Prepatellar bursa
Fluid-filled sac of the knee joint
The prepatellar bursa is a frontal bursa of the knee joint. It is a superficial bursa with a thin synovial lining located between the skin and the patella.
Pathology
Prepatellar bursitis, also known as housemaid's knee, is a common cause of swelling and pain above the patella (kneecap), and is due to inflammation of the prepatellar bursa. It is common in people who frequently kneel, such as roofers, plumbers, carpet layers, and gardeners. It is also common in wrestlers due to the repeated impact on the knee when shooting.
Symptoms
Symptoms include knee pain, swelling, redness and inability to flex the knee on the affected side. Rest usually relieves symptoms. Physical exam reveals erythema, tenderness to touch, fluctuant edema over the lower pole of the patella and crepitus.
Treatment
General treatments consist of bursal aspiration, NSAIDs. For patients with high athletic or occupational demands, intrabursal steroid injection may be performed.
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This entry incorporates text from “Prepatellar bursa” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.