Baker's cyst: who is at risk

What is a Baker's cyst?

A Baker's cyst is an elastic, round-shaped protrusion located in the popliteal fossa (behind the knee joint). This formation is usually filled with synovial fluid, released as a result of any degenerative and inflammatory processes occurring in the knee joint, or injuries.

The body of the cyst forms in the mucous intertendinous bursa, where an excess amount of synovial fluid enters from the joint accumulates, which is why the gradual growth of this formation occurs. The presence of an intertendinous bursa, usually located among the tendons of the gastrocnemius and semimembranosus muscles of the leg, is observed in almost half of people, which is the norm of their anatomy.

Use of folk remedies

Effective treatment of Baker's cyst is also possible with folk remedies. All the means used can be divided into:

compresses;
ointments;
means for oral administration.

Thanks to compresses, it is possible to relieve inflammation and alleviate the patient’s condition, relieving him of pain. Compresses also ensure the resorption of the cyst. It is recommended to do the following compresses:

Combine raspberry and elderberry greens in equal proportions. Take 1 tbsp. l. Brew the collection in 100 ml of boiling water. The steamed leaves are placed on the sore joint, wrapped with film on top, and then fixed with a warm bandage. The compress should be kept for two hours. Repeat the procedure every day for 7 days.
Place young shoots of celandine in boiling water and leave for 15 minutes. Cover the sore knee with a plant, wrap it in a napkin and apply a fixing bandage. It is recommended to apply the compress in the morning and evening.
Take 1 tsp. aloe and lemon juice and add 1 gram of crushed streptocide. Soak the cloth and make a compress overnight.
Prepare a paste from freshly picked burdock and celandine leaves by grinding the greens in a mortar. Place the resulting mass on your knee, wrap it thoroughly and leave overnight. In the cold season, dry raw materials are used to prepare the gruel, which must first be steamed. In addition, an alcohol tincture is prepared from the plants. To do this, take alcohol and plant materials in equal proportions, mix and infuse for 14 days. The resulting tincture is used for warm compresses.
Place cabbage leaves in boiling water for a few seconds. Next, the diseased joint is coated with honey, after which it is wrapped in cabbage leaves and a warming bandage is applied. The compress is applied overnight.
Treatment of Baker's cyst without surgery using folk remedies is impossible to imagine without the use of the medicinal plant Golden Us. You need to fill half a three-liter jar with leaves. Then the container is carefully filled with boiling water and sealed. The resulting extract is left to infuse overnight and then filtered. After this, the leaves are used for compresses, applied to the sore spot for 2-3 hours. It is recommended to take the liquid orally twice a day, 2 tbsp. l. You can also prepare an alcohol tincture from the Golden Usa. 50 grams of leaves are poured into one liter of vodka, put in a dark place, where they are infused for 3 weeks, and then filtered. Alcohol tincture is used for warm compresses, which are left on the knee for 2 hours.
You can also make compresses from unrefined vegetable oil twice a day. To do this, a woven napkin is folded into 8 layers and soaked in oil, after which the material is applied to the joint. The oil napkin is wrapped in cellophane and secured with a bandage for 2 hours.

Ointments that can be prepared from natural ingredients have proven themselves well. You can treat a cyst at home using the following means:

Take 1 tbsp. l. calendula and propolis flowers, as well as one glass of heated goose fat. All ingredients must be thoroughly mixed to a homogeneous consistency. After the resulting mass has cooled, apply the ointment to the knee and wrap it up. The warm bandage should be kept on for 2 hours.
Take equal parts of fresh geranium and calendula and grind until a paste forms. Pour melted lard into the resulting mixture. After the mass has hardened, rub the ointment into the knee and wrap the limb in a warm bandage, which should be kept in place for three hours.
Mix half a glass of mustard powder with a glass of table salt. Kerosene should be added to the mixture little by little to achieve the consistency of an ointment. The resulting mass is rubbed on the knee, and the top is insulated with a warming bandage. The compress is left on the leg overnight and removed in the morning.
In addition to ointments, you can use turpentine baths. To prepare the solution, it is recommended to take 200 ml of heated water and add 1 tsp to it. turpentine. The resulting solution is used for lotions, which are left on the knee for two hours.

