Knee “long water” will “pump more and more”? Experts refute the rumor: no such thing

Yangtze River Daily Wuhan Client May 23 News 65-year-old Ms. Wang suffered from synovitis and needed to extract fluid from her knee. She was quite concerned about this: Will she pump more and more? The doctor said that “more and more effusion” is a common misunderstanding. As long as you ensure rest and take reasonable medication, you can effectively control the recurrence of effusion.

Recently, when Ms. Wang was busy with housework, she gradually felt that her knees were a little bit overwhelmed, and not only started to feel pain, but also swollen. I heard people say that this is due to the accumulation of water in the knees and needs to rely on hot compresses to reduce the swelling. Ms. Wang used hot water to soak her feet and hot towels to compress her knees. Unexpectedly, after a day of tossing, the swelling not only did not subside, but became more serious.

Ms. Wang’s knee is obviously swollen.

On May 17, Ms. Wang went to Wuhan Fourth Hospital for treatment. In the meniscal synovitis clinic of the Department of Sports Medicine of the hospital, the receiving physician Li Yanan, after inquiring about the medical history and physical examination, determined that Ms. Wang had synovitis in both knee joints. Combined with the patient’s joint swelling, she needed to undergo knee puncture and fluid extraction. treat.

Joint effusion area.

As soon as the doctor said that she would “pump” her knees, Ms. Wang’s heart beat again. She told the doctor that she had heard that the fluid in the knee would be pumped more and more, and all that was pumped out was “joint oil”, which would affect the nutrition of the knee.

Li Yanan patiently explained to Ms. Wang that the knee joint effusion will not increase due to the extraction, nor will the joint “dry” after extraction. However, in reality, there are some patients, because they did not rest in time and cooperate with the medicine according to the doctor’s instructions after the fluid was drawn, resulting in repeated effusions, forming the impression of “more and more pumping”. As long as the aseptic operation is strictly performed, the knee joint puncture and extraction can effectively avoid side effects while exerting the therapeutic effect.

Aspirated joint effusion. Photo by correspondent Li Yanan and Yang Jing

After some explanations, Ms. Wang finally dispelled her concerns. Subsequently, the medical staff carefully took out more than 60 ml of fluid from Ms. Wang’s knees. Ms. Wang immediately felt that the swelling and pain were significantly relieved. After the combination of oral and topical drugs in the later period, Ms. Wang’s condition improved rapidly.

Li Yanan introduced that swelling and effusion of the knee joint are very common in daily life, and most of them are simple synovitis caused by excessive exercise and labor. Use a cold compress instead of a hot compress. For patients with more effusion, severe swelling and pain, or repeated symptoms, knee puncture can quickly relieve symptoms, and it is also a means to assist in judging the condition. (Changjiang Daily reporter Wu Ye, correspondent Li Yanan and Yang Jing)