Of all the joints in the human body, knee pain is the most common human complaint. The knee joint is complex, it bears a lot of stress in different types of physical activity, so there can be many reasons for pain. Knee pain, even if it occurs occasionally and goes away on its own, shouldn't go unnoticed.
Knee pain, regardless of its intensity, has a significant impact on the quality of life. You are not enjoying your favorite outdoor activity, its efficiency declines and a simple shopping spree becomes a problem.
In our article we will consider what to do when knee joints hurt, how to treat them, and whether it is possible to get rid of discomfort in the knees forever - the last question is especially relevant for the elderly, who suffer from sedentary movement and joint painthink syndrome an indispensable companion of old age.
Pain diagnosis
- It is necessary to find out the nature of the pain. The pain can be sharp, burning, stabbing, or aching.
- Eliminate the circumstances of the occurrence of pain - at night, after exertion, when walking, in the morning, sudden sharp pain.
- Were there any other signs of joint damage: swelling, hyperemia (redness), joint deformity, crunching, restricted mobility.
- Look for a history of infection, stress, leg injuries, or increased physical activity.
- Undergo an instrumental examination in a medical and preventive institution (LPU) - blood test, X-ray diagnostics, analysis of synovial fluid.
Causes of knee pain
There are more than 200 joint diseases, most of which are accompanied by more than just pain. Only through a complex of symptoms and examinations can you determine what is causing your knee pain.
Traumatic pathology
With traumatic pathologies, knee pain occurs with joint injuries (bumps, falls, prolonged stress on the joints - typical for athletes) or with general diseases of the body.
Let's consider the main traumatic pathologies.
Knee fracture
Fracture or displacement of the kneecap, fractures of the condyles of the femur and / or the tibia. If you fall on your knees from a great height, in a car crash, etc.
The victim feels a sharp sharp pain at the moment of impact, over time the pain does not stop, it can weaken a little, but it intensifies when pushing or walking.
The joint swells, deforms, fills with blood (hemarthrosis), the knee does not bend, and the kneecap becomes abnormally mobile.
Dislocated knee
It is characterized by the displacement of the bones of the joint relative to each other. The dislocation of the knee joint is of various complexity (complete, incomplete, complicated by rupture of soft tissues, etc. ).
Habitual dislocation occurs as a result of a knee injury or as a result of a congenital anomaly: weakness or excessive elasticity of the ligaments, flat sliding paths of the femur in the joint, excessive patellar position.
A knee joint dislocation is a pretty serious injury and if you don't take care of it in a timely manner, it can all lead to serious complications. Dislocation of the knee joint is the most painful of all types, although it is rare.
Serious injuries such as dislocations should be treated in medical facilities, so there should not be an independent procedure. Traumatologists do that.
Sprain, torn tendon, ligaments
Depending on the degree of damage (partial rupture of individual fibers, incomplete tear, complete tear), symptoms occur: crunching and clicking when moving, bruising below the break point, restriction of flexion and extension of the joint, knee swelling, joint too flexible (with complete breakage of the ligaments). The pain is sharp and severe, but with a small injury it may not appear immediately, but after a while.
Bursitis
Inflammation of the bursa periarticular due to trauma, infections, metabolic disorders, autoimmune diseases. Often occurs in athletes and people with increased body weight. The knee swells, the pain varies in intensity, but increases with exertion and at night.
Meniscal tear
Can be the result of trauma or degenerative changes in the cartilage tissue. Acute trauma is characterized by severe pain, swelling, and limited mobility. The symptoms of degenerative changes are mild.
Joint diseases
Knee pain can be a symptom of a medical condition.
We have listedthe most common diseases with knee pain syndrome:
rheumatism
The diagnosis is much rarer than in the 19th and 20th centuries. This is due both to the discovery of penicillin (and then to the manufacture of other antibiotics) as well as the poor diagnostic possibilities in the past, when almost all joint diseases were attributed to rheumatism.
A characteristic sign of rheumatism is alternating joint pain: first one joint becomes inflamed, then the other. For example, knee pain subsides but occurs in another large joint (elbow, hip).
Rheumatism is more common in children and adolescents, the disease develops after a strep infection of the upper respiratory tract.
Note: Advanced rheumatism leads to damage to the heart (rheumatic heart disease) or to the nervous system (chorea).
Reactive arthritis
It is more common in people of childbearing age because inflammation of the joints is most often caused by pathogenic microbes that sexually enter the human body.
Much less often reactive arthritis is caused by infections of the gastrointestinal tract or infectious inflammation of the nasopharynx (sore throat, flu). After 1-4 weeks after the disease, the patient noticed that his legs started to hurt at night.
Both large joints (knees, ankles) and small ones (the big toes are sore or painful) can become inflamed and painful. Knee pain is accompanied by swelling and / or redness.
Symptoms sometimes include conjunctivitis (inflammation and pain in the eyes), keratoderma (thickening of the skin on the soles of the feet).
Reiter syndrome
Urethritis (frequent, painful urination) and bowel disease are some of the symptoms of common reactive arthritis.
arthrosis
Disease of the elderly. At night my knees regularly hurt "because of the weather". The stress on the joint (long walking) increases pain, swelling and impairs the mobility of the joints.
After rest and warming up, the pain disappears.
Baker's cyst
Swelling in the back of the knee causing a feeling of constriction, movement disorders.
Osteochondritis dissecans (Koening's disease)
The cartilage covering the bone peels off, the sore knee hurts, and if the fragment flakes off completely, the movement of the joint becomes hindered.
Osgood-Schlatter disease
It is more commonly diagnosed in teenagers. Knee pain increases when climbing stairs and when squatting.
