Loose Bodies of the Knee 

Loose bodies are fragments of cartilage or bone that freely float inside the knee joint space.

They can be the result of an injury or from generalized wear and tear over time.

Depending on the severity of the condition, there can be one or many loose bodies inside the joint.

They can be stable (they don’t move about inside the joint) or unstable (they float through the inside of the joint) which can cause pain or loss of motion.

Bone spurs are bony overgrowths that occur around the joint (i.e., at the end of the thigh bone or top of the shin bone) and are in response to abnormal stresses placed across that area.

These are most commonly seen in patients with degenerative joint disease (DJD or arthritis). Sports injuries or trauma may move the joint too much one way or another causing small pieces of bone or cartilage to shear off.

During your first visit, your doctor will talk to you about your symptoms and medical history. During the physical examination, your doctor will check all the structures of your injury, and compare them to your non-injured anatomy.  Most injuries can be diagnosed with a thorough physical examination.

Imaging Tests Other tests which may help your doctor confirm your diagnosis include:

X-rays. Although they will not show any injury, x-rays can show whether the injury is associated with a broken bone.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. If your injury requires an MRI, this study is utilized to create a better image of soft tissues injuries. However, an MRI may not be required for your particular injury circumstance and will be ordered based on a thorough examination by your Peninsula Bone & Joint Clinic Orthopedic physician.

There are limited options of non-surgical management of a loose body as it mainly leads to mechanical symptoms which are relieved only after removal.

However, physical therapy and anti-inflammatory drugs can be used to help with the symptoms and to keep the joint flexible.

Arthroscopy: The gold standard today is to remove possibly all loose bodies by arthroscopy, popularly known as “clean out “arthroscopies.

It is minimally invasive and allows surgeon to thoroughly examine the knee for loose body and allows to asses any damage to cartilage and treat the condition, hence it is best Diagnostic and therapeutic modality available.

Open arthrotomy: This is less common due to the availability of arthroscopy but it can be done when the loose bodies are very large and numerous or there is associated complete synovial involvement.