The knee is one of the strongest joints in the human body.
anatomy of the knee
This important joint is formed by the meeting of three bones: the femur, tibia, and patella. Surrounding the bony structures is a thin layer of cartilage that prevents friction and makes movement smooth. The knee has many ligaments that constrain its movement, including the anterior cruciate ligament. In addition, between the femur and tibia, the meniscus (a fibrocartilaginous structure) prevents contact between the bones during strenuous physical activities.
The knee, surrounded by the quadriceps and flexor muscles, is the joint that takes charge of our body’s forward thrust and is absolutely essential for performing daily activities, from simply standing upright to running.
traumatic injuries
Sometimes, however, trauma, often in sports, can impair knee function. They are divided into two major groups that may or may not be associated with each other: ligamentous injuries and meniscal injuries.
They are frequently due to distortive trauma (with direct or indirect mechanism) and may be associated with meniscal or cartilage injuries. They are frequently due to contact sports (soccer, basketball) or characterized by changes in direction (skiing, volleyball, tennis).
Meniscal pathologies are often traumatic in nature but can also be degenerative in nature: while the former mainly affect those under 40 years of age, the latter affect Patients over 50 years of age.
Traumatic meniscal injuries result from major trauma combining flexion, torsion, and compression. The most frequently affected anatomical portion is the posterior horn of the medial meniscus.
Degenerative meniscal injuries affect people over 45-50 years of age, the trauma is usually minor (if present), and they tend to be complex injuries of the body and posterior horn of the medial meniscus.
degenerative diseases
Degenerative pathologies concern the wear and tear of knee cartilage that occurs primarily physiologically with the passage of years, i.e., age progressively consumes this natural joint surface
Whencartilage wear and tear begins to create pain and altered function, we are facingKnee Arthrosis, and it is possible to intervene with:
- THE CORRECTIVE OSTEOTOMY OF THE KNEE which involves surgical correction of the loading axis of the diseased knee. Alteration of the loading axis can in fact create asymmetrical consumption of the inner compartment of the knee (Knee VARUS) or the outer compartment of the knee (Knee VALGUS).
- MENISCUS TRANSPLANTATION., may be helpful in slowing cartilage wear and tear in cases where the meniscus has been previously removed for a traumatic injury.
If cartilage wear has already reached too advanced a state, the only solution with which to achieve long-term benefit is Knee Prosthesis. Knee Prosthesis involves the replacement of the bony joint heads of the femur and tibia.
Finally, a very important role in decreasing pain and recovering knee function is played by infiltrative therapies.
