Have you been suffering from chronic and debilitating knee pain? Do you want to learn about the causes and consider your treatment options? Read this post and get comprehensive coverage of these concerns.
Knee Anatomy
The knee is the most crucial part of the human musculoskeletal system. It allows for smooth movements and an active lifestyle. The anatomical parts of the knee are as follows.
- Bone Ends
- Cartilage
- Meniscal Pads
- Bursa
- Ligaments
- Tendons
- Joint Lining
- Muscles
- Nerves
A healthy knee requires all such parts to function properly. When any part gets injured or dysfunctional due to an internal condition, the knee becomes painful and immobile.
Causes Of Knee Pain
The following conditions lead to knee inflammation and physical disability in the absence of timely treatment.
Overuse Syndrome: Overexercising or using a part of the body more than its current capacity leads to overuse syndrome. It is a condition in which the affected part has sustained micro tears or damage. It results in chronic pain and discomfort if proper rest isn’t provided after intense physical exhaustion.
Overuse syndrome can affect any part, including the knee.
ACL Injuries: ACL, Anterior Cruciate Ligament, is one of the four crucial knee ligaments. ACL injuries lead to knee instability and immobility. Often, athletes are at great risk of injuring their ACL during sports due to accidents or movements like cutting or pivoting.
Fractures: Trauma often leads to bone breaks. When it affects the knee, it can cause severe disability and pain.
Bursitis: It is a fluid-filled sac or bag. Bursae in the knee, like in all joints, provide internal support and cushioning. However, an injury or trauma can damage it and cause inflammation. The condition of an inflamed bursa is called bursitis.
Tendinopathy: The knee has tendons as well as ligaments. A tendon helps attach a muscle to a bone while a ligament attaches one bone to another. There are two major tendon conditions that can cause knee pain: tendonitis and tendinosis.
Inflammation of a tendon due to an injury is called tendonitis and overusing a tendon without enough rest leads to tendinosis over time.
Synovitis: Inflammation of the joint lining is called synovitis. It can be caused either by an injury or an internal autoimmune condition. It makes the knee swollen, warm and red. It feels very tender to touch. Chronic synovitis often leads to total knee damage without proper treatment.
Meniscal Tear: Damage to meniscus can also lead to knee joint pain. Each knee has two meniscal pads or cushions on either side, known as, medial and lateral meniscus. If the damage isn’t treated on time, it leads to severe mobility issues.
Osteonecrosis: Blood loss starves bone cells to death, giving rise to osteonecrosis. It can lead to joint deformities and physical disability. The condition often affects the hip. Yet, it can occur in the knee as well.
Osteoarthritis: Complete deterioration of knee cartilage due to overuse or aging is another reason for bad knee pain. In this condition, the gap between bones vanishes. As a result, it causes knee bones to rub against each other while walking.
Gout:
A high level of uric acid in the blood results in the formation and accumulation of uric crystals in the joint. Often, intense pain starts suddenly but discomfort lingers. Although this condition commonly occurs in the big toe, one can also experience the same in the knee.
Joint Infection: Bacterial infection can also cause knee inflammation. Often, this happens due to primary infections in the body.
For example, suppose one already has a heart infection, Endocarditis. Without treatment, the infection grows within and reaches the knee joint through the blood flow.
Here, this heart infection is the primary condition and the subsequent joint infection is the secondary condition or a complication of the primary problem.
A joint infection is also called septic arthritis.
Symptoms
Physical discomfort in the knee with other symptoms depends on the nature of the medical condition.
You may have to face all or some of the following issues as per the root cause of your knee pain:
- Knee Inflammation
- Swelling
- Tenderness
- Redness
- Reduced Range Of Motion
- Stiffness
- Total Physical Disability
- Mental Disturbance
- Health Complications Due To Comorbidity (Obesity, Heart Problems, Sugar & Sedentary Lifestyle Due To Knee Disability can complicate one’s health conditions when occurred at the same time)
Diagnosis
Knee pain is dominantly diagnosed with the following imaging tests like
- X-ray
- MRI
- CT Scan
Treatment Options
Knee injuries must be provided with instant first-aid care, namely, R.I.C.E.
- Rest the injured knee. Don’t move it. Keep it still so it doesn’t damage any further.
- Put an ice pack on the site of the injury.
- Compress it with a compression bandage.
- Furthermore, if possible, elevate the leg with the injured knee at the heart level. Lie down on the back. Use pillows or cushions to raise the leg. Ice packs, compression and elevation, all three points, helps reduce post-injury swelling.
If the first-aid care doesn’t offer lasting relief and the pain persists, consult a doctor.
The treatment depends on the cause of knee pain. Thus, based on the diagnostic reports, a doctor will decide the course of medical action one needs for a permanent and effective cure.
The following are the knee pain treatments.
- Medications
- Corticosteroids Injections
- Hyaluronic Acid Injections
- Physiotherapy
- PRP Therapy
- Knee Arthroscopy
- Knee Replacement Surgery
As per the intensity of your pain, the doctor will prescribe painkillers or anti-inflammatory medicines. Injections of corticosteroids are often used to offer instant pain relief.
Furthermore, people suffering from knee osteoarthritis might be recommended injections of hyaluronic acid. This acid resembles all the properties of synovial fluid, which is the naturally occurring joint lubricant.
Hyaluronic acid injections relieve symptoms of knee osteoarthritis. As a result, it improves joint function and mobility.
Physiotherapy is recommended for muscle strengthening and improved joint function. This therapy can be required without surgery, before surgery or after surgery as per the conditions of the patient’s knee.
If the knee has sustained a soft-tissue injury and it doesn’t seem to be healing itself, in that case, biologics can be used to promote healing & relieve symptoms. PRP or platelet-rich plasma is a type of biological therapy or medicine.
In PRP, a specialist draws some blood out of the patient’s body and then extracts platelets out of it centrifugally. Afterwards, the concentration of platelets is directly injected into the knee where the injury is.
Platelets contain growth factors or substances that promote healing and subsequently relieve inflammation.
In addition, knee arthroscopy is recommended for treating problems like ACL injuries, meniscal tears, chronic inflammation of joint lining, etc. It is a minimally invasive procedure. It involves no cuts, no stitches and no scars. Only a few minor holes are made on the surface of the knee so that pencil-thin instruments can be inserted for treatment.
Some patients suffer from severe osteoarthritis. Their knee cartilage is almost completely gone. As a result, bones rub against each other while walking. Such people have to deal with too much knee pain and mobility issues. Thus, knee replacement surgery is suggested to improve joint function and eliminate chronic pain.
Also Read: knee replacement surgery recovery time
Conclusion
There is more than one reason for knee pain that lasts longer and doesn’t even go away with painkillers. Dealing with knee pain effectively always starts with consulting a doctor. So, don’t decide on treatment on your own.
Consult a knee specialist and get an accurate diagnosis done on time. Early detection of the root cause of knee pain means the guarantee of the most successful and suitable treatment.
Visit the following link to learn about the expenses of knee replacement surgery with the latest robotic technology: knee transplant surgery cost.
