Knees and Hips: A troubleshooting
guide to knee and hip pain
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Hip and Knee Pain
People are living longer and that means their
knees and hips must also last longer. These are
the two largest joints of the body and they must
bear your full body weight while allowing for
a wide range of motion. That makes them susceptible
to injury and arthritis. This report covers a
wide range of knee and hip pain symptoms and
describes knee pain treatment, preventive strategies,
and surgeries in detail.
Prepared by the editors of Harvard Health Publications
in consultation with, Scott David Martin M.D.,
assistant professor of orthopedic surgery, Harvard
Medical School and Attending Orthopedic Surgeon,
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Mass. (updated:
2006)
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Table of Contents:
- Knees in motion
- Evaluating knees
- Overuse injuries
- Bursitis
- Tendinitis
- Iliotibial band
syndrome
- Tears in supporting
tissues
- Ruptured tendons
- Meniscal tears
- Ligament damage
- Kneecap problems
- Knee pain syndrome
- Osteoarthritis
of the knee
- Hips
- Evaluating hips
- Overuse injuries
- Hip muscle strains
- Tendinitis
- Bursitis
- Labral tear
- Hip fracture
- Osteoarthritis
of the hip
- Testing for knee
and hip problems
- Imaging techniques
- Laboratory tests
|
- Nonsurgical treatments
for knees and hips
- RICE
- Heat
- Ultrasound, phonophoresis,
and iontophoresis
- Therapeutic exercise
- Medication
- Alternative approaches
- Arthroscopy
- Joint replacement
- Choices in joint
replacement
- Undergoing joint
replacement
- Recovery in the
hospital
- Recovery and
rehabilitation
- Living with a
replacement joint
- Revision surgery
- Glossary
- Resources
|
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Here's an Excerpt from
this Knee and Hip Pain Special Health Report
Have you always dreamed of playing a round of
golf at Pinehurst? Or strolling Newport’s
famous cliff walk? Or maybe you’ve reached
the point where simply climbing a set of stairs
is a dream. If these goals seem to be further
away than ever, you may be one of the millions
of people with pain in the knees or hips. Pain
in these joints can impede the simplest act such
as walking, bending, or just rising from a chair.
Golfing, hiking, or even gardening may be out
of the question.
Your knees and hips are your largest joints.
They support your body’s weight and they
must work in close coordination to provide the
mobility most people take for granted until injury,
arthritis, or other problems interfere. One in
5 Americans age 60 and older have experienced
significant knee pain on most days over the last
six weeks, and 1 in 7 report significant hip
pain. Each year, Americans make about 15 million
visits to doctors for knee pain and 6 million
visits for hip pain.
Depending on the cause of your pain, the solution
can be a set of exercises designed to strengthen
and stretch the muscles that support the joint,
taking some of the stress off the joint itself.
But for many people, knee and hip problems become
so intractable that the best solution is to replace
a worn-out knee or hip with a mechanical joint.
In the United States in 2003, there were 451,000
knee replacement and 364,000 hip replacement
procedures performed. The average age at which
a person has such surgery is 65 to 70, although
many people in their 80s and older gain pain
relief and improved mobility from these procedures.
Physically, your knees and hips are closely
interdependent, located as they are at either
end of the thighbone. This proximity means the
angle of your hip affects the pressure on your
knee. A hip disorder may cause knee pain, and
knee disorders can aggravate hip problems.
People live longer than they used to, so joints
need to stay strong and healthy through those
additional years. But both knees and hips are
subject to repetitive trauma—wear and tear—as
you age, and you can traumatize them further
if you increase your physical activity suddenly.
Medical care has changed in recent years. Doctors
used to follow surgery by immobilizing the joint
with a plaster cast. Weeks of immobility caused
the muscles to weaken and shorten, resulting
in long-lasting stiffness and poor function.
Today, you can wake up from surgery with your
knee already being gently bent and straightened
by a machine. In addition, knee and hip replacements
have freed thousands of patients from life in
a wheelchair or on crutches.
Surgical techniques have also advanced. More
surgery is performed through tiny incisions using
an arthroscope, often on an outpatient basis.
Pain relief has moved away from mind-clouding
narcotics toward an expanding variety of pain
relievers that tackle the twin problems of pain
and inflammation. Whether you've just starting
experiencing pain or have been battling it for
years, this report can help you make informed
decisions to help maintain your mobility for
years to come.
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