Our knee is one among many joints in the body. Since it is in the weight bearing axis it bears the brunt of body weight. It is a hinge joint (like a hinge at door for opening or closing it). It is made of following bones - femur (thigh bone), tibia (shin bone) and patella (knee cap).
In this article I will be dealing about the types, risk factors and treatment of it.
Types -
- Age-related -AKA Osteoarthritis which is a misnomer as it should be called osteoarthrosis,as there is no active inflammation (word inflammation literally means burning of body tissue)
- Rheumatoid and other type of arthritis
- Post- traumatic arthritis.
Risk Factors: Certain conditions can predispose to increased knee wear & tear:
- Having an uncontrolled hypertension.
- Rapid gain of weight or increased BMI(Body Mass Index)
- Pre-existing trauma
- Polio in opposite limb
- Arthritis of other joint
Myth -Being active leads to more wear & tear - NO IT DOESN'T.
Treatment:
- It includes Analgesics as & when required, but exercise caution in females, diabetics and pre-existing kidney or liver disease patients - they should avoid taking excessive analgesics. A caveat here is that it is a temporary measure to tide over a crisis, one should instead focus on long-term measures once pain is better.
- Knee support - this is preferred to knee cap, which can help off-load knee joint & thus prevent further wear and tear of the joint.
- Knee exercises - few of the exercises are shown below.
- RFA - radiofrequency ablation of the nerves supplying the knee joint. This is a US-FDA approved non-surgical technique to mitigate your joint pain. For more information, should consult your orthopaedic surgeon.
- Intra-articular injections - These are measures to increase the smoothness or to relieve acute pain in your knee joint. They can be Hyaluronic acid injections or steroid injection to reduce pain or Platelet-rich plasma injection. To know its pros and cons - efficacy, duration of relief, need for repeat injections if any, you should consult a joint replacement surgeon before you zero-in on any of it.
- Calcium supplementation - can help to strengthen the bones which form your joint. Please take only if prescribed by your bone specialist doctor.
- Role of surgery - it can be different types like either replacing only one compartment or offloading your knee joint or total joint replacement. A detailed discussion of which is beyond the scope of this article, may write another article focussing on only the surgical aspect of knee arthritis.
Knee exercise
Another frequently asked question is the one below-
What are things to take care when suffering from knee pain or to avoid after knee replacement surgery?
- Avoid sitting cross-legged.
- Avoid sitting on floor.
- Avoid Indian toilets.
- Avoid climbing stairs.
- Don’t put on excessive weight in short time.
For further doubts, clarifications or treatment,you are always welcome to seek my suggestion.