The knee is a large and complex structure of the joint of the human body, which has a large load. Quite often, he is injured and suffers from various diseases. Almost every person has experienced pain in his knees at least once in his life, so one can imagine how painful is the feeling of limited mobility in the lower limbs.
Many diseases of the knees of the legs have similar symptoms, but the causes of all are different. Only a qualified doctor can make the correct diagnosis and prescribe the appropriate treatment. Consider the most common diseases of the knee joints, their causes and treatment.
Causes of disease
Bruises, injuries, sprains, and many other diseases of the joints of the knees of the legs at least once in life have occurred in every person. One awkward movement can provoke acute pain when performing summer work or cleaning the house, and in childhood, probably, everyone broke their knees. All this subsequently leads to the emergence of a variety of diseases that entail changes in the tissues of the joint, an inflammatory process of an infectious nature, and metabolic disorders.
Circulatory disturbance of the knee joint can occur as a result of uneven growth of blood vessels, usually occurring in adolescence. Since the growth of the body, organs and systems do not keep pace with each other, an imbalance occurs, causing disturbances in the knee joint.
Acute and chronic diseases of the elbow, hip and other joints can go to the knee. In this case, a doctor’s consultation is required, because this condition is quite capable of leading to disability.
The most dangerous cause of knee disease is infections that are asymptomatic in the body. A person does not feel any discomfort, and when the inflammatory process loudly declares itself, it is often too late. Therefore, you need to be very careful about your joints in order to avoid treatment, and not always effective.
Symptoms
Knee diseases and their symptoms are different. Some people immediately run to the doctor after they get minor scratches on the knee joints, afraid to get complications. Others can endure pain for a long time, and get to the hospital when they can no longer move normally. Therefore, experts advise you to consult a doctor as soon as possible when the following symptoms appear:
- persistent acute or aching pain in the knee joint;
- hardening or swelling in the knee;
- joint mobility impairment;
- crunch and clicks in the area of the knee joint.
Features of inflammatory and dystrophic diseases
Pain in the knee with arthritis, bursitis and tendonitis is often accompanied by an increase in body temperature, because such diseases are inflammatory in nature. The knee area or its separate part begins to swell, becomes hot, and if you click on it, then severe pain occurs. In addition, the body temperature rises and other symptoms appear that are characteristic of the inflammatory process. Such signs are determined by a general blood test. Inflammatory diseases usually have an acute onset of their development.
Dystrophic diseases (osteoarthritis, tendopathy, arthrosis, meniscopathy and others) are usually congenital or hereditary and always develop gradually. They can also occur due to chronic joint pathologies or metabolic disorders. Such knee diseases usually have a chronic course with an increase in symptoms. They can last for years with alternating periods of exacerbations and remissions. The treatment of these pathologies is quite lengthy.
Consider the most common diseases of the knee
Arthritis and arthrosis
These two diseases of the human knee have a similar clinical picture, but differ in nature.
Arthrosis is characterized by dystrophic damage to cartilage tissue. It is premature and arises due to a hereditary predisposition, excessive physical activity, and maybe age. Basically, knee disease arthrosis affects the elderly, because pain is usually associated with age-related wear of cartilage tissue.
Arthritis can occur in both older people and young people. This is the most common chronic knee disease . Rheumatoid arthritis is usually accompanied by autoimmune processes. The disease can occur in acute and chronic forms. Usually, the pathology is chronic and lasts for years, often leading to disability.
Signs of Arthritis:
- the knee joint becomes inactive;
- redness of the skin occurs at the site of inflammation;
- swelling and swelling of the knee occurs;
- when moving in the knee joint, pain occurs.
Bursitis
Knee diseases can develop as a result of various lesions of the musculoskeletal system. This causes inflammation of the tendon or joint capsule. Bursitis is often characterized as a complication of arthritis when infection from the joint cavity penetrates into the joint capsule itself. And it happens the other way around, when bursitis causes the development of arthritis.
The pain with such a disease is pronounced, constant and appears even without movement in the joint, because inflammatory fluid or pus stretches the capsule and affects its nerve endings. A large accumulation of fluid causes severe pain. Bursitis of small tendon capsules may be called a cyst. The pain in this case is not very strong, but it is acute and appears in a certain place. In the area of damage under the skin, you can feel the bump.
Tendinitis
This is inflammation of the ligaments and tendons, the cause of which is the improper formation of knee tendons or their weakness. In the affected area, pain and swelling occurs. The intensification of the pain syndrome occurs due to muscle contraction, as well as during extension and flexion of the knee. Usually, the pain radiates to the muscles of the lower leg or thigh.
