Abstract
Aim
To determine if the location and pattern of knee pain as described by the patients using the knee pain map was comparable with the intra articular pathology found on arthroscopy as well as to facilitate diagnosis based on pain.
Methods
There were fifty five consecutive patients with acute and chronic knee pain participating in the study and they subsequently underwent arthroscopy of the knee joint as therapeutic or diagnostic procedure in day surgery.
Those patients with extra articular pathologies, referred pain hip, back and foot were excluded from the study.
All the participants were consented for the study; subjective data was recorded on the standardised knee pain map that included visual analogue pain scale preoperatively on the day of admission for arthroscopy.
The findings of the arthroscopy including EUA were recorded on the on standard arthroscopy forms used in our department by the operating surgeon.
Results
Patients on the knee pain map most often recorded sharp/stabbing pain (72%), followed by diffuse dull pain (14.5%), mixed dull and sharp pain (10 %) and burning pain (3.5%). 82% of the localising pain pattern recorded on the knee pain map by the patients corresponded to the intra articular lesion found during knee arthroscopy. 18 % of the pain mapping location and pattern was not very specific to the intrarticular arthroscopic lesions.
Conclusions
The results from our study indicate, majority of the patients could map the knee pain location and pattern correlating to the knee arthroscopic findings. Furthermore, the knee pain mapping can be used as a reliable tool to assist the clinician to determine the specific knee pain patterns correlating with intra-articular lesion.