Traditional methods of treating cysts involve the ingestion of extracts of medicinal plants, which can remove swelling and fight intoxication in the body. It is recommended to prepare the following extracts:

Herbal tea made from ginger root is one of the simplest and most effective remedies that help relieve inflammation. In order to prepare a healing drink, you just need to add the sliced root to ordinary tea and let the drink brew.
No less effective than ginger is apple cider vinegar. To prepare a drink that needs to be consumed before meals three times a day, you will need 1 tbsp. l. vinegar and 1 tsp. natural honey, which should be poured with a glass of hot water.
Diuretic herbal tea, for the preparation of which bean leaves are used, will remove accumulated joint fluid and normalize metabolic processes.
Another remedy that makes it possible to get rid of a cyst is elecampane. In a three-liter jar you should put 30 grams of grass and 1 tbsp. l. yeast. These ingredients are poured with water and left in the dark for two days. It is recommended to drink half a glass of the tincture before breakfast, lunch and dinner. Having used all the prepared infusion, you need to take a three-week break. Then, if necessary, the course is repeated again.

Patients should not forget that treatment of Baker's cyst using traditional methods without surgery is possible only after consultation with a doctor. We must remember the danger of self-medication, which can worsen the patient’s health.

It is also a mistake to perceive folk recipes as the only way to get rid of an illness and an alternative to traditional methods of treatment. Only a combination of both methods will ensure the best result.

What are the causes of Baker's cyst formation?

The main reasons for the formation of this cyst are various inflammatory and metabolic-dystrophic diseases associated with the knee joint (especially due to excessive loads on it), injuries to the knee joint, and degenerative-dystrophic changes in cartilage tissue. Therefore, people most often at risk are those suffering from:

any joint injuries
pathological changes (including degenerative) of the menisci
destruction of articular cartilage
osteoarthritis
osteoarthritis
chronic synovitis
rheumatoid arthritis
patellofemoral arthrosis

Very rarely, Baker's cyst is diagnosed in patients without any apparent reason.

What are the symptoms of Baker's cyst?

The initial stage of the disease, as a rule, is asymptomatic, and therefore is often ignored by the patient. Also, sometimes signs of Baker's cyst formation may disappear, but later appear again, even after a long time. The main symptoms indicating the presence of this disease are usually observed at the stage of formation of a larger cyst, when it begins to exert a compressive effect on the surrounding tissues. Then the disease may be accompanied by:

discomfort (slight pain, especially during palpation, and an unpleasant feeling of pressure) that occurs in the popliteal fossa with sufficient physical exertion (the symptom is most pronounced in the straightened leg position)
swelling in the knee joint, which prevents it from bending
the presence in the popliteal fossa of a dense and elastic formation of a round shape

How dangerous is a Baker's cyst?

The main danger of Baker's cyst (in the absence of timely and effective treatment) is associated with its complications, which can manifest themselves:

its rupture (the most common complication, characteristic of almost 10% of patients with this disease) - in this case, the synovial fluid of the cyst penetrates into the nearby calf muscle, filling the space between its fascia, which contributes to the formation of edema in the lower leg, which is often accompanied by general discomfort with pain , local hyperthermia and skin redness;
deposition of calcium salts in the cyst - with more noticeable pressure of the compacted formation on the surrounding tissues;
impaired venous circulation - the presence of a cyst often interferes with normal venous outflow in the lower leg, which, in turn, leads to the development of thrombophlebitis and thrombosis in the veins of the lower leg (which can be complicated by life-threatening pulmonary embolism);
varicose veins located under the skin of the leg;
compression of the tibial nerve - due to which the patient begins to experience a feeling of numbness or tingling (sometimes just weakness) in the lower leg;
necrosis – due to compression of soft tissues;
osteomyelitis - due to compression of the bone and its further suppuration.

About the disease

For more than 100 years, there have been discussions in orthopedics regarding the etiopathogenesis of the cystic element. Over time, based on many factors, scientists agreed on a common opinion: Becker cyst

under the knee is definitely of a synovial nature. Formation can occur not only after intra-articular damage to this part of the leg, but also against the background of complete well-being, without previous trauma.

Schematic illustration.

Baker's cyst treatment

To successfully treat this disease, depending on the size and duration of existence of the Baker's cyst, methods of conservative and surgical therapy can be used. In parallel, it is recommended to treat the underlying articular disease that provoked the development of the cyst.

