Bursitis of the knee joint is not a very common disease, but it is necessary to know about it for those people who are at risk of leg injury. Knee bursitis is an inflammation of the bursa. That is the synovial bag. In this article, you can get acquainted with how to treat bursitis of the knee joint, what symptoms it is accompanied by. In addition, you can learn about the possible causes of this disease.
Reasons for the development of the disease
Before answering the question of how to treat knee bursitis, you should understand the reasons that can provoke it. The most common factors that lead to its development are the following:
- Long and constant physical activity, which involves the knee joint or there is strong pressure on thisarea.
- Falling to your knees or a wrong kick.
- Infection at the site of an abrasion or cut on the knee.
- Excessive strain on the knees in the presence of obesity in humans.
- The patient has infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, syphilis, gonorrhea, brucellosis.
- Training in extreme conditions where there is an increased risk of injury.
The development of the inflammatory process in the knee joint will be characteristic not only for athletes and people who lead an active lifestyle. This condition can appear in anyone even after a minor injury.
Symptoms
Before treating knee bursitis, it must be diagnosed and distinguished from other diseases.
In the inflammatory process, the periarticular sac begins to fill with a large amount of fluid. It begins to compress nearby tissues, which provokes swelling in the joint area, which is characterized by redness and soreness. There are about 10 synovial bags in the joint, each of which can be affected by inflammation. Depending on which of them is damaged, knee bursitis will have a different localization.
If the inflammation develops in front and above directly from the patella, then prepatellar or suprapatellar bursitis will be diagnosed. If inflammation has developed below the patella, then infrapatellar bursitis is diagnosed. There is also an anserine bursitis, in which the synovial lining becomes inflamed.a bag called a goose foot. It is located on the inside of the knee. All these varieties of bursitis have their own specific symptoms, as well as developmental features. Consider them separately.
Suprapatellary bursitis
A distinctive feature of this form of the disease is the presence of a round, painless tumor localized in the upper zone of the knee joint. It has a soft texture, no more than 10 cm in size. Suprapatellar bursitis of the knee is accompanied by a deterioration in the mobility of the knee joint, general malaise, and body temperature often rises.
Prepatellar Bursitis
This type of disease is characterized by the formation of painful swelling or severe swelling in the area of the patella, that is, in the area that is located above the kneecap. During flexion and extension of the knee, severe pain is felt, which increases with increased load, but in some cases it may be absent. With the development of the disease, the mobility of the joint begins to be severely impaired. Compared with other types of bursitis, the prepatellar type most often becomes chronic. That is why you should not ignore the symptoms of the disease, but it is better to seek help from the clinic. After the diagnosis, the doctor will tell you how to treat this type of knee bursitis. Self-medication can have dire consequences.
Infrapatellar bursitis
This type of disease affects the periarticular sac, which is located underkneecap. Athletes are most susceptible to this type of disease, as they are more likely to get a knee injury while running or jumping. Infrapatellar bursitis often has mild symptoms. For some time, bursitis is manifested only by minor pain, which is localized in the knee joint. Such pain is felt while walking or standing. In rare cases, there is swelling or stiffness of the knee.
Treatment. Features
We continue to consider how to treat knee bursitis, the causes, as well as the symptoms of the disease. It is worth dwelling in more detail on the features of the treatment of this disease. In most cases, treatment involves the use of physiotherapy. The purity of a positive result will largely depend on the participation in the therapy of the patient himself. A key component of treatment is adequate rest after strenuous activity that has led to increased soreness.
If after physiotherapeutic procedures there is only deterioration, then it is necessary to exclude the tuberculous etiology of the disease, since massage, physiotherapy, thermal procedures provoke the deterioration and progression of this disease in its extrapulmonary form.
Action that has an irritating pronounced effect on the articular bag of the knee should be minimized. When the patient begins to feel that he can perform various kinds of activities without illness, a gradual return of activity will indicate that a further increasethere is no serious condition, and the patient is on the mend.
If the patient ignores the symptoms, or tries to adapt to the pain that has arisen, this can lead to the transition of the disease to a chronic form. That is why treatment should be started immediately. Moreover, regardless of the severity and condition of the patient.
But how to treat knee bursitis? Medicines, gymnastics, topical ointments should be prescribed by a doctor only after he determines the degree of the disease.
Antibiotics
If knee bursitis has an infectious origin, that is, when bacteria penetrate into the joint bag, then in order to prevent the development of a purulent complication, antibiotic therapy should be started in a timely manner. It is important! But what is the treatment for knee bursitis? The medicine in this case should be selected by a specialist based on the sensitivity of the pathogen. If at the initial stage of therapy the disease is still progressing, then the joint bag is hidden and surgically cleaned.
