ARTHRITIS PAIN IN KNEE(Keywords: arthritis pain in knee, symptoms of arthritis in knee, exercises for knee arthritis, knee arthritis ) The weight-bearing bones of the knee, the femur and tibia, are lined in the knee with a shiny, hard, super-slippery hyaline cartilage, not to be confused with the meniscus (cartilage) located inside the knee joint. Look at the end of a chicken drumstick for an example of hyaline cartilage...
Searching for something specific? Say, " WHAT IS CHIROPRACTIC ". Just type it in here...  Custom Search An injury to the knee can damage this weight-bearing cartilage lining of the joint, and in more severe cases the underlying bone. That could be a sporting injury, such as torn ligaments, or overuse, though obesity is one of the main causes; simply too much weight pressing on the cartilage. A hole wears through the articular cartilage prematurely. This cartilage does not have the capacity to heal spontaneously resulting in the development of various orthopaedic techniques to induce the bone marrow to produce stem cells that can produce new cartilage. SYMPTOMS OF ARTHRITIS IN KNEEWhen the injury is to both the cartilage and underlying bone, there is stiffness, swelling, pain and frequently an inability to bend the knee. The lady with the X-rays below walked with a severe limp when she first arrived at our clinic. In her early fifties...In the early stages, when there is injury to the hyaline cartilage only, there is little to be seen on X-rays which can't "see" cartilage. More severe degeneration of the cartilage can only be detected by a narrowing of the joint space. This is arthritis and knee pain in the making.
However, using a technique called arthroscopy, surgeons can look inside the knee and "see" the hole in the cartilage. A lesion of this size will certainly be causing symptoms of arthritis in knee.
REVIEW STUDY OF 25,000 ARTHROSCOPIESWiduchowski et al reported that fully 2/3 of these patients had lesions of either the cartilage lining of the femur or tibia, or cartilage and bone lesions. These lesions have "little potential to heal" presenting a serious clinical challenge to your doctor or chiropractor. Permanent disability is a reality.The single most effective, and most neglected treatment is simple weight loss. Patients it would seem would rather go through the pain, expense and danger of a total knee replacement, than lose 10-20 kg, sometimes far more.
FRACTURESHaving examined many of the victims of minibus accidents in South Africa, some months or years post trauma, I have come to the conclusion that fractured tibia or femur VERY frequently results in arthritis pain in the knee.What seems to commonly occur is that the fracture is obviously the first injury that has to be addressed, and is usually done quite adequately orthopaedically in most hospitals. However, once the plaster cast is removed, it appears to be the exception where other soft tissue injuries to the hip, knee or ankle are sought. When there's been enough force exerted to fracture the bones, there's inevitably associated soft tissue injury: knee arthritis, often the hip and ankle too. If you've had a fracture of the leg, always ask a competent chiropractor or physician to carefully examine the related joints once the fracture has healed. Otherwise you may well be faced with degenerative knee arthritis, or of the hip or ankle, in the future. Arthritis knee pain isn't fun, and much of it could be prevented with early treatment. MENISECTOMYWhilst total removal of a damaged meniscus is not common today, it was common practice in the past. Damage to the meniscus, or total menisectomy, means that the cartilage of the femur presses directly on the cartilage of the tibia. It's not long before arthritis pain in knee is a reality as a hole wears in the cartilage.LEG LENGTH INEQUALITYThere is convincing radiological research that a short leg is one of the causes of both knee and hip arthritis. Oddly, it might be in either the short or the long leg. But certainly, if you have a short leg, whether caused by a fracture of the leg, a fallen arch in the foot, or simply a leg that grew more slowly that its mate, you are more prone to knee arthritis. A simple insert in the shoe is the answer, but a professional should decide how thick it should be. Just a soft insert in the shoe would help. LEG LENGTH INEQUALITY RESEARCH ...JOINT MICE and ARTHRITIS PAIN IN KNEEIn the photograph above you can see small pieces of cartilage that could at any moment break off. These pieces of cartilage are not visible on X-ray but they float around in the synovial fluid in the joint, sometimes jamming between the condyles of the femur and the tibia, causing locking and pain.Sometimes larger pieces, consisting in part of bone may break free, and are then visible within the knee joint. In the jargon, they are known as "joint mice," causing sometimes severe locking of the knee.
MICROFRACTURE and ARTHRITIS PAIN IN KNEEDr Richard Steadman developed a new technique some thirty years ago for the treatment of young athletes with weight-bearing cartilage lesions of the knee. Tiny fractures of the bone were induced allowing stem cells to seep through the fracture from the bone marrow to the site of damaged cartilage. These stem cells have the ability to replace the damaged hyaline cartilage, but only with fibrocartilage which is less resilient than hyaline cartilage.The technique is much less effective in patients older than 45, obese patients and in the case of a large cartilage lesion greater than one inch. The stem cells are extremely susceptible to pressure in the early stage and it's vital the patient goes on crutches for a minimum of six weeks. Active, non-weightbearing exercises of the knee begin immediately after the surgery, together with quad strengthening exercises. Movement of the knee ensures that the vital nutrients and oxygen in the synovial fluid that feeds the newly forming cartilage are adequately replenished. Most of the improvement in symptoms after microfracture occurs in the period from 6-12 months post surgery.
Custom Search CHIROPRACTIC and ARTHRITIS PAIN IN KNEEArthritis can't be treated, right? You must learn to live with the pain, not so? NO!Arthritis can't be cured, that's so, but then neither can diabetes. Can't diabetes be successfully treated? Indeed. So can arthritic joints, be it arthritis pain in knee, or neck, back, shoulder, foot... mostly with the correct chiropractic treatment, a change in diet, a vigorous exercise programme, the pain in these joints, and more important the disability can be reduced by fifty percent and more. Such is the case in this arthritis pain in knee casefile ... (yet to be constructed, come back in a week.)
ARTHRITIS AND OBESITYThere is compelling scientific evidence that the obese suffer far more from arthritis. In the case of arthritis pain in knee it's simply because of the cartilage wearing out as the lining of the femur presses down unerringly on that of the tibia.However, there's far worse to come. Adipose tissue releases toxic chemicals into the body that increase inflammation not only in the joints, but in all the organs:
ARTHRITIS AND OBESITY ... PATELLO FEMORAL PAIN SYNDROME (PFPS)Whilst pain IN the knee joint is clinically a challenge, arthritis under the kneecap (patella) is very readily treated with chiropractic.Interestingly, a magnesium deficiency is the cause of a condition called chondrocalcinosis that has a prediliction for depositing calcium in the cartilage under the kneecap.
PATELLO FEMORAL PAIN SYNDROME ... DUAL ANTIINFLAMMATORY DRUGSThere's a place for NSAIDs such as Brufin in the treatment of arthritis pain in knee, but do be aware of the dangers. Taking them for any length of time can make a serious hole in your stomach. Taking dual antiinflammatory drugs such as aspirin + brufin is just sheer stupidity. You are seriously risking your life; rather think of using alternating ice and heat treatment as decribed here: cold hot therapy ...ARTHROSCOPYWhat's clear is that nothing works all the time with arthritis pain in knee, and in fact most treatments are not very successful. Even total knee replacement is a relatively risky and oft not very successful procedure. Many patients tell me they wish they had never gone through with it.
Arthroscopy knee surgery too is not the great panacea it's often called. Nor can I promise you that Chiropractic Help will adequately treat your arthritis knee pain. Exercise, weight loss and fish oil are the only treatments that will always help, with no risk of aggravating the problem in your knee... for the rest, patient beware!
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