Housemaid's Knee

Housemaid's Knee is the term commonly applied to an acute or chronic inflammation of the bursa or sac that intervenes between the patella, or knee-pan, and the skin. Housemaids are especially liable to it from their kneeling on hard damp stones. In its acute form it causes considerable pain, swelling, and febrile disturbance. The only disease for which it can be mistaken is inflammation of the synovial membrane lining the cavity of the joint; but in this disease the patella is thrown forwards, and the swelling is at the sides, while in housemaid's knee the swelling is very superficial, and is in front of the patella. The treatment in the acute form consists essentially in the means usually employed to combat inflammation—viz. rest, leeches, fomentations, and purgatives; if suppuration take place the sac must be freely opened and the pus evacuated. The chronic form may subside under rest, blisters, &c., or it may require incision or excision for its cure.