Rheumatoid arthritis
An autoimmune disease the mechanism of which is not clear. It is noticeable that the initial circumstances are the usual list of stresses and strains on the immune system: from stress and infections to hypothermia. The immune bodies that attack their own cells cause inflammation of the joint, especially the lining of the joint.
Under the influence of an attack by immune cells, the membrane swells, increases in volume, and then begins to grow into nearby cartilage and bone tissue. The consequence of the process is pain in the knee joints, which in the second half of the night become unbearable.
The disease lasts for years, treatment consists of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroid hormones, gold supplements, immunosuppressants, antimalarials.
Arises from a wrong metabolism. Due to the abuse of alcohol "purine" products (meat, smoked meat, pickles).
Uric acid produced in the blood is deposited in the joints in the form of sodium urate crystals. The growing "deposits" gradually impair the mobility of the joint, severe attacks of pain occur, the time interval between the attacks is gradually shortened.
Vascular pain in the knees is characterized by a pulling along the vein, sometimes patients notice an acute tingling sensation.
Only a doctor, after a thorough examination, can determine why the knee hurts when there has been no obvious injury. It is unwise to rub the knee joint with something that "helped a neighbor". Because what helps in healing a joint injury can make the disease's autoimmune mechanism worse.
Treatment of knee pain
Depending on the diagnosis, the doctor will choose a treatment regimen.
Therapeutic measures aim to combat:
- with the cause of the disease - infection, tumor, abnormal metabolic processes, failure of the immune system.
- with pain syndrome - symptomatic treatment includes pain relievers, intra-articular blocks.
- in degenerative processes - drugs with chondroprotectors help restore the cartilage tissue of the joint.
If necessary, resort to surgery, endoprosthetics, physiotherapy and therapeutic exercises for the joints.
Pain Relief Products
Checklist for people with knee pain - what to do to get relief from the condition.
| Cause of pain | What should I do |
|---|---|
| Pain clearly attributable to trauma | Provide immobility of joints and limbs, ice or cold compress on the knee. Immediate medical assistance. |
| Arthritis pain (reactive, rheumatoid, etc. ) | Specific treatment with antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory drugs is prescribed only by a doctor. With night pains, you can apply a warming compress, ointments based on bee venom. |
| Pain in osteoarthritis (post-traumatic, age-related, overweight people) after exercise or at night | Rub all warming compresses with herbal tincture, ointments with chondroprotectors. |
Severe joint pain is relieved by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
But most patients (overweight, age-related changes in the joints) would not have to worry about what to do with pain if they kept the preventive minimum:
- Proper diet with sufficient calcium, vitamins, fight against obesity;
- Reduction of heavy joint loads up to a change of job if this is "on your feet" all day;
- Systematic physiotherapy to strengthen muscles and ligaments - a good muscle corset relieves the bones;
Joint diseases can develop over the years and lead to a significant deterioration in the quality of life. A timely visit to the doctor and an arsenal of folk remedies will help maintain the joy of exercise into old age.
Common home treatment - folk recipes
Self-made formulas for ointments and compresses based on natural ingredients are used in courses - this is the only way to achieve sustainable results.
7 simple folk remedies for knee pain:
- Cabbage leaves. Cuts are made on a fresh leaf so that the juice comes out. Put a spoonful of honey in the middle and place this "compress" on your knee. The sheet is fixed with a bandage. Wear a bandage all day or do the procedure at night. The leaves of burdock and plantain are used in a similar way.
- Propolis tincture for arthritis. If the knees "twist" at night (the causes of dull pain can be from the change in weather to the load on the legs), lubricate the joint with a mixture and rub it into the skin until dry. If the knees are very sore, make a full-fledged compress: moisten the soft tissue with tincture and apply it to the joint, cover with a film and wrap with a scarf. The device is also used to warm up the joint after a sore knee has cooled down. Likewise, they use tinctures made from natural stimulants: aloe, kalanchoe, mummy, bee dead.
Important:biologically active substances can not be used if the disease is autoimmune in nature. Stimulants activate the immune system and make the disease worse.
- Gelatin compress. A piece of gauze soaked in hot water is squeezed out, 1 tsp is poured into the center. Gelatin, applied to the joint, wrapped with food wrap and wrapped. Repeat the process at night for 14 days. The product promotes joint nutrition and cartilage regeneration.
- A mustard compress will help if your knee is very sore. Take equal parts honey and dry mustard, add warm water and salt until it becomes mushy. Lubricate the knee with a mixture, put with a cloth with foil and bandage. Exposure time 20–40 minutes, remove if stinging heavily. A mustard compress is used for pain every other day.
- So that the legs do not hurt, a drug is prepared for oral administration: gelatin is stirred into 0. 5 liters of water in the evening, heated in the morning until it has completely dissolved. The mixture is taken before meals for ¼ - 1/2 glass, they drink for a month.
- Inner goat fat (100 g) is mixed with balm "Zvezdochka" (1 can), the resulting ointment is rubbed in for vein and joint pain in the knee.
- Kefir mask. Add 0. 5 l kefir crumble bread, 1 teaspoon. Lemonade. The mixture is insisted for 6 hours. Then the liquid is filtered, moistened with gauze and compresses are made overnight for several days until the pain disappears.
It is advisable to regularly conduct home treatment using folk remedies, which is combined with traditional medicine and modern methods. Do not wait until the disease is already firmly established and manifests itself with severe pain, deformation of the joint. An early visit to the doctor speeds recovery, while the chronic form of the disease is more difficult to cure.
Note:Treatment with folk remedies is allowed only with the consent of a doctor after examination and diagnosis.