Dissecting osteochondritis
With this disease, any part of the cartilage begins to separate from the adjacent bone and moves into the joint cavity. The causes of this pathological condition have not been fully identified. This disease usually affects young people and at first manifests itself as moderate aching pain in the knee joint. With physical exertion and after it, it intensifies. After some time, the pathology begins to progress, swelling of the joint occurs, the pain intensifies.
Chondropathy, meniscopathy, tendopathy
Such diseases of the joints of the legs of the knees are characterized by dystrophic and post-traumatic non-inflammatory lesions of the tissues of the knee joint. They may occur on their own, but are most often associated with arthrosis. At the very beginning of their development, these pathologies rarely cause discomfort, so patients go to the doctor with an already running disease. Such diseases differ from arthrosis in a narrower localization, affecting either the meniscus or cartilage, or ligaments, tendons and other structures of the joint. Often this pathology occurs in athletes.
Such knee diseases have the following symptoms:
- pain when legs are bent or bent;
- if you step on a sore leg, it bends involuntarily;
- crunch in the affected joint.
It is very difficult to make an accurate diagnosis of the clinical manifestations and this requires an examination such as x-ray of the knee, magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography, arthroscopy.
Osgood-Schlatter disease
Some knee diseases can occur only in a certain category of the population, for example, adolescents. They may experience Osgood-Schlatter disease (osteochondrosis of the tibia). The intensification of pain and swelling occurs during running or jumping, and decreases at rest. Often, pathology affects adolescents involved in basketball, hockey, gymnastics, football, volleyball, figure skating, ballet.
Usually the disease affects only one joint, and a painful bump occurs at the bottom of the patella. Osteochondrosis of the tibia begins to progress during puberty, since the child is growing rapidly at this time. Usually sick boys from the age of 13 years.
Other diseases of the knee joints
There are quite a few diseases of the knee joint, some of which are rare. These include:
- Synovitis. In this case, inflammation of the synovial membrane occurs , which leads to accumulation of fluid in the joint cavity.
- Joint mouse. The fragment is located freely in the joint cavity and causes severe pain, as well as problems with movement.
- Vascular pain. They arise as a result of circulatory problems.
- Goff's disease. In the knee joint, inflammation of the fatty tissue occurs.
- Chondromalacia of the patella. With this pathology, cartilage tissue is damaged in the patella.
- Gout. It is a severe degree of arthritis when uric acid crystals are deposited in the knee joint.
This is just a small list of diseases that occur in the knee area. All of them have common symptoms: swelling, pain, redness, so their treatment has similar points.
Diseases of the joints of the legs of the knees: treatment
If the doctor after the examination made the correct diagnosis, then the next step will be the appointment of competent treatment. The main thing is to eliminate the cause of pain and restore the function and structure of joint tissues. Complex therapy is represented by anti-inflammatory drugs, chondroprotectors, as well as drugs that increase immunity. In addition, if there is a disease of the knee joints, the treatment includes physiotherapeutic procedures, therapeutic diet, manual therapy, massage, physiotherapy exercises.
The knee joints have a heavy load. They take part in movements and support the weight of a person. Overweight people often suffer from knee joint diseases. If the doctor prescribed a special diet to the patient, then in this case he is forbidden to eat sweet, flour, spicy, spicy and salty dishes. With weight loss, knee pain also decreases.
During treatment, it is important to perform therapeutic exercises. Striking results bring exercises performed in the water. Such a comprehensive effect on the muscles improves blood circulation in the tissues of the cartilage of the joint. Therapeutic gymnastics must be continued even after improvement in preventive conditions.
Physiotherapy
If knee disease occurs, treatment may include physiotherapy. Such procedures are necessary to strengthen the muscles of the damaged knee, while their condition becomes more stable. Doctors often prescribe classes on a stationary bike, which are held in the gym.
If inflammation in the knee joint is just beginning to develop, you should perform as many movements as possible for the diseased knee. Then pay attention to the exercises for the hips and lower legs, gradually increasing the load. When the patient begins to recover, they begin to perform exercises aimed at all muscle groups.
In order to cure any disease of the knee joint, physiotherapy must be carried out for a whole month for two hours a day. If this is not enough, then the treatment is extended for another month. Depending on the type of pathology and degree of neglect, the doctor determines the duration of classes. At the end of the course, it is recommended that you continue to perform certain exercises to prevent illness.
Surgical intervention
As already mentioned, problems with knee joints require complex treatment. Some situations involve surgery. Interestingly, doctors prohibit surgery until the swelling and swelling of the knee joint disappears. Therefore, first they carry out procedures that eliminate such symptoms, and then only carry out surgical intervention.
Output
Thus, it is important to identify the cause of the disease of the knee joint in a timely manner, since advanced pathology sometimes leads to disability. The disease cannot be allowed to become chronic, because in this case the treatment will take much longer. When the first symptoms of the disease appear, seek medical help as soon as possible.