Of all the joints in the human body, knee pain is the most common complaint of people. The knee joint is complex, it bears a great load with different types of physical activity, therefore, there can be many reasons for pain in it. Knee pain, even if it occurs occasionally and goes away on its own, should not go unnoticed.
Knee pain, whatever the intensity, significantly impairs the quality of life. There is no joy from your favorite type of outdoor activity, efficiency decreases, and a simple shopping trip becomes a problem.
In our article, we will consider what to do if 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 older people who consider sedentary movement and joint pain syndrome an indispensable companion of age.
Pain diagnostics
- It is necessary to find out the nature of the pain. The pain can be sharp, burning, stabbing, aching.
- Abolish the circumstances of the onset of pain - at night, after exertion, while walking, in the morning, sudden sharp pain.
- Was there any other signs of joint damage: swelling, hyperemia (redness), joint deformity, crunching, restriction of mobility.
- Check for a history of infection, stress, leg injury, 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 articular pathologies, most of them are accompanied by more than just pain. Only on the basis of a complex of symptoms and examinations can you determine what causes your knees to hurt.
Traumatic pathology
In traumatic pathologies, knee pain occurs with joint injuries (blows, 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 patella, fractures of the condyles of the femur and / or tibia. When you fall from a height on your knees, in case of car accidents, etc.
The victim experiences a sharp severe pain at the moment of impact, over time the pain does not stop, it may become slightly weaker, but intensifies with pressing or walking.
The joint swells, becomes deformed, fills with blood (hemarthrosis), the knee does not bend, and the patella becomes abnormally mobile.
Dislocated knee
It is characterized by the displacement of the bones of the joint relative to each other. Dislocation of the knee joint is of varying 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, excessively high patellar position.
A dislocation of the knee joint is a rather serious injury, and if you do not take care of it in time, everything can end in serious complications. Dislocation of the knee joint is the most painful of all types, although it is a rare occurrence.
Serious injuries such as dislocations should be treated in medical institutions, so there should be no independent intervention. This is what traumatologists do.
Sprain, rupture of tendons, ligaments
Depending on the degree of damage (partial ruptures of individual fibers, incomplete tear, complete rupture), symptoms occur: crunching and clicks during movement, bruising below the rupture site, limitation of flexion-extension of the joint, knee swelling, joint too mobile (with complete breakage of the ligaments). The pain is sharp and severe, but with a minor injury it may not appear immediately, but after a while.
Bursitis
Inflammation of the periarticular bursa due to trauma, infections, metabolic disorders, autoimmune disease. Often occurs in athletes and people with increased body weight. The knee swells, pains vary in intensity, but increase with exertion and at night.
Meniscus tear
May be the result of trauma or degenerative changes in the cartilage tissue. Acute trauma is characterized by severe pain, swelling, and limited mobility. Symptoms for degenerative changes are mild.
Diseases of the joints
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 less common than in the 19th and 20th centuries. This is due both to the discovery of penicillin (and then to the production of other antibiotics), and to the low diagnostic capabilities 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 streptococcal infection of the upper respiratory tract.
Note: advanced rheumatism leads to damage to the heart (rheumatic heart disease) or the nervous system (chorea).
Reactive arthritis
It is more common in people of reproductive age, since inflammation of the joints is most often caused by pathogenic microbes that enter the human body sexually.
Much less often, reactive arthritis is caused by infections of the gastrointestinal tract or nasopharyngeal infectious inflammation (sore throat, flu). After 1–4 weeks after the illness, the patient notices that his legs began to hurt at night.
Both large joints (knees, ankles) and small ones (the big toe aches or aches) can become inflamed and painful. Knee pain is accompanied by swelling and / or redness.
Sometimes symptoms include conjunctivitis (inflammation and pain in the eyes), keratoderma (thickening of the skin on the soles of the feet).
Reiter's syndrome
Urethritis (frequent, painful urination) and intestinal disorders join the symptoms of common reactive arthritis.
Osteoarthritis
Disease of the elderly. Periodically knees ache at night "for the weather. "Load on the joint (long walking) increases pain, swelling, and impairs joint mobility.
After rest and warming up, the pain disappears.
Baker's cyst
Swelling in the back of the knee, causing a feeling of constriction, difficulty in movement.
Osteochondritis dissecans (Köning's disease)
The cartilage covering the bone peels off, the sore knee aches, and when the fragment completely peels off, the movement of the joint is impeded.
Osgood-Schlatter disease
It is more often diagnosed in adolescents. Knee pain increases when going up and down stairs, squatting.
Rheumatoid arthritis
An autoimmune disease, the mechanism of which is not clear. It is noticed that the starting circumstances are the usual list of loads on the immune system: from stress and infection, to hypothermia. The immune bodies attacking their own cells cause inflammation of the joint, especially its synovium.
