The main purpose of the knee joint is to ensure the normal motor activity of the lower limb and achieve a stable position of the trunk. In this case, this part of the body is assigned the most important role - participation in the processes of bending and extending the limb.
Despite the complex structure and sufficient strength of this joint, it can be subject to injury, thermal effects, physical overload, various complications due to chronic infectious processes and, as a result, severe inflammatory processes with an increased possibility of restriction of movements and accumulation of exudate. To prevent such unwanted manifestations, it is recommended to immediately contact a qualified specialist for a detailed diagnosis and drawing up an appropriate treatment plan.
The knee is the most complex and largest joint in the human body.
Every day, a serious load is placed on the knee joint. It is responsible for the process of bending and extending the lower limb, supports the weight of a person and ensures its stable position. It is the knee that allows us to walk, jump, run, squat and twist.
The ability to perform these actions is ensured by the following elements:
- Tendons?
- Bones?
- Articular cartilage?
- Ligaments and muscles.
This explains why knee joint pain can occur in people of any age group. We can talk about effective treatment and full recovery only after we know the cause of the disease.
Reasons why knees hurt
Thus, the knee joint has an important role in the human body: it is responsible for the motor activity of the leg, keeps the body in a stable position and supports the weight of a person. In addition, the knee has a complex structure, represented by many interconnected elements.
If a person has knee pain and is trying to find a solution for what to do, first of all it is necessary to find out the factors that cause the discomfort. As a rule, the causes of the disease are the same for all conditions.
The risk factors are identical in almost all cases: myofascial dysfunction. This leads to significant stress, which causes compression and destruction of the cartilage. As a result, a person begins to experience unpleasant sensations, signaling damage to the knee joint, and begins to look for a way to eliminate the pathological process.
Damage
If you do not know what to do when your knees hurt, pay attention - the reasons may lie in the joint injury. This is the part of the body that is injured more often than others. As a result, joint dysfunction occurs, which is accompanied by pain.
Such discomfort may be due to ligament damage. Representatives of professional sports activities are more often prone to injuries. Also, pain and ligament problems can occur in people who do not follow the running technique. Often, knee damage occurs as a result of being hit by a ball - during a football match.
It should be noted that such injuries occur quite often. In addition, discomfort can appear not only during an exacerbation, but also after it.
In the case of a fracture, several bones can be damaged at the same time. More often than others, this happens in elderly patients and in people who are prone to degenerative pathologies.
In case of severe joint damage, surgical procedures, physical therapy procedures and exercise therapy are performed.
Folliculitis
The main purpose of the joint capsule is to ensure the easy gliding of the ligaments and to improve the function of the knee joint itself. Chronic injuries and unexpected blows can cause damage and cause inflammation.
The presence of bursitis is indicated by the following signs: swelling, pain, limitation of motor activity, increased temperature in the knee joint.
If your knees hurt a lot, in order to understand what to do and how to deal with this condition, you should first make a detailed diagnosis. Only an individual approach to the problem will allow you to draw up the right treatment plan and choose effective drugs with an anti-inflammatory effect. You should also observe a rest regime for the knee joint.
In advanced forms of folliculitis, they resort to more serious measures - surgery and special injections are performed.
Dislocations
We are talking about displacement of the kneecap from its normal position, which is also accompanied by pain of increased intensity.
In this case, only an experienced specialist can answer the question of what to do if there is pain under the knee - after a thorough diagnosis and examination.
In order to identify the fractures and draw up the correct treatment plan, they resort to an X-ray examination. In advanced cases, surgery is performed.
Often a dislocation of the knee joint can cause pain. This is a fairly serious injury that occurs after a strong blow.
Degenerative disorders
One of the common pathologies associated with degenerative changes in tissues is osteoarthritis. In this case, the cartilage decreases in size, which is accompanied by impaired motor activity of the joint and pain. As a rule, such pathological processes are caused by age-related changes in the body that occur in people aged 55-65 years.
Despite the irreversibility of degenerative changes, there are treatments that can address the discomfort and help improve quality of life. In advanced forms of the disease, the implant is placed surgically.
Autoimmune disease
We are talking about inflammatory processes that affect the joints. They are characterized by malfunctions of the immune system, as a result of which it begins to perceive its own tissues as foreign and destroys them.
This procedure is accompanied by the following undesirable manifestations: swelling, pain and degenerative changes in the joints, erosive lesions of the bone tissue.
