The child has knee pain: causes and first aid

У ребенка болят колени: причины и первая помощь

Child may complain of pain in legs. Many causes cause joint discomfort: infection, arthritis, trauma, osteomyelitis, popliteal cyst, or blood disease. But most often, a child's knees hurt due to a heavy load on joints, muscles and ligaments.

The editors of estet-portal.com talk about causes of pain in childhood and adolescence.

Peculiarities of the knee joint: loads and traumas
The child's knees hurt: why the joint becomes inflamed
Orthopedic causes of knee pain in children
What to do if there is pain in the knee joint

Peculiarities of the knee joint: loads and traumas

In the human skeleton is the largest joint — knee. Its complex structure consists of many elements: menisci, muscles, ligaments, cartilage, blood vessels, nerve fibers. The femur and tibia are connected by tendons, ligaments and muscles. Articulation allows flexion, extension and rotation of the leg.

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The child walks, runs, jumps, loads the knee joint. Because of this, the knee joint is very vulnerable, prone to injuries and various pathologies.

Pain in case of knee injury appears immediately and entails:

Restricted movement. Inability to bend and unbend the leg.
Swelling and cyanosis of the injured area.
Numbness of the skin at the site of injury.
Pain does not disappear the next day. She becomes stronger, interferes with walking.

Among the injuries of the knee joint, there are bruise, fracture of the patella, damage to the meniscus, rupture of the cruciate ligament.

The child's knees hurt: why does the joint become inflamed

Pain — it is the body's response to illness. The inflammatory process in the knees causes constant discomfort. It becomes stronger in moments of exacerbation of the underlying disease and subsides in the period of remission.

Knee joints become inflamed with such diseases:

Tendinitis. Inflammation in tendons. Cause — trauma and physical stress.
Juvenile arthritis. Children and adolescents often get sick. Experts associate the disease with the pathological development of autoimmune antibodies.
Infectious arthritis. It develops with an injury or an infectious blood disease.
Rheumatoid arthritis. The main reason — transferred «on feet» ARVI, tonsillitis, influenza.
Osteomyelitis. Purulent disease of bone tissue.
Septic bursitis. Infectious inflammation of the articular bag.

Orthopedic causes of knee pain in children

Children's orthopedists identify 3 common diseases of the knee joints in childhood and adolescence:

Running of the knee joint. Fluid accumulates in the joint cavity, the knee swells and becomes hot to the touch. The disease has primary and secondary forms. Causes of Primary Form — injuries, bruises, open wounds of the knee. Secondary drives develop against the background of chronic diseases: rheumatoid arthritis, tuberculosis, etc. With a timely visit to the doctor, the primary form is quickly cured. Therapeutic treatment lasts 2-3 weeks, the fluid resolves and inflammation subsides.
Chondromalacia of the knee. At risk are adolescents, underweight and those who play sports. There is cartilage inside the knee, which, under certain conditions, sloughs off into the joint cavity. A suspension is formed, similar to an abrasive material. Small particles of cartilage irritate the delicate synovial membrane. This leads to pain and swelling of the joint. The prognosis in such a situation is favorable. The disease is treated from 3 to 6 months.
Osgood's disease — Schlatter. The most serious teenage disease of the knee. The disease is due to the intensive growth of the child. At the age of 10 to 14 years, weight increases, muscles become stronger, hormonal levels change, and bone mass in the joints increases rapidly. Porous bone does not have time to fill with capillaries, which leads to poor blood circulation and bone fragility. At the same time, the child leads an active life, strains the muscles and tendons of the knee. As a result, microtrauma of the bone tissue of the tibial joint occurs. If you quickly respond to the child complaints and go to an orthopedist, then everything will end well. B 95% of cases can be cured. The course of treatment lasts from 6 months to 2.5 years. When the pathology is started, the tendon tears off a piece of bone, and a bump forms below the patella. In this case, the child needs to be operated on.

What to do if there is pain in the knee joint

Not every pathological condition requires treatment. But you can't leave the child's complaints unattended.

First thing to do — reduce stress on legs. Cancel cycling, rollerblading, skateboarding, running, and playing soccer. Swimming, physiotherapy exercises and physical exercises that put stress on upper limbs are allowed.
First aid for a knee injury depends on the degree of damage.
Bruised — the most innocuous damage. There is no need for specific treatment. But to speed up recovery will help the following actions: put ice on knee; make a gentle massage in the area of \u200b\u200bthe injury; for a quick recovery, contact traumatologist, he will prescribe physiotherapy.
you need to consult a doctor to rule out a fracture.
Before the ambulance arrives, put a cold compress and give the child an anesthetic. The sequence of treatment is determined only by an orthopedic traumatologist.
will help to relieve the child's condition and relieve pain in the knee joint with inflammation
. Contact your doctor for a diagnosis. He will prescribe a course of treatment.
warming compresses and massage help with age-related pain.