Injuries to the knee joints, in particular the meniscus, are the most common injury, because it is this joint that undergoes enormous daily stress in everyday life. But injuries are especially common in athletes and people involved in dancing.
In a he althy knee, joint movement should not be accompanied by any sounds or pain. These are the signs that appear when there is a meniscus injury.
Symptoms immediately after a knee injury are pronounced. This is a crunch and a sharp piercing pain, which gradually weakens and disappears almost to nothing. How can this be dangerous and what is the role of the meniscus?
Signs of injury
Why is there no friction in the joint during flexion and extension of the knee, and how is the stability of its work ensured? It is the meniscus in this case that acts as a special gasket, which, in fact, is a shock absorber that stabilizes the work of this joint. Symptoms of a meniscus damaged by falling on the knee or by sharp extension with simultaneous rotation are an extraneous sound injoint and sharp pain, along with which, after a while, swelling may appear. Here are some of the main signs of injury associated with this important part of the joint:
- Sudden severe pain that eventually stops in one specific place. Symptoms of a meniscus damaged by an external tear are discomfort almost on the surface of the knee. If the pain is somewhere inside, then, most likely, there was a rupture of the inner part. In most cases, it is the external that suffers.
- The knee is only more or less normal when it is bent.
- Later meniscus symptoms that occur after 2-3 weeks are a rolling sensation of part of the joint when flexing and a distinct click.
- Sometimes there is a feeling of the presence of a foreign body inside the knee.
Diagnosis
There are several options for examining the knee joint for damage. These are X-ray, MRI and arthroscopy. Due to the fact that the meniscus is a cartilaginous formation, it does not come out clearly enough in the picture, which limits the possibility of correct diagnosis. As for arthroscopy, although this is a rather unpleasant procedure, since a special tube of the device is inserted into the knee, through which the doctor sees the entire organ from the inside, but it allows you to make an accurate diagnosis.
Treatment
Symptoms of a meniscus damaged by a fall or due to incorrect rotation of the knee, confirmed by the diagnosis, allowthe doctor to determine the extent of the injury and prescribe the appropriate treatment, which can be conservative and operative. The surgical method is used for internal rupture and associated ligament injuries. If the damage is minor, then the treatment is carried out on an outpatient basis.
In conclusion, it is worth noting that you should not let the injury take its course, because this can lead to complete deformation of the joint, in which the meniscus is completely lost. Symptoms, treatment of such consequences, how do they look and how does everything happen? When moving, the cartilage begins to shift and is gradually erased, and without such a pad, the joint begins to deform, and subsequently arthrosis may occur or, even worse, a complete blockade of the knee. And, unfortunately, this situation can no longer be corrected.
