A 75-year-old woman presents with complaints of pain, stiffness, and swelling in her knees especially in the left knee.
She has pain in the morning and also with getting up after sitting for a long period of time. The pain also becomes worse with activity and she can not walk very long. he also notices that her knee gives out at times. Her knee also locks on the right side.
She also notices that her knee gives out at times. Her knee also locks on the right side.
She brought in X-rays of her knees shown below:
Her X-rays shows narrowing of the joint on medial sides only. There is bone on bone with most of the cartilage is gone.
What she has is osteoarthritis of Knees worse on the left side. This is the most common form of osteoarthritis of the knee.
Normal knee x-rays are shown here:
The knee joint is consist of Femur, Tibia, and Fibula.
These bones are part of Appendicular Skeleton compared to Axial Skelton.
Bones that make up the Skeletal System are made up of three layers. At the joints, bones are covered by cartilage.
Cartilage is a firm and flexible connective tissue that is made of cells called chondrocytes. Cartilage is of three types, elastic cartilage, hyaline cartilage and fibrocartilage. The knee is made of fibro-cartilage.
The damage to the knee cartilage because of injury and weight eventually causes osteoarthritis of the knee joint.
The ratio of weight to the knee joint is 1:4 and not 1:1. This means for every kilogram weight loss there is reduction of 4-kilogram pressure on your knees.
This is a synovial joint and is covered by a joint capsule.
The knee is kept together by a series of tendons and ligaments. These include:
Anterior Cruciate Ligament
Anatomy of Anterior Cruciate Ligament
MRI Anatomy of Normal Anterior Cruciate Ligament
MRI Anatomy of Torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament
Posterior Cruciate Ligament
Anatomy of Posterior Cruciate Ligament
MRI Anatomy of Normal Posterior Cruciate Ligament
MRI Anatomy of Torn Posterior Cruciate Ligament
Lateral Collateral Ligament
Anatomy of Lateral Collateral Ligament
MRI Anatomy of Normal Lateral Collateral Ligament
MRI Anatomy of Torn Lateral Collateral Ligament
Medial Collateral Ligament
Anatomy of Medial Collateral Ligament
MRI Anatomy of Medial Collateral Ligament
MRI Anatomy of Torn Medial Collateral Ligament
Meniscus
The knees also are cushioned by c-shaped fibrocartilaginous complex structures. These are medial Meniscus and lateral Meniscus.
These can tear causing significant pain and disability. The various meniscus tears are:
Meniscus Longitudinal Tear Picture MRI
Meniscus Bucket Handle Tear Picture MRI