Pain in the knee joint is a very common phenomenon in human life. It is due to many factors. The main reason is usually that, due to its anatomical structure, the knee joint is quite vulnerable and exposed to a lot of daily stress, especially in overweight people. Symptoms may also occur during intensive sports, everyday household or professional activities.
Causes of knee pain
The knee joint consists of many different elements, each of which carries 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 symptom of many diseases of the knee joint. What causes knee pain? In order to accurately determine the cause, diagnostic measures are required in a given case. Pain can result from trauma to the following elements:
- ligament devices;
- tendon formations;
- damage to the cartilage lining.
In addition to pain, various diseases of the knee will also be characterized by specific manifestations, which are determined in laboratory, instrumental and other tests.
Arthritis
If the knee hurts after a long period of rest or after a heavy load, it is arthritis. This pathology of the knee joint is detected in about 5-15% of patients who consult a doctor for joint pain.
Fact! Arthritis is a disease that affects all age groups of the population, but young people are more susceptible to the disease.
The characteristic sign of most arthritis is sharp pain in the knee, i. e. acute onset - within 1-2 days.
Arthritis is an inflammatory process, therefore acute pain in the knee joint is accompanied by the following symptoms:
- edema;
- swelling;
- hyperemia;
- severe pain that worsens at night.
In the case of arthrosis and meniscal cartilage damage, the pain manifests itself or increases with the motor load of the knee joint, that is, the pain is relieved when there is no load on the knee, in contrast to arthritis. In the case of arthritis, the etiology of the pain syndrome is different, and you will not get rid of it by reducing the load and immobilizing the joint. Also, arthritis can affect several joints at once, except for your knees.
arthrosis
Another very common knee disease accompanied by severe pain. The pathology is found in 35-40% of people with knee pain, usually this age group is over 40 years old, often both the left knee and the right knee are affected at the same time. Severe pain may not appear immediately, but the sensations gradually increase over time: for someone a week or two, for someone a month. Unlike arthritis, the knee only hurts when you put a load on it:
- At first, a person feels pain after a long walk.
- Over time, even walking short distances causes a lot of discomfort.
- Later, the patient has great difficulty going up and down the stairs.
- It is difficult to get up from the chair, that is, to bend the knees with a load.
- The pain syndrome disappears when you rest and immobilize the joint.
Over time, without proper treatment, the symptoms worsen significantly:
- the joint is deformed;
- a cracking sound can be heard when walking or extending the knee.
- the pain intensifies.
The pathogenesis is the destruction of the structure of the joint cavity, the degeneration of its cartilaginous lining, which leads to the deformation of the joint. Primary arthrosis or age-related natural wear and tear of cartilage, secondary - develops as a result of injuries or a number of other reasons. Such causes can be infectious arthritis, cancerous changes in bone or cartilage tissue, as a result of which this disease can occur in people of different ages.
Meniscopathies
They are also common causes of joint pain.
FYI! 25-35% of patients seeking help for knee pain have meniscus injuries of various etiologies.
This pathology is observed in people of any age, in various professional activities, and is equally common among men and women. The menisci are injured during active movements:
- At the moment of the injury, a characteristic click can be heard, after which the knee may hurt sharply.
- Then a crack or crepitus in the knee.
- After that, a sharp pain is felt, which increases.
- In this condition, a person cannot move the knee joint at all.
The pain may subside after a while, and meniscopathy becomes chronic. But without proper treatment, edema develops, the joint swells, and the movements in it can be blocked, which causes severe pain and can lead to the development of arthrosis. The risk group is as follows:
- people with gout or arthritis;
- diabetics;
- people with weak ligaments or who are overweight.
The diagnosis of the disease is made by computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, and depending on the severity of the treatment, it is carried out conservatively or surgically.
Tendinitis
Tendonitis is an inflammatory process in the tissues of muscle tendons, at the place of their attachment. This disease most often affects active children and adolescents, athletes:
- cyclists;
- basketball players;
- volleyball players;
- athletes.
The disease occurs in two forms:
- Tenosynovitis is inflammation of the tendon sheath.
- Tendobursitis is a change in the tendon sac.
The cause of this phenomenon is not only injury related to active movement, but also such diseases:
- gout;
- arthritis;
- immunodeficiency conditions;
- infectious diseases;
- excessive physical activity;
- muscle imbalance of the forces acting on the joint.
In the case of tendinitis, the knees hurt paroxysmally, that is, the pain increases with the load on the tendon, in severe forms or in the later stages of the disease, rupture of the inflamed tendon is possible. The disease is diagnosed in several ways, sometimes it can also be detected by laboratory methods, for example, if the cause is an infection.
But if the cause is gout or inflammatory processes in the joint itself, radiographic research methods and magnetic resonance imaging can detect the disease.
In the initial stages of the development of the disease, conservative therapy helps, which includes fixing the joint with plaster and limiting motor activity. Various medications are prescribed:
- tissue repair devices;
- anti-inflammatory drugs;
- antibiotics.
