Knee Arthritis
Arthritis can result in painful inflammation and stiffness in a joint. Several forms of arthritis can affect the knee joint, muscles, and bones, causing pain, stiffness, swelling, and loss of movement.
The most common cause is Osteoarthritis (OA), often called ‘wear and tear’ arthritis, because it develops over the course of a lifetime due to wear and tear on the joint. OA typically affects people older than 60 with a family history of arthritis and is accelerated by obesity. However, OA can be caused by trauma and develop earlier.
OA is a degenerative condition that causes pain, swelling, and stiffness and limits motion. The arthritic process progressively breaks down the cartilage that lines the surface of the knee bones to reduce friction. The cartilage becomes brittle, frays, breaks into pieces, and floats in the joint fluids, causing locking and pain. In end-stage OA, the cartilage is destroyed, causing the bones to rub together and wear unevenly, causing deformity and loss of function. Damaged bone attempts self-repair by creating bone spurs, which only aggravate the pain, stiffness, and loss of motion. In the end, knee OA results in poor quality of life and a loss of independence.
Younger patients can develop knee arthritis from underlying conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, infections, genetic defects in cartilage formation, and prior injury or menisectomy.
Knee arthritis is a degenerative, “wear-and-tear” condition that occurs most often in people 50 years of age and older but may occur in younger people, too. In knee osteoarthritis, the cartilage in the knee joint gradually wears away. As the cartilage wears away, it becomes frayed and rough, and the protective space between the bones decreases. This can result in bone rubbing on bone and produce painful bone spurs. The following factors cause knee arthritis:
- Age
- Weight
- Gender
- Repetitive Stress Injuries
- Genetics
- Bone Deformities
- Certain Metabolic Diseases
- Joint pain
- joint stiffness that develops from sitting too long and makes just getting out of bed challenging
- pain, swelling, and tenderness
- a crunching sensation as bone rubs against bone with movement
- knee dysfunction that makes everyday ordinary activities difficult
Knee surgeon, Dr. Daniel Kapla,n will review your medical history, ask about your symptoms, thoroughly examine your knee, test knee mobility, and order x-rays. X-rays will reveal the first signs of knee arthritis, a narrowing of the space between the bones, which indicates the loss of cartilage, bone on bone rubbing, and bone spurs. Based on his findings, he will make a diagnosis and recommendations for treatment.
Schedule an orthopedics consultation today.
If you’re suffering from knee arthritis and knee pain, schedule an orthopedic consultation today with Brooklyn’s leading knee surgeon, Dr. Daniel Kaplan. Dr. Kaplan is an Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan and Brooklyn. He is also the chief of sports medicine at Bellevue Hospital and the chief of sports medicine at the VA hospital in Manhattan. He is a Sports Medicine and fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon specializing in diagnosing and treating knee conditions. You’re in expert hands.
At a Glance
Dr. Daniel Kaplan
- Fellowship-trained Sports Medicine and Shoulder Surgeon
- Expertise in Complex Shoulder Hip and Knee minimally-invasive reconstruction procedures
- Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at NYU
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