What to do if your knee locks?

The knee joint is the connection between our thigh and calf and is a very critical movement hub. There is an old saying that a man’s knees are made of gold. It means that a real man should not bow down to others easily. Although the knee joint is not specifically mentioned here. But his importance can also be seen from the side. Most of us usually just run, jump or walk. The knee joint is not used much. It won't put too much pressure on him. But this is not the case for athletes on the sports field. For example, track and field athletes need to exert force with their knee joints to sprint forward. Basketball players need knee joints if they want to jump high. Weightlifters need their knees to bear the weight of their upper limbs. They are prone to a disease called locking of the knee joint. What kind of disease is this?

Knee locking is the most typical manifestation of knee meniscus injury. It is characterized by sudden restriction of knee flexion and extension during activities such as walking and squatting, and the knee joint cannot move as if it is stuck, accompanied by obvious pain.

This is because after the meniscus is damaged and torn, during the flexion and extension of the knee joint, especially when flexion and extension are accompanied by knee twisting, the ruptured meniscus is stuck in the intercondylar fossa of the femur or between the femoral and tibial joints, resulting in limited knee movement and inability to flex or extend the knee.

1. Main symptoms.

When the locking is mild, the patient can unlock it by shaking or twisting the knee joint in a small range. However, if the meniscus is torn in a bucket-handle shape and stuck in the intercondylar fossa, it may be impossible to unlock it, and even the doctor's manual reduction cannot unlock it, and surgery is the only option. One of my patients is a wrestler. When this kind of situation occurred, the joint was forcibly unlocked during the manual treatment. After the notification, the joint movement was restored. I thought the unlocking was successful, but the symptoms always persisted. He had surgery in my clinic 2 years later and found that the joint was still locked.

Since the meniscus has blood supply only in the part close to the synovium, once it is damaged, it is difficult to heal on its own. Medication, injections, plasters or physical therapy can only temporarily relieve symptoms but have no cure. Over time, traumatic arthritis may develop and the symptoms may become more severe. Therefore, meniscus injury should be taken seriously and surgical treatment should be considered.

Arthroscopic meniscus surgery is currently the recommended surgical method. This surgery is minimally invasive and can not only make a clear diagnosis, but also determine the scope and nature of the ruptured meniscus and decide on the surgical method. At the same time, it can also treat synovial, cartilage lesions and other lesions secondary to intra-articular meniscus injury. Depending on the injury, meniscus suture, partial meniscus resection or complete meniscus resection can be performed. However, due to the importance of the meniscus structure in the knee joint, meniscus repair suture plays an important role in preserving the function of the meniscus and is currently the recommended surgical method. With a complete rehabilitation plan after meniscus suture surgery, patients can recover soon.

2. Treatment Methods

The operation must be performed in the hospital, and the hospital stay is generally about 1 week if the hospital does not provide postoperative rehabilitation support. Our hospital starts postoperative rehabilitation functional training three days after surgery to better restore the function of the affected limb. The general hospitalization period is more than 2 weeks.

But one thing to note is that some other diseases of the knee joint can cause "pseudo-locking". As the name suggests, it is not really locked, but it just feels like it is stuck, but it is not, or it feels like it is stuck but it is not. Sometimes there is a popping sound, but it is crisper. This is due to abnormal patellar movement trajectory caused by high pressure on the lateral side of the patella or patellofemoral arthritis, or damage and detachment of the synovial folds and articular cartilage of the knee joint.

In addition, there is a type of loose body in the joint that can cause locking, but unlike meniscus injury, the location of the pain often changes. This is because the loose body moves within the joint and gets stuck in different parts, and it also requires surgical removal.