The pain of the knee joint is not the patent of the elderly. In many middle-aged people, the knee joint is weak and weak, especially when it is difficult to stand up, squat, and go up and down stairs for a long time.
Maybe everyone thinks that it is knee joint hyperplasia and degeneration and knee osteoarthritis! However, Dr. Kong would like to inform you that among middle-aged people, there are similar problems of the knee joint, which are mainly caused by cartilage degeneration, not caused by hyperplasia and arthritis.
Next, let’s understand together: why does pain occur? In daily life, how to care for the knee joint?
What is cartilage degeneration?
As shown in the figure above, the structure of our knee joint is still relatively complex, with many bones, ligaments, etc. organization. Therefore, when symptoms occur, the etiology is relatively complex, and the treatment is also more difficult.
In the knee joint, there are two types of cartilage: the meniscus and the cartilage on the bony surface, which play an important role in lubricating the knee joint, buffering shock absorption, and bearing weight.
1. Meniscus
The meniscus is a special fibrocartilage located in the knee joint. There are 2 pieces of cartilage pads between the bones, one on the left and one on the left, which can absorb the pressure generated during walking, running and jumping, reduce the cartilage wear on the knee joint and improve the stability of the joint; the outer edge of the meniscus is thicker, while the The medial border is relatively thin and has no vascular supply, and is mainly supplied by nutrient solution; therefore, it is difficult to recover once injured.
The meniscus is not stationary in the knee joint. sports. When the knee is bent, and the calf is suddenly rotated inward or outward while extending the knee, the meniscus will be under the pressure of rotation and may be damaged.
For middle-aged people, many people have bad legs, such as O-shaped, X-shaped, etc.; In life, you will always walk, run, squat, etc., and the force on the knee joint will be abnormal, which is particularly likely to cause wear and degeneration of the meniscus.
2. Cartilage on the bone surface
It is a layer of hyaline cartilage that grows on the surface of the inner bone of the knee joint. Bears pressure between joints, lubricates joints and reduces friction when joints move. The silver part in the picture below
When the stabilizing structures around your knee are out of balance, such as muscle groups, ligaments, fascia, and The support belt, some weak and some strong; with your movement, it will cause the instability of the kneecap, deviating from the normal motion trajectory, and it is likely to collide with the thighbone. As shown below:
As you can imagine, when you repeatedly squat or go up and down stairs, the pressure on your kneecap is stronger than when you walk On a flat road, it is much larger. If it is hit by repeated pressure in an abnormal motion trajectory, it will cause degeneration and wear of the cartilage. Just like driving a car, if the tires are constantly pressed against small stones on the road, the tires will eventually burst.
What are the symptoms of cartilage degeneration?
If you have the following symptoms, don’t worry, it’s rarely osteoarthritis.
①Inexplicable feeling that the knee joint is weak and weak when walking;
②Difficulty squatting down, unable to stand up by oneself;
③Up and down stairs When the knee joint is painful, the feeling of walking on a flat road is not too great; Pushing back and forth can produce pain or a rubbing sound.
Judging from these symptoms, you can preliminarily determine whether your cartilage is faulty. As for the meniscus or the bone surface cartilage damage, it cannot be identified from the symptoms; the most direct way is to take a picture in the hospital MRI of the knee jointDiagnosis is clear.
How to treat it?
1. Surgical treatment
For meniscus injury, generally according to the injury situation, if it reaches grade 3 injury, the tear is more serious and involves the articular surface , must be surgically treated, arthroscopic plasty or partial excision can be performed.
If the osseous cartilage damage is more serious, there is a large area defect, and there is persistent severe pain, you can also choose Cartilage debris, synovial debris and other loose bodies are cleaned under arthroscopy; it expands space in the joint cavity, reduces the stimulation of the joint synovium by free objects, and effectively controls inflammation.
2. Conservative treatment
Except for the above two cases, whether it is the meniscus or the osseous cartilage Injuries can be treated conservatively. In terms of drug selection, the basic effect is not good. For example, the oral glucosamine used by many people is only effective for a small number of people.
Therefore, the most strongly recommended method by Dr. Kong is to inject platelet-rich plasma factor; the specific method is to extract a certain amount of your own blood, centrifuge the blood, and extract a certain concentration of platelet plasma.
Finally, under the guidance of ultrasound, the extracted platelet plasma factor was injected into the knee joint cavity. It can effectively control local inflammation, relieve pain, and even repair damaged cartilage.
3. Self-exercise
Whether it is surgery or conservative treatment, it is necessary to pay attention to the tissues around the knee joint The tension is balanced, so training is very critical!
Here, Dr. Kong recommends several exercise methods for your reference:
medial head strengthening exercise
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This exercise is mainly for the weak muscles on the inside of the kneecap
this workout Mainly to relax the tension structure on the outside of the kneecap
Gluteus maximus training to help relax the iliotibial band
Gluteus maximus training to help relax the iliotibial band
Knee control, Proprioceptive training
4. Precautions
In daily life, we must learn to protect and cherish the knee joint. Because it is a weight-bearing joint, it is more prone to injury or abnormal force. Degenerate.
Therefore, learn to control your own body weight and not be overweight; do not go up and down stairs, squat and run vigorously too much. Because the joints of the lower extremities are a whole, the so-called pulling one hair and moving a thousand bodies is likely to causeCauses pain and discomfort in multiple joints.
Summary
Knee pain is more common in middle-aged people, but It’s not all osteoarthritis; it’s probably caused by degenerative damage to the cartilage, so don’t ignore it.
It is best to learn early intervention to protect your knee joint; if you really have symptoms, you cannot judge by yourself. The safest and most effective way is to seek medical treatment in time, so as not to delay the best treatment time.