Knee Arthritis: Symptoms, Daily-Life Problems and Management

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Arthritis of the knee can be a very serious and debilitating condition. Osteoarthritis is the most common type that attacks one or both knees. It occurs when the soft cushion, the protective layer of your joints, cartilage, gets worn down with time. When this cartilage wears away, the space between the bones gets narrower. In severe cases, bone grinding and bone spurs may occur. 

In Ayurveda, knee arthritis is known as Sandhigata Vata, which is linked with aggravated Vata dosha (controller of air and movement) and settles in your joints, causing pain and stiffness in the joints. When Vata dosha gets aggravated in the body, it brings dryness, roughness, and degeneration in the joint space. When Vata increases, it depletes the bone tissues, Asthi Dhatu, and the fluid that cushions the joints. 

Another factor that contributes to knee pain is weak digestion fire, Agni. When it's weak, the food is not digested properly, and hence, heavy, toxic, or sticky waste is made, known as Ama, in the body. This toxic waste accumulates in the body, and an imbalanced Vata pushes it down to the joint spaces of the knees, causing pain and stiffness.

Knee Arthritis Symptoms

When arthritis begins to affect your knees, the discomfort usually starts with a mild ache that slowly worsens over time. Below are the most common signs of knee arthritis:

• Pain while doing any activity: Your knee hurts a lot when you are walking, climbing stairs, or standing up from a chair, but it usually feels better when you rest.
• Morning stiffness: The joints feel very tight and hard to move when you first wake up or after you have been sitting in a car or at a desk for a long time.
• Swelling and puffiness: The skin around your knees might look visibly swollen or feel warm to the touch because of trapped fluid and inflammation.
• Grinding or popping sound: You might hear a loud crunching sound or feel a rough grinding when you move. In Ayurveda, this is a clear sign of imbalance in the Vata dosha.
• Feeling unstable: Your knee might suddenly feel weak, almost as if it is going to buckle or give out underneath your weight.
• Loss of flexibility: It becomes physically harder to completely straighten or fold it all the way back without sharp pain.

How Does Knee Arthritis Pain Feel?

When arthritis settles in your joints, it does a lot more than just cause you pain. It changes the way your joint looks, how they work, and how much you can trust your joints to hold you up. To really understand what is happening, we need to look past the basic pain and break down the specific physical changes and daily triggers that make this condition very frustrating. Here is a closer look at what goes wrong and why certain daily movements suddenly become impossible to do:

Swelling, Instability & Losing Your Range of Motion

When your cushion wears away, the way your knees physically behave completely changes. It is not only about the bones rubbing together, but it is also about how your bones are reacting to that damage.

The Heavy Tight Feeling of Swelling

When your knee joint gets damaged, your body tries to protect it, and it does this by producing extra joint fluid to try and create a new cushion. But because the space is already damaged and inflamed, this extra fluid has nowhere to go. It is trapped inside the joint spaces. This is why your knees suddenly feel stiff and completely tight, almost like a water balloon that has filled with water. The skin might feel warm to the touch, and the joint feels heavy. In Ayurveda, this heavy, fluid-filled feeling is a classic sign of that sticky, toxic waste, Ama, and a heavy Vata energy trapped inside the joints, blocking the natural movement of the joints.

The Fear of Instability

One of the scariest feelings of knee arthritis is the feeling of instability. You might just be walking through your living feel and suddenly your knee starts to buckle. It happens because your cartilage wears away unevenly, and the joint itself becomes loose. And because it hurts to move, the strong thigh muscles that usually hold the knees firmly in place start to shrink and get weak. Without strong muscles to hold the joint tight, the knee simply cannot support your body weight safely.

Losing Your Range of Motion

Your knees should be able to straighten out completely and bend back so your heel can touch your thigh. But if you have arthritis, you slowly lose that flexibility. The joint capsule gets tighter, and hard bone spurs start growing around the edges of the worn-out bones. These bumps stop the joint from bending. Eventually, you may notice that when lying in bed, you cannot straighten your leg fully or bend it enough to easily put on your socks and shoes. Ayurveda calls this stiff, locked-up restriction a severe buildup of dry, rough Vata energy.

Daily Movements That Trigger the Most Pain

With less cushion and flexibility, any movement that forces your knee to bend deeply or carry extra weight will cause a sharp spike in pain.

