The Effect of Chronic Sciatica on the Knee and Ankle Joints

摘要

One hundred patients with chronic sciatica were stud-ied to determine the effects upon the knee and ankle joints of both the sciatic and non-sciatic sides. The frequency of the clinical involvement of the knee and ankle joints at the sciatic side were 51% and 46% respectively, compared to 20% and 6% on the non-sciatic side (p??0.001). The most frequent knee and/or ankle joint manifesta-tions on the sciatic side were recurrent pain and tender-ness although these symptoms may be confused with the points of valliex and secondary pain loci. Painful exten-sion, giving way of the knee joint and recurrent twist of the foot seem significant in identifying affectedjoints together with functional limitations and swelling of the knee. Age, gender; duration and affected side seem to have some im-pact on the development of these symptoms. It is concluded that chronic sciatica may predispose the knee and ankle joints to different insults in the context of muscle weakness, changed biomechanics and neurologi-cal abnormalities, resulting in the above problems.