Knee bursitis can be treated at home with anti-inflammatory drugs taken by mouth. This should include funds based on phenylbutazone, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, as well as diclofenac. In the case of muscle spasms, muscle relaxants are used, for example, Baclofen or Diazepam. To relieve acute pain syndrome, injections of corticosteroids, for example, Hydrocortisone, are used."Diprospana", as well as "Methylprednisolone".
What else can be said about the treatment of knee bursitis at home with medication? In the case of antibiotic therapy, the patient is prescribed a course of penicillin or cephalosporin antibiotics. As mentioned earlier, the selection of a particular drug will be carried out depending on the severity of the inflammation and the origin of the infection. At the middle and mild stages of the development of the disease, drugs are prescribed for oral administration, and in the most difficult situations, intramuscular injections are prescribed.
Ointments
So, we figured out how to treat knee bursitis with medicines for oral administration. However, for therapy, the specialist also prescribes the use of ointments that are used for topical use. They relieve swelling, inflammation, and soreness. The most effective of them are the following:
- "Fastum gel", which is made on the basis of anti-inflammatory nonsteroidal drugs. It is very effective in fighting puffiness. This external agent has an analgesic effect.
- "Finalgon", as well as its analogues. These drugs improve blood circulation in the area of application, while helping to relieve swelling.
- "Nise gel". This external agent has the same mechanism of action as Fastum Gel, which was described above.
- Any ointment with menthol. Such drugs have an anti-inflammatory effect with a cooling effect.action.
Exercise
We continue to consider how to treat suprapatellary bursitis of the knee joint, as well as other forms of this disease. In combination with drug therapy, a specialist will definitely prescribe exercises. Therapeutic exercises during therapy are prescribed only after the inflammatory process has been stopped. But how to treat the disease of knee bursitis in this way? The following exercises should be performed:
- Statistical contraction of the inner head on the quadriceps. To do this, you need to tighten the muscles on the front of your thigh, bringing a small towel under your knee and trying to straighten your leg. The palms should be placed on the inner thigh area so that you can feel the tension on the inside of the muscle during its contraction. Hold the leg in this position for 5 seconds, then relax. Repeat this exercise about 10 times with maximum strength, but without leading to soreness.
- Extension and flexion of the leg at the knee. Unbend and bend your leg at the knee with maximum amplitude, but you should not bring it to pain. It is necessary to repeat this exercise 10-20 times, but during the execution the symptoms of the disease should not increase.
You should pay attention to the fact that squats, leg crossings, and other similar exercises should be excluded from the training program.
Treat knee bursitis with folk remedies
Now let's see howget rid of the disease under study with the help of "grandmother's" advice and recipes. Folk therapy of the disease is permissible only after you consult with your doctor. If you have a question about which doctor treats bursitis of the knee joint, then you can consult an orthopedist or surgeon for advice. You can start with a therapist.
You can eliminate pain and inflammation using proven traditional medicine recipes. Most often, cabbage and s alt compresses, lotions using Kalanchoe, propolis, infused with alcohol, decoction of St. John's wort, yarrow, and burdock are used for this.
In parallel with the folk treatment of knee bursitis, special attention should be paid to nutrition. It is believed that a person will cure the disease faster if he eats food that is rich in vitamins A, C, E, as well as zinc.
Surgery
In some cases, surgery is used to get rid of the disease. But how to treat synovitis and bursitis of the knee joint with this method?
During the operation, the contents of the articular sac are aspirated, after which carticosteroids are injected there. This operation is carried out with a thin needle. The patient is given local anesthesia. After drainage, a specialist can introduce hormonal preparations into the joint bag. This is necessary in order to quickly stop the inflammation. After that, the patient needs to wear an elastic bandage for some time, and also providelong-term rest for their limbs, at least two days. This therapy is more effective than the use of drugs in the form of anti-inflammatory nonsteroidal drugs. This is due to the fact that tablet forms have an effect on the body, often without penetrating the joints themselves.
Sometimes the treatment is ineffective, so the only way out is the surgical removal of the so-called prepatellar joint capsule. After such a surgical operation, the restoration of normal joint function occurs over several days. A person can return to a full life within 2-3 weeks after surgery.
Prevention
There are some fairly simple tips on how you can prevent knee bursitis. These preventive rules include:
- Wearing knee pads. This is especially important for those people who have an increased risk of injury. These include wrestlers, basketball players, football players. To date, special cooling knee pads are available for sale, which have pockets where ice packs fit.
- Feet should rest regularly. To avoid long-term stress on the knee joints, you should constantly change the type and intensity of physical activity.
- After training in the gym, you need to put ice on your knees and give your limbs a sublimeposition.
Conclusion
Bursitis of the knee joint is diagnosed quite rarely. However, this disease needs appropriate treatment. When the first symptoms appear, you should immediately contact an orthopedist, who, after a series of tests and diagnostic procedures, will prescribe the appropriate treatment. At the initial stage of the development of the disease, medications are used, as well as exercise therapy. But if you start the disease, then only surgery will be effective to eliminate it.
