Pain in the knee joint is a very common thing in a person's life. It can be due to many factors. As a rule, the main reason is that due to its anatomical structure, the knee joint is quite vulnerable to injury, it is subjected to large daily loads, especially in overweight people. It is also possible the appearance of a symptom during the practice of intensive sports, in the course of daily domestic or professional activities.
Causes of knee pain
The knee joint consists of many different elements, each with its own functional load. Why do my knees hurt? The following factors can cause knee joint pain:
- traumatization;
- damage;
- dystrophy of any of the elements.
Knee pain is a symptomatic manifestation of a large number of diseases of the knee joint. What causes knee pain? To accurately determine the cause in a particular case, diagnostic measures are needed. Pain can be the result of trauma to the elements:
- ligament apparatus;
- tendon formations;
- damage to the cartilage lining.
For various diseases of the knee, in addition to pain, specific manifestations, determined in laboratory, instrumental and other studies, will be characteristic.
Arthritis
If the knees hurt after a long state of rest or heavy loads, this is arthritis. This pathology of the knee joint is detected in around 5-15% of patients who consult a doctor for pain in the joint area.
Done! Arthritis is a disease that is common to all age groups of the population, but young people are more susceptible to the disease.
A characteristic sign for most arthritis is acute knee pain, that is, an acute onset, within 1 to 2 days.
Arthritis is an inflammatory process, so acute pain in the knee joint is accompanied by such signs:
- edema;
- swelling;
- hyperemia;
- severe pain that is worse at night
With arthrosis and damage to the cartilage of the meniscus, the pain is manifested or intensified by a 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 has a different etiology, and it will not work to eliminate it by reducing the load and immobilizing the joint. Also, arthritis can affect several joints at once, except the knee.
osteoarthritis
Another very common knee ailment, accompanied by severe pain. The pathology is found in 35-40% of people who come with knee pain, usually this age category is over 40 years old, both the left knee and the right knee are often affected at the same weather. Severe pain may not appear immediately, but the sensations gradually increase 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 pain after a long walk.
- Over time, even walking short distances causes a lot of discomfort.
- Subsequently, the patient has great difficulty going up and down stairs.
- It is difficult to get up from a chair, that is, to bend your knees with a load.
- The pain syndrome disappears if you rest, immobilize the joint.
Over time, without proper treatment, the symptoms become much worse:
- the joint is deformed;
- there is a crack when walking or extending the knee.
- the pain intensifies.
The pathogenesis is due to the destruction of the structure, the degeneration of the cartilaginous lining of the joint cavity, which leads to deformity of the joint. Primary or age-related osteoarthritis occurs as a result of natural wear and tear of cartilage, secondary is the result of injuries or other reasons. Such causes can be infectious arthritis, tumor lesions of bone or cartilage tissue, as a result of which this disease can appear in people of different age categories.
meniscopathy
They are also a common cause of joint pain.
for reference! Among patients seeking help for knee joint pain, about 25-35% have meniscal injuries of various aetiologies.
This pathology is observed in people of any age, various professional activities and is equally common in men and women. The menisci are injured during active movements:
- At the time of injury, a characteristic click is heard, after which the knee can hurt a lot.
- Then a crackling or crepitus in the knee.
- After that, a sharp pain is felt, which intensifies.
- A person in this state 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, the joint swells, and movements can be blocked, which is accompanied by severe pain and can lead to the development of arthrosis. The risk group is:
- people suffering from gout or arthritis of the joint;
- diabetics;
- people with weak ligaments or who are overweight.
The disease is diagnosed by computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, and is treated, depending on severity, conservatively or surgically.
tendinitis
Tendinitis is an inflammatory process in the tissues of the muscle tendons, at the place of their union. This disease most often affects active children and adolescents, athletes:
- cyclists;
- basketball players;
- volleyball players;
- athletes.
The disease exists in two forms:
- Tenosynovitis is an inflammation of the tendon sheath.
- Tendobursitis is an injury to the tendon bursa.
The cause of this phenomenon can be not only an injury associated with active movement, but also diseases such as:
- drop;
- arthritis;
- immunodeficiency states;
- infectious diseases;
- excessive physical activity;
- Muscular imbalance of the forces acting on the joint.