Conservative therapy for Baker's cyst usually consists of puncture (to remove synovial fluid) and subsequent drug administration of glucocorticosteroid and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and painkillers into the intertendinous bursa.

Surgical therapy for Baker's cyst is indicated in the absence of effect from conservative treatment methods, as well as in large sizes of the formation and its pronounced destructive effect on surrounding tissues. The excision operation is performed using local anesthesia. Also, recently there has been a great demand for the removal of a Baker cyst using an arthroscope, which is less traumatic for the patient, since the outflow of synovial fluid is performed through a mini-puncture and this completely prevents the contents of the cyst from entering the joint cavity.

Diagnostics

Before you plan how to treat a Becker cyst

under the knee, you will need to exclude the presence of a tumor process. To clarify the actual clinical situation, the following methods are used:

Blood test (clinical, biochemical).
Determination of blood sugar.
X-ray research method.
Ultrasound is a safe, very informative and inexpensive diagnostic method. Considering the high effectiveness of the method, the use of ultrasound has acquired leading importance in the examination program. The method is actively used for the purpose of differential diagnosis. The characteristics of synovial cysts are compared with other possible pathologies of the popliteal region. At the end of the procedure, the patient receives a photo of the Becker cyst.
Computed tomography and nuclear magnetic resonance in clinical practice are not performed for popliteal hernia. They are discovered completely by chance, during the examination process. The reason for patients to consult a doctor is to clarify the cause of discomfort inside the popliteal region.

Cyst on MRI.

Diagnostic punctures and then examination of synovial fluid are carried out if there are appropriate indications. An ECG is performed during preparation for surgery.

Prevention of Baker's cyst

The main preventive measures to prevent the occurrence of Baker's cyst usually include:

timely and effective treatment of all pathologies associated with joints
taking care of your joints and minimizing joint injuries
normalization of weight (if overweight) to reduce stress on joints
wearing special orthoses (if necessary) and knee pads in order to minimize the load on the knee joint (especially when performing heavy work and lifting heavy objects)
maintaining an active lifestyle
good nutrition

Have you started to worry about unpleasant sensations in the popliteal fossa or have you noticed a slight lump there? Experienced medical specialists are always ready to promptly determine the true cause of your ailment and return you to the joy of comfortable movement as quickly as possible!

Conservative therapy

An orthopedist is involved in eliminating the type of pathology in question; if the need arises, surgeons are involved in the implementation of the therapeutic process.

Conservative treatment of Becker cyst under the knee involves the following approaches:

unloading the joint;
physiotherapeutic treatment;
puncture of the tumor, followed by evacuation of the contents and administration of medications.

For therapeutic purposes, sclerosing agents are administered, in particular, a 5% alcohol solution of iodine, hormonal, and cytostatic drugs are used.

Physiotherapeutic treatment . Electrophoresis and UHF are recognized as the most effective methods. It is permissible to implement these treatment options only after excluding an oncological process.
Puncture . Performed to evacuate the contents of the hernia. When the tumor reaches stage 2-3, the contents of its capsule have a jelly-like consistency. The compacted neoplasm is difficult to puncture and subsequent evacuation of the internal part. Also in this case there is no point in administering corticosteroids.
A positive result is provided by hormonal treatment . Cortisone therapy is effective in 50% of all clinical cases. The scientific idea of using hormonal drugs was first developed and applied by rheumatologists. Patients with a hernia that occurred against the background of rheumatoid arthritis were subject to observation. Therapeutic tactics made it possible to evaluate that after intra-articular administration of glucocorticosteroids, the size of the tumor decreased.

Pumping out liquid.

Since then, hormones have been injected directly into the popliteal swelling. Hydrocortisone emulsion was actively used, combining it with antibiotics.

Important! If the patient has hormonal diseases - problems with the thyroid gland, diabetes mellitus, a disorder of the adrenal cortex - it is necessary to inform the doctor about the existing disorders.

of Becker cyst is not always possible

leads to complete elimination of the tumor. Statistics show that in 6 out of 10 cases, the atheroma has to be excised surgically. Such results serve as the basis for the search for new therapeutic approaches and the development of more effective conservative methods of therapy.