My knee hurts and I can't bend it, what's going on?

Why does my knee hurt and I can't bend? Beware of arthritis

Knee pain and inability to bend may be a disease caused by rheumatism or arthritis. When patients have symptoms of arthritis, their movements will be restricted, and they will feel uncomfortable whether walking normally or bending their knees.

Knee arthritis is a disease based on degenerative pathological changes. It mostly affects middle-aged and elderly people, and its symptoms include redness, swelling and pain in the knees, pain when going up and down stairs, and knee soreness and discomfort when sitting, standing or walking. Some patients may also experience swelling, popping, fluid accumulation, etc. If not treated in time, it will cause joint deformity and disability. The knee joint is also prone to joint diseases such as knee synovitis, ligament injury, meniscus injury, loose bodies of the knee, popliteal cysts, patellar softening, anserine bursitis, and genu valgum/knee valgus.

Causes

The occurrence of knee arthritis is generally caused by factors such as degenerative changes in the knee joint, trauma, and excessive fatigue. Knee arthritis is common in middle-aged and elderly people and is the main cause of leg pain in the elderly. In addition, being overweight, incorrect walking posture, squatting for a long time, and cold knee joints are also causes of knee arthritis.

Symptoms of knee arthritis

Mild cases may have no obvious symptoms, or only feel discomfort or cold knees. It usually manifests as stiffness and discomfort in the joints, which improves after activity. Acute inflammatory symptoms may occur during strenuous activities, which will be relieved after rest and symptomatic treatment.

This is an early symptom: you feel soreness and discomfort in your knees when you sit up or walk, and the symptoms disappear after walking for a while. Over time, the disease progresses and activities no longer relieve the pain. Going up and down stairs, squatting, or standing up becomes difficult and requires support from the hands on the knees. If your knee joint is a little swollen or severely swollen after walking a lot, you can extract some yellowish fluid. Due to the pathological thickening of the synovium and the joint capsule, there will be noise during movement. If loose bodies are formed in the joints, it may affect the joint movement and "joint locking" may occur from time to time, eventually leading to knee deformity.

The knee suddenly cannot bend

1. There has been soft tissue injury to the knee, but most people did not notice it at the time and have no memory of it.

2. Knee joint pain and stiffness are more obvious when getting up in the morning, relieved after activities, aggravated by more activities, and relieved after rest.

3. In the later stage, the pain persists, the joint movement is significantly limited, the quadriceps muscle atrophies, joint effusion occurs, and even deformities and loose bodies in the joints occur.

4. Friction sound can be felt when the knee joint is flexed and extended.

5. Anteroposterior and lateral X-rays of the knee joint show lip-like bone hyperplasia at the joint margins of the patella, femoral condyle, and tibial plateau, a sharp tibial intercondylar eminence, narrowed joint space, dense subchondral bone, and sometimes loose bodies can be seen in the joint.