• Climbing Stairs: Stepping up puts almost four times your body weight on your knee, and going down is often worse because the kneecap grinds directly against the thigh bone.
• Squatting and Floor Sitting: Sitting cross-legged forces the knee into a tight, painful angle, and pushing your full body weight back up to stand is incredibly stressful on the joint.
• Starting to Walk: The first few steps are usually very stiff and awkward until the joint slowly warms up and naturally lubricates itself.
• Long Walks and Standing: Walking or standing for too long exhausts the joint, leaving the knee heavily throbbing and swollen by the evening.

Diagnosis of Knee Arthritis

If your knees are hurting, then the doctor may ask you to do the following tests to check if your cartilage is worn away or not:

• Pulse Diagnosis: The doctor may check your pulse, known as Nadi pariksha, to check which of your body energies (Vata, Pitta, and Kapha) is imbalanced.
• Medical History: The doctor will check for any of your past injuries or surgeries you have had. He will also ask if any of your family members have had the same disease or not.
• Symptoms Analysis: Your doctor will ask you about any sort of stiffness and pain in the knees.
• Tracking Toxins: The doctor will also ask about your eating and bathroom habits to check if your digestion is strong or weak.
• Physical Examinations: The doctor will also look at the affected area to check if there is any sort of redness, swelling, or puffiness there.
• Imaging Test: The doctor may ask you for an X-ray, MRI, and ultrasound to check if your cartilage is destroyed or not.

How Is Knee Arthritis Managed?

In Ayurveda, the treatment of the disease doesn't focus on just calming down the symptom but rather focuses on treating the root cause so that the body can be balanced internally.

• Calming the Vata Dosha: The main focus of the treatment is to calm the Vata dosha in the body through herbal treatment and Panchakarma therapies.
• Fixing Your Digestion: Ayurveda focuses on fixing your digestion as well; it sees your eating habits and tries to fix them with its ancient approaches.
• Removing Toxins From The Body: The toxic waste, Ama, accumulated in the body or joint space due to weak digestive fire, is removed.
• Dietary & Lifestyle Guidelines: Ayurveda suggests eating warm and freshly home-cooked food. It also suggests fixing your routine and lifestyle for better mind and body well-being.
• Yoga & Meditation: The mind-body processes create a beneficial effect that reduces stress while boosting emotional resilience through its stress reduction, body relaxation, and emotional balance techniques.

Ayurvedic Therapies & Herbs For Knee Arthritis 

Ayurveda uses certain natural herbs and therapies to manage and control knee pain by addressing the root cause, not just the symptoms. Here are some of the common herbs and therapies used by Ayurveda for the treatment of the disease:

Ayurvedic Herbs 

• Ashwagandha: It is a deeply rejuvenating herb that helps provide physical strength to the muscles, ligaments, and bones around the knees.
• Shallaki: It is a potent herb that helps reduce joint pain, decreases swelling around the knees, and helps improve knee flexibility.
• Guggulu: It is an anti-inflammatory herb that helps in clearing out toxins (Ama) and strengthens the nervous system and joints.

Ayurvedic Therapies

• Abhyanga: It is a warm herbal oil massage that helps in relieving knee pain by lubricating the joints, reducing stiffness, and improving blood flow.
• Swedana: It is a herbal sweat therapy used in Ayurveda to calm down the aggravated Vata dosha in the body and helps in relieving knee pain.
• Panchakarma: Ayurveda uses Panchakarma therapies such as basti and virechana to soothe knee pain by reducing inflammation, nourishing joint tissues, and restoring natural lubrication.

Red Flags To Watch Out For

While knee arthritis happens slowly over time, it can be a sign of any serious problem:

• If you have persistent knee pain while standing, walking, or climbing stairs.
• If you experience stiffness, tightness, or instability in the knee and have difficulty moving or bending the knee.
• If you're unable to walk or bear any weight
• If you have a cracking or popping sound while walking or moving the knee.
• If you see swelling, puffiness, or redness on the knee.
• If the pain doesn't go away even after rest.

If you experience these red flags, then immediately see a doctor.

References 

Red flag rules for knee and lower leg differential diagnosis - PMC 

Effectiveness of an Ayurveda treatment approach in knee osteoarthritis - a randomized controlled trial - PubMed 

Clinical study on Sandhigata Vata w.s.r. to Osteoarthritis and its management by Panchatikta Ghrita Guggulu - PMC 

Knee Osteoarthritis - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf