Severe pain and swelling of the knee may indicate that there was excessive fluid in the knee joint. A disease called synovitis, that is, an inflammation of the synovial membrane of the knee, is quite dangerous.
Causes of fluid in the knee joint
The accumulation of fluid in the knee joint is quite common and it can have many causes. In order to understand them, it is necessary to find out what kind of liquid is and how it got into the knee.
The knee joint is the largest in the human body, since it has a heavy load. This important element of our body is protected by a special impermeable and strong synovial membrane, a membrane. Between it and the joint itself there is a synovial fluid that softens the impact when falling due to damping and prevents the friction of the joint parts. It happens that this fluid in the knee is less than necessary. In this case, the risk of arthrosis and rapid wear of the knee joint is increased. If there is too much fluid in the knee joint, a person begins to experience acute pain and risks getting inflammation of the synovial membrane.
The reason for increasing the amount of synovial fluid is such factors:
- knee injury;
- increased motor activity and stress on the joint;
- supercooling;
- reactive arthritis;
- viral infection;
- accumulation of metabolic products (urea) in a knee bag;
- purulent arthritis caused by the accumulation of tuberculosis, dysentery, chlamydial bacteria, staphylococci and other microorganisms;
- rheumatism;
- rheumatoid arthritis ;
- allergic reaction.
Depending on what causes the disease and how it proceeds, the composition of the synovial fluid in the knee joint may be different. With the help of a puncture, some amount of material is taken for analysis. This allows us to determine the nature of synovitis:
- aseptic inflammation (clear liquid without bacteria);
- suppurative inflammation (microorganisms are fixed);
- immune inflammation (the epithelial lesion is fixed by any immune complex).
Symptoms of fluid accumulation in the knee joint are severe blunt pains and swelling around the knee. The causes of the disease do not affect its manifestations.
How does pumping fluid from the knee joint occur?
To date, the main way to treat an ailment is to remove fluid from the knee joint mechanically. This is a simple surgical operation, often it is carried out even without the use of anesthesia. The doctor carefully inserts an empty syringe into a certain place of the patella and fills it with synovial fluid. In the future, the treatment will depend on whether blood, pus, or clouding were found during the fence. Regardless of the results, the patient will be shown complete rest for the next few days. Also, the doctor can perform additional manipulations, for example:
- Introduce an intra-articular antimicrobial agent.
- Introduce an intra-articular anesthetic drug .
- Assign non-steroidal or steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the form of tablets, gels, ointments.
In addition, dry heat, compresses and other methods can be recommended to the patient to accelerate the normal functioning of the joint. Often appointed antibacterial and resorptive drugs. Ignore the accumulation of fluid in any case impossible, because it can lead to a complete loss of motor function of the knee joint. The earlier you start to treat synovitis, the faster it will recede.