["Doctor, my knee hurts...", the generalist's point of view]

Knee pain is a relatively common symptom in family practice. It is occurring at the rate of 48 fo 1000 patients/year in the Dutch general practitioner's non selected population. The different investigation techniques are listed and studied, leading to a global classification (non inflammatory (degenerative, mechanical or traumatic), inflammatory or septic knee), then to a more specific and more operational one for an optimal therapeutic way.