However, few people know that the knee joint is composed of femur, patella, tibia, ligament, meniscus, synovium and other structures, and any of these injuries may cause pain.
Life Times interviewed orthopedic experts and told you how to identify the injured part of the knee from "pain", protect the joint in a targeted way and prolong its service life.
Interviewed experts
Sun Fenglong, Director of the Second Rehabilitation Center of Orthopaedics, Beijing Rehabilitation Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University
Zeng Chun, Deputy Director of Joint Surgery, Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University.
Wang Jinjun, deputy chief physician, Department of Orthopaedics, Chaoyang Hospital.
Symptoms are different in different parts of the knee. Careful experience during the onset of pain symptoms can help you know exactly where the injury is.
Cartilage injury
Cartilage injury of knee joint can be divided into two types: chronic wear and tear degeneration and cartilage exfoliation caused by acute trauma.
The cartilage wear of patellar joint and femoral condyle often causes chronic cartilage wear and degeneration, which is the early manifestation of osteoarthritis.
Patients often show joint pain, local tenderness, pain in going up and down stairs, pain in the medial knee, etc. As time goes on, the symptoms will become more and more serious. Patients can't stand up after sitting for a long time, and their knees are uncomfortable when the weather changes. After the activity, they were relieved, but after a long time, they felt uncomfortable.
Those with mild chronic cartilage wear can take some drugs to relieve pain and swelling, such as diclofenac sodium and glucosamine. Do some exercise to reduce joint load and lose weight properly; If the wear is serious, you can choose to clean the joint or replace the artificial joint.
Cartilage peeling people suddenly get stuck and their activities are limited when they show their movements. Patients generally need to clean the detached cartilage through arthroscopy to prevent it from wandering in the joint cavity and damaging other parts.
meniscus injury
Meniscal injuries mostly occur in young people who love sports or elderly people with joint degeneration.
Meniscus with I and II degree injuries and mild symptoms can be treated conservatively first, and those with ineffective conservative treatment or severe tearing can be repaired by suture or partially removed.
Ligament injury
It is usually caused by trauma, and patients can hear the sound of "click" when they are injured. This is the sound of ligament rupture.
If it is a slight tear, it can be recovered through rehabilitation exercise. If there is a fracture or severe tear, surgical reconstruction is needed to keep the joint stable.
Acute tension
Acute strain around joints is generally muscle strain, and the common strain is triceps femoris strain, which is easy to occur in football and basketball. It is characterized by swelling, bleeding, pain, limited activity, and local tenderness when stretching injured muscles, which can generally be recovered by conservative treatment.
Exercise helps to relieve joint pain and stiffness, enhance the strength of muscles around joints, and help to maintain joint flexibility and mobility. However, people with poor knee joints should choose appropriate exercise methods and intensity.
The coordination and balance of some elderly people's limbs decrease, so the speed and intensity of exercise should be reduced, and the principle of "1357" can be followed:
"1" weekly exercise "5 times, each time" 30 "minutes, slightly sweating, heart rate+age ≤"170 "during exercise is a more suitable amount of exercise.
The American Orthopedic Association issued the second edition of the evidence-based medicine guide for knee osteoarthritis, which included 15 suggestions. Here are some exercises recommended for exercise therapy.
1, isometric contraction of quadriceps femoris
Lie on your back, put a towel roll behind your knees, press down, keep pressing posture 15 seconds and relax your muscles, 10~20 times a day.
2. Static load bearing
Sit on a high chair, bed or table, hang it outside the bed below the knee joint, tie a sandbag (or a bottle of water) at the ankle, and try to straighten your legs completely until you are exhausted, 5~ 10 times a group, 2~3 groups a day.
3. Squeeze the pillow inward with your knees.
Put a pillow between your knees, press your knees inward, keep your knees still for 5 seconds, relax, repeat 10~20 times, or sit-down training.
4. Straight legs up
Lie flat, keep your knees straight and lift 15 seconds, relax. One group is 15~20 times, and one day is 1~2 groups.
5, hamstring muscle extension
Take a sitting posture, with your upper body straight, one foot straight, one foot bent and your body bent forward. Try to touch your toes and feel the thigh muscle stretching 10 seconds, and relax 10 times a day.
Bend your knees
Lie prone on the bed, lift your calf upward, so that the knee is 45 ~ 90 degrees from the bed surface, or tie a small sandbag (or two bottles of water) at your ankle 10~ 15 seconds, and relax to increase the muscle strength of your hind legs.
7. Achilles tendon stretching
Lean towards the wall, put your palms flat on the wall, put your feet on the ground, tighten your heel and achilles tendon 10~ 15 seconds, and relax 10~ 15 times a day.
8. Sit still against the wall
Feet apart, shoulder width apart, toes and knees facing straight ahead, upper body upright against the wall, center of gravity on heel, knees bent; The knee joint should not exceed the toe in the vertical direction, and the flexion angle of the knee joint should be less than 90. Hold the posture and rest 10 second and repeat.
One group 10 times, 2~3 groups a day, preferably from different angles, 30, 60, 90.
Because the knee joint will wear out, you'd better save it, protect it and extend its service life.
1, weight control
Patients with knee arthritis caused by overweight account for a large proportion of the sick population. Modern people's total food intake is out of control, coupled with insufficient exercise, resulting in excessive joint pressure and overload. Therefore, losing weight can greatly reduce the burden of weight-bearing joints and reduce wear and tear.
2, pay attention to joint warmth
When the knee joint is cold, the blood vessels contract and the blood circulation becomes worse, which will aggravate the pain. When the weather turns cold, pay attention to keep the joints warm. Don't let the air conditioner or fan blow the joints directly in summer.
Step 3 supplement calcium
Especially for women over 40 years old, calcium should be supplemented appropriately. When osteoporosis occurs, joints are prone to get sick, just like the foundation of a house is not firm and the walls are easy to fall down.
Step 4 buy a good pair of shoes
Whether walking or other sports, you should choose a pair of suitable shoes. Sports shoes with elasticity, slightly thicker soles and slightly thicker heels are most suitable for joints.
5. Don't squat for too long
In daily life, avoid carrying too much weight, and people with weak leg muscles should climb mountains less.
Step 6 wear knee pads
Wearing knee pads is equivalent to strengthening the strength of the surrounding muscles and ligaments, which can protect and strengthen the joints and improve the overall stability of the joints. Wearing knee pads during exercise is beneficial to protect cartilage.
However, it is not recommended to wear kneepads for a long time in daily life, so as not to let kneepads replace the functions of muscles and ligaments, leading to their gradual degradation.