Patients with “MS knees” are those who have knee problems as a result of their struggles with the disease. Their multiple sclerosis knees can be brought on by a variety of factors.
Various Causes of MS Knees
The knee pain endured by multiple sclerosis patients is often the result of an uneven gait. Multiple sclerosis patients who develop an uneven gait do so because the development of lesions in their nervous tissue has significantly hindered their ability to walk normally. These patients may have vertigo and balance problems, which make it difficult for them to remain upright. They may also have poor coordination.
Some patients experience spasticity as their primary problem. Spasticity entails the continued contraction of certain muscles, and the patients’ inability to voluntarily make those muscles relax. When the leg muscles are spastic, it becomes impossible to walk unless the patient has the help of anti-spasticity medication and, in some cases, devices such as braces and canes. The medication helps to relax the muscles. As for the walking aids, they provide the patients with much needed support. In this way, they help to reduce the pain and injury associated with spasticity-induced MS knees. However, it is important to note that, even with medication and walking aids, patients are bound to have a limp or an uneven gait. Another MS-related cause of knee pain is the development of numbness and tingling in the feet. Understandably, these symptoms can cause an MS patient to lose balance and to have coordination problems, and these latter issues can contribute to knee pain. Muscle weakness is another MS symptom that has the capacity to contribute to knee pain in patients.
While MS is an inflammatory disease that is, in some ways, similar to other inflammatory diseases, it is distinct from them in an important way: Unlike rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, lupus and other inflammatory diseases, MS does not have a direct impact on the joints. These other inflammatory diseases cause connective tissue degeneration and joint inflammation. While MS-related knee pain and hip pain is not caused by similar patterns of degeneration, it is possible for patients to develop pain in those joints because they also happen to have one of those other inflammatory diseases. A patient who has both MS and rheumatoid arthritis, for instance, is bound to experience knee pain, and it would take an examination and possibly some tests to determine whether she has multiple sclerosis knees or her knee pain is attributable to rheumatoid arthritis.
