The size of the cartilaginous layer in the knee joint is quite small, only 3-4 mm in thickness and 6-8 cm in length. It is very easy to injure, doing sports, dancing, or just working at the dacha. Therefore, damage to the knee joint meniscus is so common - the symptoms and treatment of this problem depend on the degree of injury and the type of pathology diagnosed only by a specialist on the basis of X-rays or tomography.
What are the injuries of the knee joint meniscus?
First of all, it is necessary to find out which cartilaginous layer has been injured. There are only two of them, respectively, damage the internal (lateral) meniscus of the knee joint and the outer (medial) one. As a rule, therapy is better liable to a second type of pathology, since the outer layer of cartilaginous tissue is more accessible.
It is also necessary to determine the location of the injury. There is damage to the posterior horn of the medial or lateral meniscus, the body and the anterior horn.
The next method of classification involves an accurate diagnosis of the form of injury. Distinguish the following damage to cartilage layers in the knee:
- pinching;
- tearing or fracture;
- separation;
- degeneration of the meniscus;
- cystic degeneration;
- rupture of intermenal ligaments;
- mixed injuries.
In most cases, the doctor may still differentiate the listed pathologies during the examination, but to determine the diagnosis, an instrumental examination - MRI, CT or X-ray - is always prescribed.
Symptoms of knee meniscus damage
Despite a rather extensive list of possible injuries, clinical manifestations of problems with menisci are approximately the same.
For the acute period of damage to the interlayers of cartilaginous tissue, the following symptoms are characteristic:
- severe pain in the area of injury;
- almost complete limitation of mobility of the joint, especially when trying to unbend the knee;
- marked swelling in the area of injury;
- presence of effusion (presence of a capsule with a liquid in the joint);
- palpable inflammation;
- increase in local temperature;
- sometimes - redness of the skin above the knee joint.
Over time, reactive symptoms subsided, followed by less pronounced but specific symptoms, among which the most frequent are the following:
- Landau - a sharp pain when trying to sit with crossed legs, "in Turkish";
- Baikova - when the knee is bent, bent earlier at an angle of 90 degrees, and pressing on the joint space, there is pain;
- Polyakova - acute pain in the meniscus with support on the heel of the injured limb in a half-joint with a healthy leg extended upwards;
- Steinman - discomfort in the performance of rotational movements of the knee, bent by 90 degrees;
- Stairs Perelman - pain during descent on the steps.
The listed and other signs are used by traumatologists as tests for diagnosis.
With chronic damage to the cartilaginous layer in the knee joint, there are no severe symptoms, sometimes there are weak pains,
Treatment of knee joint meniscus damage
Therapy of any meniscus injuries is developed exclusively by a specialist, it depends on the variety and degree of damage. If the pathology is not too serious, a course of conservative treatment, physiotherapy procedures, massage and gymnastics sessions is sufficient.
In the case of tears and detachments of the meniscus, urgent surgical intervention is required, since such traumas can lead to irreversible degenerative changes in the joint and even disability.