Gap and injury of a meniscus

General characteristic of a disease

Meniscuses of a knee joint are understood as cartilaginous laying. They perform several important functions at once, main of which is a stabilization of a joint and its protection against damages at considerable loadings. Cartilaginous laying successfully solves these problems due to change of the form during movements in a knee joint. Various damages, for example, a rupture of a meniscus, lead to severe pains, disturbances of functions of joints, considerable restriction of a physical activity of the person.

Cartilaginous laying is subdivided into two look. The lateral meniscus is located closer to an outside part of a joint. It is rather mobile and therefore its traumatic damages happen seldom. In turn, the medial meniscus is near a median part of a joint that influences its mobility and, as a result, the raised injury risk.

Reasons of injuries of a meniscus

There are several factors which can lead to traumatizing a joint. In most cases injury of a meniscus results from the indirect or combined injury. Besides, cartilaginous laying can be damaged easily at sharp extension of a knee, assignment of a shin or a direct injury. Also the degenerative changes of a meniscus connected with chronic intoxications, rheumatism and microtraumas are known.

All injuries of a joint can be divided into several types:

• meniscus separation – departure of laying from the place of an attachment in the field of back and front horns;
• rupture of a meniscus in a transkhondralny zone;
• degenerative changes, too strong mobility of a meniscus;
• cystous regeneration;
• combinations of above-mentioned damages.

Injury of a meniscus – symptoms and a clinical picture of development of a disease

Symptoms of injury of a meniscus depend on a disease form. During the acute period diagnosis is significantly complicated because injury of a meniscus is shown in signs of a nonspecific inflammation which can result from other injuries of a joint. Characteristic symptoms at an acute form are a severe local pain when walking, existence of a hemarthrosis, sharp restriction of movements. If the acute form is diagnosed for the patient in time, treatment, as a rule, does not represent special difficulties and leads to an absolute recovery.

If for any reason injury of a meniscus did not manage to be revealed in acceptable time limits, the reactive phenomena abate for the short period then at the sick person appear: infiltration (accumulation of liquid in a knee joint), an exudate, capsules at the level of a knee crack, strong swellings in the field of damage and, eventually, happens a total block of a joint. In the latter case only meniscus operation will help to get rid of unpleasant feelings, but to lead up before we do not advise as any operative measure is a last resort.

Injury of a meniscus – treatment of various forms of a disease

The choice of a technique of treatment depends on gravity of a condition of the patient. The small rupture of a meniscus or minor degenerative changes easily recover by means of conservative methods. But they will be completely inefficient at big gaps or blockade of a knee joint when the patient needs removal of a meniscus. However, need for operation arises not often as in most cases the medial meniscus suffers from moderately severe injuries.

Nevertheless, we want to stop in more detail on surgical treatment of injuries of a meniscus as it causes the greatest number of questions in patients. At an operative measure the main goal of the surgeon consists in preservation of the main body of cartilaginous laying. It is possible if the rupture of a meniscus is liquidated by means of an union by means of a surgical seam. This meniscus operation is carried out by an arthroscopy method. Doctors carry out several small surgical openings and through them liquidate a gap, using tiny video cameras and modern tools. At the same time are considered: damage localization, its orientation, prescription of an injury, age of the patient and stability of a knee joint. The patient is younger, the probability that degenerative processes, gaps and stratifications will lead to serious effects is less. The technique of an arthroscopy is no good at gaps with shifts. In the latter case it is reasonable to use a meniscectomy - removal of a meniscus, more precisely than its come-off part.

As it was already told above, success of surgical treatment depends on the most different factors. Even if meniscus operation took place successfully, then the patient has to be all the same ready to the fact that it should limit a physical activity and several days to move by means of crutches. The tumor in the field of a knee joint remains within 4-6 weeks. Only after this time of people it is restored to normal life, can work and play sports again fully.