Injury of knee during fall: treatment and recovery

Knee injury is, perhaps, one of the most frequent troubles that people have to face. After all, the knee joint carries a heavy load and is responsible not only for walking, running and jumping, but also for many other movements.

The most common injuries of the knee

Due to the fact that the knee joint has a rather complex structure, many components can be injured in it - ligaments, muscles, cartilage and bones. Depending on this, the following types of damage are divided:

• The easiest is a bruise that occurs after a stroke or a fall;
• Knee injury associated with stretching ligaments or tendons supporting and connecting the knee cap;
• Rupture of the meniscus (it is an elastic septum between the upper and lower bones of the joint);
• Damage to ligaments;
• Cracks or fractures in the kneecap, in the lower part of the femur or in the upper part of the fibular and tibia, arising after a fall or stroke;
• Dislocations in the patella (occurs infrequently).

Knee Injuries at Excessive Exercises

Each knee injury, from the above, arises as an acute condition as a result of physical impact on the joint. But some of them can be a consequence of prolonged loads or repetitive actions. For example, cycling, climbing stairs, jumping and running can provoke irritation or inflammation of one or another component in the knee joint.

In medicine, several types of damage are attributed to this type:

• Bursitis - inflammation of synovial bags that soften friction between the bones in the knee joint;
• Tendonitis (inflammation) or tendonosis (tears) of tendons;
• Plyk syndrome - twisting or thickening of ligaments in the knee;
• The patellar-femoral pain syndrome - occurs after excessive loads, excess weight, trauma or birth defects of the knee cup.

What knee joint damage can develop after a fall?

But the most common is a knee injury in the fall, expressed as a bruise, and a crack or fracture of bones.

Bruising, by the way, can be different in severity - from a simple hematoma or abrasion on the skin to a condition in which the blood accumulates in the joint from the vessels that burst after the impact. Such a condition in medicine is called hemarthrosis.

And in this case, the victim, as a rule, complains of pain in the knee and difficulty walking, and the joint significantly increases in volume and under the skin sometimes visible bruise. Often, due to the accumulated content in the joint, the patient can not unbend the knee to the extremity.

Most often the symptoms of a joint injury gradually disappear even in the absence of treatment. If, even after a long period of time, there is a violation of the knee and impassable soreness, then the victim needs a full examination to determine the consequences of the injury.

Injury of the knee: meniscus

A direct knee strike about something solid or leaping to the feet from a great height can cause another damage - crushing the meniscus between the joint surfaces. And with a sudden movement (during uncoordinated bending or unbending the leg), the meniscus can completely detach from the joint capsule and break.

By the way, lesions of the lateral meniscus (from the inner side of the tibia) are 10 times less common than the medial (from the outside). At the same time, the victim experiences severe pain in the joint, it is impossible to unbend the leg. To this will later join and hemarthrosis, as with a strong bruise.

Injury of the knee: ligaments

Often in combination with damage to one or both menisci, the anterior cruciate and / or tibial collateral ligament protrude.

The reason for this can serve as a blow on the joint, and sharp uncoordinated abduction of the shin in combination with its movement outward. Externally, sprains or ligament ruptures are manifested by severe pain in the limb, limited mobility of the leg, reflex tension of its muscles, swelling around the joint, formation of effusion and phenomena of hemarthrosis.

After a knee injury involving damage to the ligaments, the injured leg should be kept in a raised position on the pillow or platen of clothing, a fixative (but not tight!) Dressing is applied to the knee and for 15-20 minutes. Cold compress (during the day it can be applied up to 3 times). The patient should be immediately taken to a traumatologist or orthopedist.

Fracture of knee bones

After a severe knee stroke or when falling from a height, the injured person may show fractures of the knee cap, lower part of the femur, or the upper part of the fibula and tibia.

This knee trauma is expressed by severe pain, exacerbated by the slightest movement of the foot, swelling quickly forms around the joint, it becomes immobile and noticeably deformed. The patient may have a fever and develop a severe bruise.

If you suspect a fracture of the bones, you should always fix the leg with any long straight object in one position to avoid the displacement of bone fragments. The leg is bandaged to a homemade tire, and the existing wounds are treated with an antiseptic solution. To reduce edema and pain to the knee, you can apply an ice compress, which, by the way, keep longer than 20 minutes. Not recommended.

The patient should be rushed to the hospital for further assistance.

Treatment of various knee injuries

If a patient has a knee injury, the treatment will depend on what kind of diagnosis the specialists put in - it can be either outpatient or inpatient. The patient must make an x-ray of the damaged joint or his ultrasound examination.

If an obstruction or pinching of the meniscus is detected, the patient is given a procedure for its release. In the case when this is impossible for some reason, the joint is stretched using a special apparatus. To stop the pain, the patient is given the tablet "Indomethacin", ointment "Diclofenac", the drug "Promedol" intramuscularly or in tablets.

In severe cases, with a meniscus rupture, the patient is shown surgical treatment.

When the ligaments are stretched, anti-inflammatory drugs (Diclofenac ointment or Voltaren ointment), ointments containing anticoagulants ("Lyoton") are used. To these agents, the "Dimexide" ointment is added, which improves the delivery of the main active substance into the tissues.

Fractures are treated by imposing a special bandage that ensures the immobility of the joint, and in the case of the presence of multiple debris, an operation is performed to compare them in anatomical order. In case of damage to the cartilaginous tissue, the patient is shown the use of chondroprotectors that contribute to its recovery ("Chondroitin", "Rumalon", etc.).