As a busy orthopaedic physician, I’m usually seeing patients in the office for consultations on days that I’m not in the operating room. I field a variety of questions about pain in body parts and one of the most commonly asked about is the knee – “How do I know what to look for as signs of arthritis and age-related changes?” In this article, I’ll give you my top symptoms that indicate you have the changes in the knee that are associated with ageing and arthritis. As you read along, you can see if any of these apply to you.
- Crepitus (that snap-crackle and pop sound your knees make when you bend them) – Although crepitus isn’t dangerous and may not be painful, it can be alarming for patients to hear their knees make all kinds of noise when being bent into a squat and straightened, like someone just poured themselves a bowl of Rice-Krispies® with milk. “Is that sound coming from me?!” The sounds you hear may be from air being compressed inside the knee joint, but the sounds may also be from the movement of the joint surfaces against one another – with age – those surfaces have become roughened and grinding, instead of smooth as they once were.
- Pain – This is the first sign that I would say is cause for concern. Knee pain might only happen at first when you’ve had a long day of activity, like walking around Busch Gardens all day, up and down the hills and stairs, for hours and hours on hard pavement. It may be remedied by some ibuprofen or Aleve® and go away after some rest. But when pain starts occurring more frequently, like every week or daily, this can certainly indicate age-related changes in the knee that need to be investigated by an orthopaedic provider.
- Strength and Stability – Another common complaint I hear is “my knee gives way on me, and I fall down” or “I just don’t seem to have the strength in my leg that I used to have”. As we age, our muscle mass naturally declines, our bone density decreases, knee ligaments lose flexibility, our knee cartilage can start to wear out and our menisci can more easily tear. Let’s face it, our knees have carried us around for many years, so it’s no wonder they can be among the first body parts to start showing signs of age. Aging can cause the mechanics of the knee to change and not work properly, causing pain, instability and a real lack of function. As activity starts to hurt us, we move less, and less movement usually causes the problem to get worse, not to get better.
So, what do you do when these signs of age-related knee changes become too obvious to ignore?
You can treat yourself at home for basic knee pain, using ice or heat, pain relievers, elevation, rest and activity modification. A hot bath, shower or soak in the hot tub often works wonders, as does a nice massage. You can purchase a simple neoprene knee sleeve at Walmart to give you added support during your activities.
However, when your knee pain becomes such that you are not able to do what you want to do, come in to see me and don’t ignore it any longer. Let’s do a thorough work-up on your knees, get x-rays and come up with a plan of action to get rid of the achy knees and get you back into life.
Do you have plans to see Europe later this year with friends? Want to be able to play pickleball with your buddies? Really need to work in your garden and grow tomatoes? Let’s make a treatment plan just for you and your knees. Together, with either a wide variety of conservative therapies or surgical care, if necessary, we’ll make sure you can do all the activities you enjoy for many years to come.