My legs and knees ache

Knee pain is a common phenomenon in life, especially among middle-aged and elderly people. This is mainly because with age, the knee joints age and are prone to excessive wear and tear, which can cause knee injuries and cause knee pain. The knee joint is one of the important joints in the human body, so in life we ​​should pay more attention to keeping our knees warm and reduce excessive fatigue.

Knee pain is one of the more common diseases of waist and leg pain. First, let's talk about several common causes of knee pain. Only when we know the cause can we treat it in a targeted way:

1. Knee osteoarthritis

Knee osteoarthritis, also known as degenerative knee arthritis and deforming knee arthritis, is the most common knee pain syndrome in the pain department. The main symptoms of patients are joint pain and dysfunction. In the early stages, joint pain may only manifest as dull pain during activity. As the patient's condition progresses, the pain gradually worsens and changes in nature to distending pain, which is more obvious when going up and down stairs, squatting, or standing up. In severe cases, pain may also occur even when at rest. Some symptoms include crunching sounds in the joints, hollow joints, and noose during walking. Some symptoms include joint stiffness. Patients with severe knee osteoarthritis may also experience joint swelling, peripheral edema, muscle atrophy, etc.

Bone friction sound may be detected during examination, and X-ray examination may reveal bone hyperplasia, narrowing of the joint space, osteoporosis, disappearance of the infrapatellar fat pad, etc. Treatment mainly involves getting more rest, avoiding fatigue and weight-bearing, and losing weight. Apply anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs externally, and further treatment can include knee joint injections, arthroscopic treatment, etc. Surgical replacement is rarely required.

2. Knee synovitis

Synovitis is a common disease, and its main site of occurrence is the knee joint, which has the most synovium in the human body. The most common is knee synovitis, also known as knee joint synovitis. Knee synovitis, also known as knee joint synovitis, is a multiple disease. It is easy to cause patients to temporarily or long-term partial loss of labor force, which is very harmful to patients. Particularly some young and middle-aged patients have to shoulder many social and family responsibilities while enduring long-term pain. Although there are many effective treatments currently, many patients still cannot be cured.

Knee synovitis is often secondary to knee osteoarthritis in the elderly. It is mainly due to the mechanical and biochemical stimulation caused by cartilage degeneration and bone hyperplasia, which leads to synovial edema, exudation and effusion of the knee joint. In young and middle-aged people, it is mostly caused by acute trauma and chronic injury. Acute trauma includes: knee sprain, meniscus injury, collateral ligament or cruciate ligament injury, joint effusion or sometimes blood accumulation, manifested as acute traumatic synovitis of the knee. Sometimes it can also be caused by simple synovial injury of the knee joint, such as minor trauma, or long-term chronic knee strain. In addition, the invasion of wind, cold and dampness can cause gradual swelling and dysfunction of the knee joint, forming chronic knee synovitis.

The main symptoms of synovitis are joint swelling, followed by pain, dysfunction, and muscle atrophy. Therefore, if you find a similar situation, you should seek medical attention in time, make a clear diagnosis, rule out other possible factors, and examine carefully to prevent missed diagnosis and delay the disease. Some patients blindly receive treatment without a correct diagnosis, thus losing the best time for treatment.

3. Knee ligament injury

There are many ligaments around the knee joint, including the medial collateral ligament, lateral collateral ligament, patellar ligament, anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments, etc. Injury to different ligaments leads to different symptoms. The treatment should be combined with relevant examinations, patient physical signs and magnetic resonance imaging, and arthroscopic examination should be performed if necessary.

4. Knee meniscus injury

Meniscus injury of the knee is manifested by localized pain in the knee joint, and some patients experience weak legs or locked knees. Meniscus injuries are mostly caused by torsional forces. When one leg bears weight and the calf is fixed in a semi-flexed and abducted position, the body and thigh suddenly rotate inward, and the medial meniscus is subjected to rotational pressure between the femoral condyle and tibia, causing the meniscus to tear. For example, the greater the degree of flexion of the knee joint during a sprain, the more posterior the tear site will be. The shape of the injury can be transverse, longitudinal, horizontal or irregular, or even broken into loose bodies within the joint.

Most of them have a history of obvious trauma. In the acute phase, there is obvious pain, swelling and effusion in the knee joint, and joint flexion and extension are impaired. After the acute phase, the swelling and effusion may subside on their own, but the joints still hurt during activities, especially when going up and down stairs, up and down hills, squatting and standing up, running, jumping, etc. The pain is more obvious. In severe cases, there may be limping or flexion and extension dysfunction. Some patients have locking phenomenon or clicking when the knee joint is flexed and extended.

5. Tumorous diseases of the knee joint

Patients often have a history of cancer or chronic pain. The pain is severe and difficult to relieve with general analgesics. It is common in elderly people or patients with a history of cancer. Check the main knee joint magnetic resonance imaging, tumor markers and related tests.

Treatment for knee joint disease

Deficiency of both Qi and blood: Traditional Chinese medicine believes that people suffering from this disease have deficiency of both Qi and blood, insufficient liver and kidney essence and energy, and cannot nourish the muscles and bones, which is an internal factor for the onset of osteoarthritis of the knee. Strain, trauma, and exposure to wind, cold, and dampness are external causes of knee osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis of the knee belongs to the categories of "arthritis", "bone arthritis" and "knee arthritis" in traditional Chinese medicine. There are different types of arthritis, such as "wind-cold-dampness arthritis", "wind-heat-dampness arthritis", "phlegm-stasis arthritis", and "liver and kidney deficiency". Traditional Chinese medicine has many treatments for knee osteoarthritis (arthritis). You can take Chinese medicine orally, use acupuncture, hot compress, fumigation and cupping. If the diagnosis is "wind-heat-dampness arthralgia" among the arthralgias, hot compress, fumigation and moxibustion are not appropriate. Apart from this situation, moxibustion is still very effective in treating knee pain.

When people reach middle age or old age, they suffer from deficiency of both qi and blood, and insufficient liver and kidney essence. They need to take some liver and kidney nourishing medicines, such as Liuwei Dihuang Pills, under the guidance of a doctor, or eat liver and kidney nourishing diet therapy, such as wolfberry and walnut stew, etc., and pay attention to regulating themselves, eating in moderation, having regular daily life, and avoiding excessive sexual intercourse.

Moxibustion therapy for treating knee pain. The main acupoints for treating knee pain are: painful area, Shenshu point, Mingmen point, knee joint, and Heding point. Moxibustion on the Shenshu and Mingmen points can nourish yang and strengthen the foundation, and promote yang energy; "kidneys govern bones", and moxibustion on the Shenshu point can warm the kidneys and strengthen bones, and has a good therapeutic effect on joint pain; moxibustion on the painful area can dissipate the cold and promote smooth circulation of qi and blood. Moxibustion on the inner and outer knee points and the Heding point can quickly relieve pain and gradually regulate the body until health is restored.