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For my STEAM project, I chose to cover the knee joint objective. Furthermore, I researched how Synovial Chondromatosis affects the knee joint. For my project, I showed a healthy knee joint, a knee joint with Primary Synovial Chondromatosis, and a knee joint with Secondary Synovial Chondromatosis and Osteoarthritis. I depicted these 3 knee joints by creating models using candy, rice cereal treats, and frosting. The rice cereal treats represent the bones (tibia, fibula, and femur), the pink frosting represents the synovial fluid in the synovial cavity, the red pearls represent the loose bodies, and the purple substance represents the articular cartilage (the knee with Secondary Synovial Chondromatosis and Osteoarthritis has a more textured, and rigid articular cartilage due to the degenerative nature of Osteoarthritis). As for the candy, the red Twizzler represents the Posterior Cruciform Ligament, the Yellow Twizzler represents the Anterior Cruciform Ligament, the Rainbow Airhead on the left represents the Lateral Meniscus, and the Rainbow Airhead on the right represents the Medial Meniscus. The Sweet Rope on the left represents the Lateral Collateral Ligament while the Sweet Rope on the right represents the Medial Collateral Ligament. For visual purposes, the patella was not included and the synovial cavity was enlarged to see the loose bodies present in the synovium.
Really nice work, Lainey! I enjoyed reading your summary and seeing your art!
Lainey did her Steam Project on synovial chondromatosis in the knee joint. In her summary, she explains that synovial chondromatosis is when excessive synovial fluid is in the joint. She describes the anatomy of the knee joint, including all the ligaments and bones involved in that part of the body. Furthermore, she gives statistics on who is more susceptible to synovial chondramotosis, which involves people in their 50’s. She lists the symptoms of the condition, which are joint stiffness, swelling, and joint pain. Going deeper in her summary, she details the two different types of synovial chondromatosis: primary and secondary. She states, “In Primary Synovial Chondromatosis, the knee joint is healthy, with loose bodies present in the joint. Secondary Synovial Chondromatosis occurs in unhealthy and degenerative knee joints” (Lioi, 2020). After that, she compares and contasts osteoarthritis and synovial chondromatosis. I learned that osteoarthristis is when articular cartilage is lost and that there are two types of it. There is primary and secondary osteoarthritis. Primary osteoarthritis is when articular cartilage is deteoriated due to wear and tear. Whereas, secondary osteoarthritis is articular cartilage deteoriated from posttraumatic or postsurgical causes. Furthermore, osteoarthritis and synovial chondromatosis influence each other. Overall, I thought Lainey did a great job with explaining synovial chondromatosis and her artwork was very well done!
I also wanted to add that Lainey mentioned how an MRI can help doctors identify if a patient is diagnosed with osteoarthritis. An MRI is more useful than an x-ray due to the ability to see cartilaginous loose bodies within the knee.