Early symptoms of knee cartilage wear

Joint pain is a particularly painful problem for middle-aged and elderly people. This is partly due to cartilage damage. The early symptoms of knee cartilage wear should be discovered as early as possible and improved as soon as possible. The earliest symptom of knee cartilage wear is pain, especially when going up and down stairs. The pain will be more severe when alternating between the legs. In addition, noise when the joints move is also a symptom of injury.

1. Painful folding

The characteristic is that the pain worsens with more activities, is relieved by rest, and still occurs during further activities, or may even become worse. It is particularly difficult to go up and down stairs. The patient can only use the good leg or the leg with mild symptoms to step up and down the stairs one step at a time. He cannot go up and down the stairs alternating between legs like a normal person. It is often more difficult to go down the stairs than to go up them. Joint sprains, colds, and overwork can often induce or aggravate joint pain. Severe pain can make the legs unable to move and affects sleep.

2. Joint swelling and folding

Joint swelling is caused by synovial hyperplasia and intra-articular effusion. It is often caused by sprains and colds in the early stages, and will later become persistent swelling. A grinding sensation or snapping sound when the joints move.

3. Soft knee fold

Also called weak legs. It is a phenomenon that the knee joint suddenly becomes weak while walking, and you feel like kneeling or falling, which may be accompanied by severe pain. "Stuck" phenomenon: after a joint has been stationary in a certain position for a long time, it is very painful to move it again and it cannot be flexed or extended. It must be moved slowly and gradually for a while before the "stuck" phenomenon disappears and the knee joint can be flexed and extended. If you take a bus, you often need to stop one stop in advance, so the patient has to stand up and move his joints before getting off the bus.

4. Twist-lock folding

It means that during walking or other movements, the knee joint is suddenly locked in a certain position and cannot move, as if something has "stuck" the joint. It is often necessary to try to swing and flex the joint, and often only after feeling a "click" can the joint resume its original movement. Loose bodies formed by articular cartilage exfoliation and ruptured meniscus are common causes of joint locking.

5. Joint dysfunction and folding

Due to cartilage destruction, osteophyte formation, and synovial hyperplasia, the knee joint cannot be fully extended or flexed, making it impossible to squat or hold weight, and even sitting on the toilet is difficult. Joint deformity: As the disease progresses, the knee joint becomes thicker and deformities such as "O" legs appear.