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 result of the process is pain in the knee joints, which becomes unbearable in the second half of the night.
The disease lasts for years, treatment consists of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroid hormones, gold preparations, immunosuppressants, antimalarial drugs.
Arises from improper metabolism. Due to the abuse of alcohol, "purine" products (meat, smoked meats, pickles).
Uric acid produced in the blood is deposited in the joints in the form of sodium urate crystals. The growing "deposits" gradually affect the mobility of the joint, severe attacks of pain appear, the time interval between attacks is gradually reduced.
Vascular pain in the knees is characterized by a pulling sensation along the vein, sometimes patients notice an acute tingling sensation.
Only a doctor, after a detailed examination, can tell why the knee hurts, if there was no obvious injury. It is unwise to rub the knee joint with a remedy that "helped a neighbor". After all, what helps to heal a joint injury can provoke an exacerbation in the autoimmune mechanism of the disease.
Knee pain treatment
The doctor selects a treatment regimen depending on the diagnosis.
Therapeutic measures are aimed at combating:
- 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 blockages.
- with degenerative processes - drugs with chondroprotectors help to restore the cartilage tissue of the joint.
If necessary, resort to surgery, endoprosthetics, use physiotherapy and therapeutic exercises for the joints.
Pain Relief Products
Checklist for those with knee pain - what to do to relieve the condition.
| Cause of pain | What to do |
|---|---|
| Pain clearly resulting from trauma | Provide joint and limb immobility, ice or cold compress on the knee. Immediate medical attention. |
| Pain in arthritis (reactive, rheumatoid, etc. ) | Specific treatment with antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory drugs is prescribed only by a doctor. For night pains, you can apply a warming compress, ointments based on bee venom. |
| Pain in arthrosis (post-traumatic, age-related, overweight people) after exercise or at night | Any warming compresses with herbal tincture, rubbing in ointments with chondroprotectors. |
Severe joint pain is relieved by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
But most patients (overweight people, age-related changes in the joints) would not have to think about what to do with pain if they observed the preventive minimum:
- Proper nutrition with a sufficient amount of calcium, vitamins, the fight against excess weight;
- Reduction of severe stress on the joint up to the change of work, if it consists of "standing on your feet" all day;
- Systematic physical therapy to strengthen muscles and ligaments - a good muscle corset reduces the load on the bones;
Joint diseases can develop over the years and lead to a significant deterioration in the quality of life. A timely visit to a doctor and an arsenal of folk remedies will help keep the joy of movement until old age.
Joint treatment at home - folk recipes
Homemade recipes for ointments and compresses based on natural ingredients are used in courses - this is the only way to achieve a lasting result.
7 simple folk remedies for knee pain:
- Cabbage leaves. On a fresh leaf, cuts are made so that the juice comes out. Put a spoonful of honey in the middle and apply this "compress" to the 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.
- Tincture of propolis for arthritis. If the knees "twist" at night (the causes of dull pain can be from a change of weather to stress on the legs), lubricate the joint with a mixture, rubbing it into the skin until it dries. If the knees are very sore, then they make a full-fledged compress: moisten the soft tissue with tincture and apply it to the joint, cover it with a film, and wrap it with a scarf. The tool is also used to warm up the joint if a sore knee has chilled. Likewise, they use tinctures from natural stimulants: aloe, Kalanchoe, mummy, bee dead.
Important:biologically active substances cannot be used if the disease is of an autoimmune nature. Stimulants activate the immune system and aggravate the disease.
- 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 foil and wrapped. Repeat the procedure for 14 days at night. The product promotes joint nutrition and cartilage regeneration.
- A mustard compress will help if your knee hurts badly. Take honey and dry mustard in equal proportions, add warm water and salt until a gruel consistency is formed. Lubricate the knee with a mixture, lay with a cloth with a film and bandage. Exposure time 20–40 min. , Remove in case of severe burning sensation. A mustard compress is used for pain every other day.
- So that the legs do not hurt, a medicine is prepared for oral administration: gelatin is stirred in 0. 5 l of water in the evening, in the morning it is heated until it is completely dissolved. The mixture is taken before meals for ¼ – 1/2 glass, they drink for a month.
- Interior goat fat (100 g) is mixed with "Zvezdochka" balm (1 jar), the resulting ointment is rubbed in for venous and joint pain in the knee.
- Kefir mask. 0. 5 l of kefir crumble bread, add 1 tsp. soda. 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 apply home treatment with folk remedies regularly, combining with traditional medicine and modern methods. Do not wait until the disease has already firmly established itself and declared itself with severe pain, deformation of the joint. An early visit to the doctor will speed up recovery, while the chronic form of the disease is more difficult to cure.
Note:treatment with folk remedies is permissible only with the approval of a doctor, after examination and diagnosis.