Taking into account the clinical picture, the specialist will tell you exactly what to do when your knee joints hurt. As a rule, the patient is advised to take the following drugs:
- Anti-inflammatory drugs;
- Steroid hormones?
- Antirheumatic drugs and biological agents.
- Painkillers and more.
Salt deposits in the joints
It is a metabolic disease associated with the deposition of uric acid salts in the body's tissues. The main signs of gout are: severe swelling, limited physical activity and severe pain. For the breakdown of uric crystals, special drugs are prescribed, as well as anti-inflammatory ones.
Infectious processes
Even a small scratch in the knee area can contribute to the spread of the infectious process to nearby tissues and organs, including the joint area.
In people with a weakened immune system, this is a real danger to the body. That is, any damage to the skin can worsen the condition of such a patient.
What not to do when your knees hurt?
Regardless of the reason your knees hurt, below we'll tell you what not to do to avoid making the condition worse:
- Avoid knee injury.
- Avoid foods that contribute to weight gain (fried and fatty foods, pastries, foods with a high salt content, potatoes, sweet carbonated drinks, fast food).
- Avoid any excessive physical activity associated with sports.
- If your knees hurt and you do not know what to do with such discomfort, as the reviews indicate, it is better to give up addictions (excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages and smoking tobacco).
- Avoid wearing tight shoes, avoid high heels.
- Minimize the possibility of stressful situations.
- Ensuring healthy, full sleep.
- Avoid staying in one position for a long time.
In which cases is a visit to the doctor required?
No medical intervention is needed if the pain in the knee area was caused by a minor damage to the skin, a minor injury or a deformity of the joint. In such cases, self-medication is allowed.
With more serious processes, there is an urgent need to visit a specialist. First of all, this is due to the possibility of damage to the joint capsule, which can facilitate the penetration of pathogenic bacteria into the body.
If the consequences of the injury are not eliminated in time, the functionality of the joint may be lost. It is necessary to consult a doctor in the following cases:
- Your knees hurt a lot and you don't know what to do, what to do.
- Pain syndrome of increased intensity does not subside for several days.
- There is swelling, redness and fever in the joint area.
- Increase in body temperature.
- Decreased motor activity, bruises.
Experienced specialists carry out a detailed diagnosis of the condition of the knee joint, draw up a detailed treatment plan and choose the most effective treatment even for the most advanced pathologies.
Treatment of knee pain
Often people do not know exactly what to do when their knee joints hurt and try to deal with the discomfort on their own. Unfortunately, the uncontrolled use of drugs and the use of special ointments can give the opposite effect.
For quick pain relief, a comprehensive approach is required. In the context of this, not only drugs are used, but physiotherapeutic procedures are performed and special orthopedic instruments are used. These include braces and knee braces, which help prevent the possibility of recurrences and ensure a faster recovery period.
Medication use
To relieve pain, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, steroid hormones, vasodilators and chondroprotectors are prescribed. Specialists prescribe painkillers with extreme caution, since they do not allow them to determine the true condition of the knee joint. Next we will talk about the drugs used in more detail:
- NSAIDs.Since the elimination of the inflammatory process and pain is the main task for discomfort in the knee area, doctors mainly recommend the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. For this purpose they resort to the help of special tablets and ointments. If the pain becomes pain, the patients are given intramuscular injections. If your knees hurt a little, in this case, when you are asked: "What should I do? ", any doctor will advise you to use ointment. Often, when the knee joint is injured, products containing glycosaminoglycan are used. In turn, to eliminate swelling, they resort to compresses with dimethyl sulfoxide.
- Carboprotectors.Regardless of whether your knees hurt after running or after a long walk or in the context of other pathologies, only an experienced doctor can advise you exactly what to do. However, the general recommendation for pain relief in all patients is to take medications with chondroitin and glucosamine. Thanks to their use, it is possible to accelerate the process of cartilage tissue restoration, avoid oxidative stress and ensure the growth of healthy cartilage cells. In addition, chondroprotectors contribute to a faster recovery period after injury, minimize the possibility of serious consequences and cause almost no side effects. At the same time, experts recommend taking complexes with a high content of minerals and vitamins.
- Antispasmodics and vasodilators.They help improve tissue supply and also help repair connective tissue and eliminate swelling. In the presence of chronic pathological processes, for example, if your knee hurts for a whole year, the discomfort returns and you do not know what to do, you may need to take additional antibacterial therapy and immunobiological drugs.
