured out how to treat knee bursitis with medications for oral administration. However, for therapy, the specialist also prescribes the use of ointments, which are used for local use. They relieve swelling, the inflammatory process, as well as soreness. The most effective of these are the following:
- "Fastum gel", which is made on the basis of anti-inflammatory non-steroidal drugs. It is very effective in combating puffiness. This external agent has an analgesic effect.
- "Finalgon", as well as its analogues. These drugs improve blood circulation in the area of application, while contributing to the removal of puffiness.
- Nise gel. This external agent has the same mechanism of action as Fastum Gel, which was described above.
- Any ointments with menthol. Such agents have an anti-inflammatory effect with a cooling effect.
Exercises
We continue to consider how to treat suprapatellar bursitis of the knee joint, as well as other forms of this ailment. In conjunction with drug therapy, a specialist will definitely prescribe exercises. Therapeutic gymnastics during therapy is prescribed only after the inflammatory process is stopped. But how to treat knee bursitis disease this way? The following exercises should be performed:
- Statistical contraction of the inner head on the quadriceps muscle. To do this, you need to tighten the muscles on the front surface of your thigh, bringing a small towel under the knee and trying to straighten your leg. The palms should be placed on the inner thigh so that you can feel the tension on the inside of the muscle while it is contracting. Fix the leg in this position for 5 seconds, and then relax. Repeat this exercise about 10 times with maximum strength, but at the same time not leading to pain.
- Extension and bending of the leg at the knee. To unbend and bend your leg in the knee with maximum amplitude, but you should not bring it to pain. Repeat this exercise is necessary 10-20 times, but the symptoms of the disease should not increase during execution.
You should pay attention to the fact that squats, cross-legs, and other similar exercises should be excluded from the training program.
We treat bursitis of the knee joint folk remedies
And now we’ll get acquainted with how to get rid of the disease under study with the help of “grandmother's” tips and recipes. Alternative therapy of the disease is permissible only after you consult with your doctor. If you have a question about which doctor treats bursitis of the knee joint, then you can consult a orthopedist, surgeon for advice. You can start with a therapist.
You can eliminate pain and inflammation using proven recipes of traditional medicine. Most often, cabbage and salt compresses, lotions with the use of Kalanchoe, propolis, infused with alcohol, decoction of St. John's wort, yarrow, and burdock are used for this.
In parallel with the alternative treatment of bursitis of the knee, special attention should be paid to nutrition. It is believed that a person will cure the disease faster if he eats food that is rich in vitamins A, C, E, as well as zinc.
Surgical intervention
In some cases, surgery is used to get rid of the disease. But how to treat synovitis and bursitis of the knee with this method?
During the operation, the contents of the joint bag are aspirated, after which kartikosteroid are introduced. This operation is carried out using a thin needle. The patient is given local anesthesia. After drainage, a specialist can introduce hormonal drugs into the joint bag. This is necessary in order to quickly stop the inflammation. After this, the patient needs to wear an elastic bandage for some time, as well as provide his limbs with a long rest, at least two days. This therapy is more effective than the use of drugs in the form of anti-inflammatory non-steroid drugs. This is due to the fact that tablet forms have an effect on the body, often without penetrating the joints themselves.
Sometimes treatment is ineffective, so surgical removal of the so-called prepatellar joint bag is considered the only way out. After such a surgical operation, restoration of the normal functioning of the joint occurs over several days. A person can return to a full life within 2-3 weeks after surgery.
Prevention
There are some fairly simple tips on how you can prevent the development of bursitis of the knee joint. Such preventive rules should include:
- Wearing knee pads. This is especially important for those people who have an increased risk of injury. These include wrestlers, basketball players, soccer players. Today, there are special cooling knee pads on sale that have pockets where ice packs fit.
- Legs should rest regularly. To avoid prolonged stress on the knee joints, you should constantly change the variety and intensity of physical activity.
- After training in the gym on your knees, you need to apply ice and give your limbs an elevated position.
Conclusion
Bursitis of the knee joint is rarely diagnosed. However, this disease needs appropriate treatment. When the first symptoms appear, you should immediately contact an orthopedist, who after a series of tests and diagnostic procedures will prescribe the appropriate treatment. At the initial stage of the development of the disease, medications are used, as well as exercise therapy. But if you run the ailment, then only surgical intervention will be effective to eliminate it.