Knee effusion in children

Many children have knee joint effusion. This symptom will have a great impact on the child's leg development, especially the health of the knees. If not treated in time, it may even lead to diseases such as knee tuberculosis, meniscus injury, knee synovitis, rheumatoid arthritis, etc. These diseases are difficult to treat. Next, I will introduce to you the common diseases of knee joint effusion in children.

1. Knee tuberculosis

Knee joint effusion refers to the swelling within the knee joint caused by excessive synovial fluid retention. A normal knee joint contains a certain amount of synovial fluid, about 4 ml or less. Infection, trauma, immune diseases, and degenerative diseases can all lead to knee joint effusion. The nature of effusion varies in different diseases.

Most patients with knee tuberculosis are children and young adults, most of whom have a history of tuberculosis or a history of contact with tuberculosis. A small number of patients may also suffer from other bone tuberculosis or extra-skeletal tuberculosis. Systemic symptoms may include low fever, night sweats, anemia, weight loss, etc.; knee joint symptoms include pain, swelling, muscle atrophy, mostly unilateral joint disease, bilateral or multiple joint disease is extremely rare.

2. Meniscus injury

Most of them have a history of obvious trauma. In the acute phase, the knee joint has obvious pain, recurrent swelling and effusion. The joint flexion and extension movements are mostly unobstructed, and snapping may occur. After the acute phase, the swelling and effusion may subside on their own, but the joints still hurt during activities, especially when going up and down stairs, up and down hills, squatting and standing up, running, jumping, etc. The pain is more obvious. In severe cases, there may be limping or flexion and extension dysfunction, or there may be clicking when the knee joint is flexed and extended.

3. Knee synovitis

It can occur at any age. When the amount of exercise is large, the knee joint is prone to be hit, twisted, or over-exercised, resulting in swelling, pain, difficulty in movement, limping, high local skin temperature, swollen and tense skin, or bloody fluid from joint puncture.

4. Rheumatoid arthritis

The subjective feeling of stiffness in joints when getting up in the morning is a non-specific manifestation of joint inflammation; multiple joints may be affected; and may be accompanied by systemic symptoms such as weight loss, low-grade fever and fatigue.