Knee injuries
The knee joint is one of the largest and most complex joints in the body, and is also the most commonly injured joint, with patients presenting with both acute or chronic knee pain.
Knee injuries
The knee joint is one of the largest and most complex joints in the body, and is also the most commonly injured joint, with patients presenting with both acute or chronic knee pain.
Acute knee pain is caused by trauma in the majority of cases, followed by infection and inflammation. The knee is vulnerable to direct trauma, whether through sport, car accidents or falls. The most common injuries involve the soft tissues, including ligaments, cartilage, and menisci, and radiology plays a major role in the diagnosis of these injuries. Chronic knee pain - pain of at least three months’ duration - can be caused by bursitis, arthritis, cystic lesions, pathology of the tendons or cartilage, chronic infection, osteonecrosis, stress fractures and avulsion injuries.
menu_bookImaging of the knee
I-MED Radiologist Dr Ursula Ridley discusses the best approach to imaging of the knee, and illustrates some of the conditions and common pathologies that may be encountered in general practice. Read more.
downloadAcute knee trauma
The knee joint is the most commonly injured joint. Acute knee injuries can be caused by a direct blow, sudden twisting, an instability event or a fall onto the knee. Acute knee injuries often present clinically with a knee joint effusion, locking of the knee or focal knee pain. Acute knee injuries can occur to patients of any age.
Radiologist Dr Andrew Rotstein MBBS, FRANZCR some case studies on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of acute knee trauma. Read more.
Sarah is a 22 year old shop assistant. Last Sunday she had an acute knee twisting injury while playing netball. She describes diffuse pain and is unable to localize pain to a specific point and on examination, there is a mild knee joint effusion. READ MORE.
Pat is a 24 year old carpenter. On Saturday he had an acute twisting injury while playing football. He was trying to evade a tackle and then collapsed to the ground. Patrick experienced extreme pain and had to be carried from the field. READ MORE
Jane is a 14 year old student. She is fit, active, loves netball and long distance running. She presents with several months of intermittent knee pain and locking without recall of specific injury. The symptoms are increasing in frequency and impacting on the amount of physical activity she would like to perform. READ MORE
John is a 68 year old retired teacher. He lives with his wife and enjoys gardening, walking and dancing on the weekends. He describes longstanding left knee pain which he manages intermittently with NSAIDS but has noticed a recent increase in severity. READ MORE