Abnormalities in the bone marrow appear to determine whether arthritis of the knee causes pain.
It’s well known that arthritis is linked to pain in the joints, which may be very disabling. But, strangely, no-one is sure just why arthritis is so painful. The cartilage tissue which is eroded in arthritis doesn’t actually have any pain fibres.
American researchers have examined the knee joints of over 401 patients suffering from arthritis using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Of these, 351 had knee pain while the remainder did not. The scans showed that bone marrow abnormalities were present in many of the patients and this was linked to the presence or absence of pain.
Of those who did experience pain, 77 per cent had bone marrow abnormalities, compared to only 30 per cent in the pain-free group. This makes sense, for bone does have pain fibres, and the abnormalities were causing swelling within the bone itself. The bone marrow scans may lead to new ways of treating patients for the pain of arthritis in the knee.
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