fluid leads to
Often some patients come to the clinic complaining of swelling in the knee area. This swelling is not a diagnosis but a symptom of many health problems and injuries that affect the knee. Below we will review the most important of these causes and diseases that cause knee swelling. Anatomically? The knee joint is where the lower part of the thigh bone meets the upper part of the shinbone and the posterior part of the knee bone. These bones are covered by cartilage that facilitates movement. The space that the joint consists of at the meeting of these bones is clothed and enveloped by a membrane known as the synovial membrane. And above this synovial membrane there are also ligaments, other membranes and muscles passing through and provide stability, flexibility and movement to the knee joint. The synovial membrane is responsible for secreting an oily synovial fluid that facilitates joint movement. This space inside the knee is a specific size, and any increase in the amount of fluid, regardless of its type, inside the knee leads to swelling and swelling and thus leads to the emergence of severe pain because the synovial membrane, ligaments and other membranes are of great sensitivity and lead to excruciating pain when the knee swells and when stretched These ligaments from the inside.
Roughness and inflammation of the knee joint
This is a disease that occurs as a result of the erosion of the cartilage that envelops the bony ends of the knee, which leads to friction and roughness when moving the joint and thus leads to irritation in the synovial membrane and leads to an increase in the secretions secreted by this membrane. This increase in secretions leads to swelling and swelling in the knee over time. In addition, knee osteoarthritis usually has osteophytes and extra osteophytes at the ends of the joint, leading to enlargement of the joint. Usually this disease occurs to the elderly and usually complains of chronic pain, but the patient comes and complains that the knee has swelled suddenly during the past days or weeks and that the pain increased and it became difficult to move. The patient reports that these symptoms and the swelling is something sudden and does not mention any knee injury. Usually, the physical examination reveals a swollen knee with difficulty moving it, and an x-ray indicates the presence of stiffness. In this case, the treatment consists of removing the excess synovial material from the knee joint under local anesthesia and injecting the knee with dipomedrel, which has anti-inflammatory property, which helps to calm the inflammation in the synovium and thus to remove the swelling. After that, the patient is given anti-inflammatory drugs, analgesic drugs and physiotherapy sessions to treat knee roughness. As for chronic cases that do not respond to conservative treatment, surgical intervention and artificial knee joint surgery are necessary to treat roughness.
Bleeding inside the knee joint
It is one of the main causes of swelling in the knee area. And bleeding inside the knee joint (hematoma) may occur as a result of injuries in the knee area such as fractures of the bones that make up the joint when these fractures reach the joint area (intraarticular) or a tear or cut in the ligaments located inside the knee joint such as the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) Or posterior (PCL), inner or outer meniscus, or collateral ligaments. In these cases, the patient comes and there is a history of injury or twisting of the leg during exercise, and the patient cannot walk on it, and the pain is excruciating, acute and severe. Diagnosis requires an X-ray, or sometimes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used, which is necessary to find out what tears in the internal ligaments and cartilage. After diagnosis, treatment is done by taking sedative and muscle relaxing drugs, and then treatment is done according to the diagnosis. In the case of fractures, if the fractures are simple and not shifted, and the space between the bones does not exceed a millimeter or two millimeters, and there is no movement in the parts of the joint, then these cases can be treated by using medical splints of all kinds and using medical crutches. However, in cases where the bone is dislodged and displaced from each other, it requires surgical intervention to restore the fractured parts to their normal position and fix them using medical strips and screws. In cases of ligament rupture, it is possible to wait for a few days or even a few weeks while the swelling decreases and the intensity of pain decreases, and then treatment is done according to the severity of the rupture. If the tear is minor, it can be treated with analgesic drugs, physical therapy and medical bandages. But if it is a severe tear, then surgical intervention is necessary to restore or rebuild the ligaments. Regardless of the reason that leads to the blood gathering inside the knee, if the gathering is large and the pain is severe, it is possible from the beginning to make a blood drawing under local anesthesia using a large needle to relieve pain in the knee area.
Benign tumors of the synovial membrane?
Synovitis is one of the main causes of slow and chronic swelling in the knee area. And the synovitis may be in the form of chronic inflammation (stnovitis) that leads to enlargement of the synovial membrane and to swelling of the knee and to increased secretions in it, or it may occur as a result of some benign tumors (synovial chondromatosis) that affect the synovial membrane and lead to shifts in the quality of the membranes, which leads to their enlargement. In these cases, he comes with chronic pain and swelling that increases with time and leads to difficulty in bending the knee. The diagnosis is usually made by using an MRI scan that shows enlargement and swelling of the synovium. As for treatment, it usually requires surgical intervention, either by laparoscopic or by a surgical incision, to remove the enlarged synovium, thus removing the cause of the tumor in the knee.