Physiotherapy procedures are also prescribed. In advanced cases of necrosis, surgical removal of dead tissue and plastic tendon formations is performed.
knee bursitis
This is a disease of the joint bags, characterized by an inflammatory process and the presence of exudative fluid.
FYI! The causes of bursitis are constant, excessive stress on the joint.
If we are talking about pathologies of an infectious nature, then the following factors can be the causes:
- skin damage in the knee area;
- open wound injuries;
- various septic conditions;
- presence of infection in the blood;
- overweight;
- increased load on the joint.
In addition, the pathology is secondary, as a complication of gouty disease or arthritis of the knee joint. Like any inflammatory process, bursitis is accompanied by the following symptoms:
- pain syndrome;
- noticeable changes in the shape of the joint;
- the presence of swelling in the knee area;
- redness;
- severe difficulty moving.
The severity and visibility of these manifestations depend on the severity and localization of the process.
Depending on the localization of the inflamed joint capsule, there are the following types of pathologies:
- prepatellar;
- suprapatellar;
- infrapatellar bursitis.
This pathology is usually quite easy to diagnose and treat, except in cases of elderly patients, in whom it is chronic and difficult to treat.
Baker's cyst
Another pathological phenomenon of the knee joint, which brings a lot of pain and trouble. A cyst is also called a popliteal hernia, it is a protrusion in the popliteal fossa. Normally, between the tendons, the gastrocnemius and semimembranosus muscles, there is an intertendon pouch on the posterior surface of the knee. As a result of the following factors, a pathological collection of fluid is formed in the joint cavity, which penetrates into the intertendon sac:
- injury;
- dystrophic changes;
- inflammatory processes.
As a result, the bag becomes enlarged and noticeable, and is called a Baker's cyst. In the initial stages of development, it may be invisible, it does not cause obvious discomfort, i. e. it is asymptomatic. Later, due to the increase in size, the knee becomes very painful, as the cyst begins to compress the nerves and blood vessels, and the mobility of the joint is also impaired. Bending movements are difficult and are associated with severe pain.
Dissection of osteochondrosis
This disease is also a common cause of knee pain. Normally, the articular surfaces that make up the knee joint are lined with cartilage. This pathology is caused by the fact that a small part of the cartilaginous lining becomes dead and peels off, as a result of which a free-lying body is formed in the joint cavity, which causes many problems.
It manifests symptomatically as follows:
- mild pain and discomfort;
- pain increases during movement;
- swelling may develop.
Once inside the joint cavity, a detached fragment of cartilage tissue can hinder movement, which patients complain about, characteristic clicks or crunches can be heard during movement. After exfoliation, a defect remains on the smooth joint surface, which contributes to the traumatization of the joint and leads to osteoarthritis or other pathologies in the future.
Doctors consider frequent joint injuries to be the cause of this disease, but sometimes there are patients who have no previous injuries. The diagnosis is based on the methods of computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and X-ray examination.
Gouty disease
Gout or gouty arthritis of the knee joint develops as a result of damage to the metabolism, which leads to the excessive formation and deposition of uric acid salts, the so-called urates. They accumulate both in the joint cavity itself and around the cartilages and tendons and cause inflammation.
The disease causes severe pain in the joint, the knee area becomes red and swollen. If gout becomes chronic, urate deposits cause a clear deformation in the joint, which leads to violations, the impossibility of performing normal movements.
The disease is diagnosed using X-rays and uric acid blood tests. Its treatment is difficult, but in the initial stages of development, special diets and medication are used.
The causes of knee pain can be caused by many different pathologies with completely different etiology and pathogenesis. Therefore, the question of why the knee hurts can only be answered by a specialist after the diagnosis.
General principles of treatment
Everyone wonders what to do when your knee hurts? Many people prefer to tolerate the appearance of mild pain and discomfort, because they believe that it will go away on its own, and this should not be done. The knee joint hurts because it is a manifestation of various pathologies, and in the absence of timely and appropriate therapy, these pathologies can lead to serious consequences.
If the knee hurts, then the treatment includes the treatment of the pathology that caused the pain. Based on the results of the diagnostic tests, the doctor prescribes appropriate therapy and decides how to treat the diseased joints. These methods can be:
- special therapeutic and preventive exercises;
- ointments;
- compresses.
In case of inflammatory phenomena, anti-inflammatory substances are prescribed, and if there are problems with cartilage tissue, then various chondroprotectors or corticosteroid drugs.
FYI! A puncture is possible, both for diagnosis and for treatment, for example, in the case of a Becker cyst.
Sometimes with advanced pathology, surgical treatment is indicated, which is also varied. In most cases, arthroscopic operations are performed: to remove the joint body or to remove the area of the affected tissue. Furthermore, if other therapy is ineffective, knee arthroplasty is used, i. e. the replacement of joint elements or the entire joint with an artificial implant. Thus, the answer to the question "what to do if the knee hurts" is an immediate visit to the doctor.