Physiotherapy procedures
If you are wondering what to do if your knee hurts when you walk or if the discomfort is chronic, any experienced specialist will recommend that you undergo physical therapy treatment. With its help, it is possible to increase the effectiveness of the use of drugs, as well as to ensure the delivery of drugs to the deepest subcutaneous layers.
Physiotherapy procedures help to improve blood flow, eliminate pain and reduce the source of inflammation, as well as normalize motor activity and ensure the removal of purulent exudate.
Even if your child's knees hurt and you're trying to figure out what to do, the following physical therapy options will be most effective:
- Effect on the body of a magnetic field.
- Laser treatment?
- Exposure to electric current in combination with drug administration.
- UHF?
- Application of galvanic electric current?
- Use of therapeutic mud.
- Therapeutic effects of ultrasound?
- Massage treatments?
- Paraffin therapy?
- Augmentative therapy?
- Treatment with medicinal leeches.
- Acupuncture;
- Cold treatment?
- Transdynamic therapy and other similar procedures.
The duration of a course of physical therapy usually reaches 7-10 procedures. However, a necessary condition before taking treatment measures is consultation with a specialist.
UVT for knee pain
The UVT method is widely in demand to eliminate pathologies of the musculoskeletal system. It is based on short-term exposure to low-frequency sound waves in the affected joint.
The strong analgesic effect during shockwave therapy sessions is achieved by the following procedures:
- Improved blood flow.
- Development of new blood vessels.
- Improved metabolism.
It should be noted that under the influence of shock waves, a reduction in the fibrous processes in the tissues inside the knee joint is observed.
The greatest effectiveness is achieved by using the UVT method to deposit calcium phosphate crystals on the tendons. The technique is characterized by increased safety and virtually no side effects.
UVT specialists will clearly determine the number of treatment sessions and their duration, and will also give valuable recommendations on the implementation of other rehabilitation procedures.
The need to perform a puncture
If there is significant swelling, specialists remove the purulent contents that limit the normal function and supply of the joint. To drain the exudate, a puncture is performed using a syringe under the influence of anesthetics.
If the desired result is not achieved during physical therapy procedures and the use of drugs, the doctor injects hyaluronic acid into the knee joint or performs a peri-articular anesthetic block. When purulent inflammatory processes are detected, drug treatment is combined with the procedure of washing the knee joint with a medicinal solution (washing).
Surgery for pain in the knee area is performed in rare cases, more often in advanced conditions.
Exercise therapy for knee pain
Often, when experiencing knee pain, experts recommend performing therapeutic exercises. By regularly performing simple exercises, the patient can quickly restore the motor activity of the joint, relieve pain and provide optimal loading to this part of the body. These beneficial effects are achieved by improving muscle tone. You can get the desired result after 8-10 sessions. It is important to exclude any sudden movements during physical therapy.
The following exercises are suitable for you to do at home:
- The patient takes a "lying" position and stretches his legs forward. Then alternate flexion and extension of the fingers of the lower extremities.
- While in the "lying" position, you need to straighten your legs. After that, the patient turns his legs in different directions, trying to bring them closer to the floor.
- In the "lying down" position and with the legs extended, the patient should try to stretch his toes towards the knee joint.
- The patient assumes the "lying" position. Then he places both hands under the knee, trying to slowly bend the limb. In this case, the knee should be raised smoothly towards the chest.
- While in the "lying down" position, it is necessary to make movements with your legs similar to riding a bicycle.
Preventive measures
Questions like: "What to do if the nerve in your knee hurts? " or "What measures to take if your knees hurt after a long walk? » will lose their meaning if you follow simple preventive measures. These include:
- Elimination of infectious processes and conditions after a knee injury should be carried out under the supervision of a professional specialist.
- It is mandatory to eliminate pathological processes of a chronic or hereditary nature (gout, diabetes, tonsillitis).
- Maintain a normal weight by eliminating excessively sweet, salty and fatty foods, as well as alcoholic beverages from the diet.
- Engage in moderate exercise.
- Once a year, you receive chondroprotectors and undergo an examination by a specialist.
- Follow the rules of healthy sleep.
- You get about 2-3 liters of water per day.
- Eliminate any chance of hypothermia.
- Wear only comfortable shoes and clothing.
- Avoid staying in one position for a long time.