With tendinitis, the knees hurt paroxysmally, that is, the pain increases with a 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 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 inflammatory processes in the joint, then 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 involves immobilization of the joint with a plaster cast and restriction of motor activity. Various medications are prescribed:
- means for tissue repair;
- anti-inflammatory drugs;
- antibiotics
Physiotherapy procedures are also prescribed. In advanced cases, with necrosis, surgical removal of dead tissues and plastic formations of tendons is performed.
knee bursitis
This is a disease of the joint bags, characterized by an inflammatory process and the presence of exudative fluid.
for reference! The causes of bursitis are constant and excessive stress on the joint.
If we talk about pathologies of an infectious nature, the following factors may be the cause:
- skin damage in the knee area;
- open wound injuries;
- various septic conditions;
- the presence of an infection in the blood;
- over weight;
- increased load on the joint.
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;
- noticeable changes in the shape of the joint;
- 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 location of the process.
Depending on the localization of the inflamed joint capsule, there are such types of pathology:
- prepatellar;
- suprapatellar;
- infrapatellar bursitis.
This pathology, as a rule, is quite easily diagnosed and treated, except for cases with elderly patients, in which it is chronic and difficult to treat.
Baker's cyst
Another pathological phenomenon of the knee joint, which brings with it a lot of pain and trouble. The cyst is also called popliteal hernia, it is a bulge in the popliteal fossa. Normally, between the tendons, the gastrocnemius and semimembranosus muscles, on the posterior surface of the knee region, there is an intertendinous bursa. As a result of the following factors, a pathological effusion is formed in the joint cavity, penetrating into the intertendinous bag:
- trauma;
- dystrophic changes;
- inflammatory processes.
As a result, the bag increases, becomes noticeable, and this is called a Baker's cyst. In the early stages of development, it may be invisible, cause no obvious discomfort, that is, it is asymptomatic. Later, due to the increase in size, the knee hurts a lot, since the cyst begins to compress the nerves and blood vessels, and the mobility of the joint is also affected. Bending movements become difficult and are also accompanied by severe pain.
osteochondrosis dissecans
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 area of the cartilaginous lining becomes necrotic and exfoliates, as a result of which a free body is formed in the joint cavity, which causes a lot of trouble.
It manifests itself symptomatically as follows:
- mild pain and discomfort;
- when moving, the pain intensifies;
- swelling may develop.
A detached fragment of cartilage tissue, once in the joint cavity, can impede movement, which patients complain about, and when moving, characteristic clicking or crunching sounds can be heard. After exfoliation, a 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.
Physicians believe that frequent joint injuries are the cause of the development of this disease, but sometimes there are patients who do not have previous injuries. Diagnosis is based on the methods of computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and X-ray examination.
gout disease
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, the so-called urates. They accumulate both in the joint cavity itself and around the cartilage and tendons, and cause inflammation.
With the disease, there is severe pain in the joint, the knee area reddens and swells. If gout becomes chronic, urate deposits cause a clear deformity of the joint, which leads to a violation, the inability to perform 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 special diets and drug treatment are used in the early stages of development.
The causes 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 why the knee hurts for sure after diagnosis.
General principles of treatment
Everyone wonders if the knee hurts, what to do? Many people, faced with the appearance of slight pain, discomfort, prefer to endure, because they think that it will go away by itself, this should not be done. The knee joint hurts because it is a manifestation of various pathologies, and in the absence of adequate and timely therapy, these pathologies can lead to serious consequences.
If your knees hurt, then treatment involves therapy of the pathology that caused the pain. Based on the results of diagnostic studies, the doctor prescribes the appropriate therapy and decides how to treat diseased joints. These can be the following methods:
- 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, various chondroprotectors or corticosteroids.
for reference! A puncture is possible, both for diagnosis and treatment, for example, in the case of Becker's cyst.
Sometimes, with advanced pathology, surgical treatment is indicated, which is also diverse. In most cases they resort to arthroscopic operations: in order to remove the joint body or dry out the affected tissue area. Likewise, if other therapies are ineffective, knee arthroplasty is used, that is, the replacement of joint elements or the entire joint with an artificial implant. Therefore, the answer to the question "what to do if your knee hurts" is an immediate visit to the doctor.