Spital Männedorf

Osteoarthritis is the wearing away of joints, here, the cartilage narrows until, in the final stage, bone rubs against bone. This can be very painful. Wear and tear is accelerated by risk factors. In addition to genetic factors, body weight, stress on the joint during sports and pre-existing deformities play a role.

Deformities (malformations, axial deviations, bowleg / knock-kneed) of the knee or leg lead to an increased load on a part of the joint. This leads to increased wear and favors the development of arthrosis. Biomechanically sensible corrections of the deformities can slow this down.

The posterior and anterior cruciate ligaments are important stabilizers in our knee joints. Sports injuries often result in a tear of the anterior ligament. Both the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments can tear. The anterior cruciate ligament is however clearly more commonly affected. It can tear in its middle or at the bony attachment. Often, a cruciate ligament tear occurs together with a collateral ligament or meniscus injury.

Runner's knee is due to mechanical irritation of the iliotibial band. This ligament is a fibrous tract that extends from the iliac crest of the pelvis outward along the hip joint and femur to the tibial plateau. Jumper's knee causes a chronic degenerative change at the junction of the patellar tendon and the kneecap.

Each knee contains a pair of these cartilage discs: the medial meniscus and the lateral meniscus. The discs are crescent-shaped and serve as shock absorbers, stabilizers, brake pads and pressure distributors. They also compensate for unevenness between the bones that make up the joint. The meniscus is one of the problem areas in the knee. An injury-related tear in the meniscus, age-related degeneration of the tissue, or a combination of both are called a meniscal lesion (meniscal damage).

This is a circulatory disorder of the bone. Osteonecrosis can occur on both the tibia and the femur. Certain medications, age and gender influence the development. A special form is the so-called Ahlbäck's disease.