What should I do if my knees hurt after climbing? What kind of damage will it cause?

Some friends experience knee pain after climbing mountains, which may be caused by excessive stress on the knees. You can rest more after climbing to see if the condition of your knee improves. If not, you need to go to the hospital for examination. It is possible that the meniscus of the knee joint is damaged. The meniscus is the soft tissue in the knee.

What to do if your knees hurt after hiking?

1. Knee meniscus injury

The human knee joint is the largest joint of all joints and is the main force bearing body weight. It is composed of the lower end of the femur and the upper end of the tibia, with the patella in front and a "cushion" or meniscus in the middle. It is surrounded by strong joint capsules, muscles and ligaments to ensure the stability of the joint. Body weight is the vertical stress on the knee joint, and complex human body movements such as turning while playing ball and squatting when going to the toilet are lateral stresses. If the force is too great, the two menisci of the knee joint are easily damaged, especially when the rotational force is too large, meniscus tears are more likely to occur. Meniscus injury is accompanied by damage to the joint capsule. Due to rich blood circulation, it is easy to bleed and cause blood accumulation, pain and swelling in the knee joint cavity.

It is common to sprain and feel pain in the knee during travel, but as long as there is no swelling, you don't have to worry about meniscus damage. The meniscus is a cartilage tissue with almost no blood supply. Once damaged, it is difficult to heal, which is the cause of joint pain after injury. Surgical removal of the meniscus and arthroendoscopic removal of small tears and linear tears are acceptable and effective methods.

Meniscus injuries do not necessarily require immediate surgery. Be careful when walking to keep your knee stable and the joint still movable. But sometimes small lobes can move due to uneven roads or uncoordinated postures, and get stuck somewhere in the joint space, causing immediate severe pain and inability to walk. This is medically called "joint locking". They can be "unlocked" through activity or treatment, and the symptoms disappear immediately with a click. The special phenomenon of joint locking should be recognized. Experienced patients will often unlock the problem by themselves after repeated attempts, that is, by relaxing the lower limb muscles, gently shaking and flexing and extending the knee joints (flexion and rotation technique) to achieve relief.

2. Loose bodies in the knee joint

Joint locking is not only caused by damage to the meniscus, but also by loose bodies in the joint. These are very small pieces of cartilage that have fallen off the joint surface due to trauma or degeneration. They are the size of peas, and those that are not ossified cannot be seen on X-rays. They can occasionally be felt, and then they disappear. They move very quickly, so they are also called "joint mice." They can also get stuck in the joint gap, causing locking, and repeated appearances can cause joint effusion. Because they usually do not hurt, they are often ignored. Symptoms and treatment are the same as those for meniscus injury.

3. Chondromalacia patella

Another common cause of knee pain is chondromalacia patella. The patella is a round bone in front of the knee and is also a component of the knee joint. It is located in front of the medial and lateral intercondylar fossa at the lower end of the femur, and the cartilage surface behind the patella is articulated with it.

When the knee joint flexes and extends, the articular surfaces of the patella contact each other and act as a fulcrum. The patella is connected by ligaments above and below. When the knee joint is straightened, the quadriceps tendon drives the patella to squeeze the femoral condyle backward, thereby stabilizing the knee joint. Repeated sprains of the knee or unreasonable movement postures can cause wear of the patellar articular surface, loss of luster and elasticity of the cartilage, and partial softening and falling off of the cartilage, which can cause pain when the patella is moved.

Daily activities are tolerable, but fatigue occurs easily. Any excessive activity can cause knee pain. The patient is not familiar with medical knowledge and mistakenly believes that the entire patella is softening, but the actual lesion is softening of the patellar cartilage. Excessive walking or uneven roads can cause fluid accumulation in the knee joints and joint swelling, which is unpredictable during travel. As long as you rest in time, you will recover quickly. If you must continue your normal activities and catch up with your schedule, you can go to the hospital for an intra-articular injection of methylprednisolone to speed up the disappearance of symptoms.