Knee arthrosis is a slowly progressive inflammatory-degenerative joint disease. Most often, this disease is observed in middle and elderly people and is the most common cause of skeletal modular pain in the knee joint area and damage. From this post you will learn how to treat knee arthrosis.
Overall description
In the knee joint the femur and shin are covered with cartilage on the joints. There is also a second type of cartilage tissue forming SO -Called Menisci, which act as layers or shock absorbers. The joint fluid adds additional protection and smoothness. Osteoarthrosis begins to develop if the cartilage that protects the bones is disturbed and damaged, resulting in the surface of the bones and the joint lubricant ceases to be produced in the required amount. In this case, both full and partial cartilage loss can be observed. This process is often isolated from a particular area in the joint, in such cases can be caused by injury and chronic joint wear.
The deformable arthrosis of the knee joint is characterized by the process of destruction of its cartilage shells. In the future, the closest tissues, such as connections and bones, can also include in the process. Gonarthrosis or arthrosis of the knee joint, due to the loss of cartilage, is accompanied by an increase in the hardness and deformity of the joints. Bone spurs (osteophytes), which are pathological bone growth, can sometimes even be felt from the outside. The bone surfaces are deformed and are no longer close and they are not fitted into each other, as in healthy joints. As a result, restriction of movements increases.
At the same time, pain occurs, which is especially intense when moving after prolonged immobility, such as in the morning, as well as at night, which ultimately leads to a decrease in quality of life. Stress can also cause pain in the affected joint. An indirect sign of pathological change of cartilage is the visible narrowing of the joint cavity between the femur and the shin in the X -ray painting.
Reasons
There are several causes of arthrosis: this is the process of aging and wear of cartilage, overweight, injury, autoimmune diseases in which immunity attacks its own joint tissue, causing inflammation and its subsequent destruction. An example is rheumatoid arthritis, in which both joints are affected simultaneously and damage develops. Some experts combine concepts such as arthritis and arthrosis of the knee joint, the symptoms of these diseases are similar and are often caused by the same cause.
Reducing the blood supply to the head of the femur can also cause deformation of the strain, in which case they speak of aseptic necrosis. Inadequate knee joint formation at an early age can lead to shift of the mechanical axis and degeneration of the knee joint. Post -traumatic arthrosis is secondary and develops as a result of damage to meniscus, anterior or posterior cross -ties.
Symptoms
There are three degrees of arthrosis of the knee joint, each of which has its own signs. In the first stage there is mild pain, discomfort in a sore spot and periodic swelling occurs. The second degree is accompanied by an increase in symptoms, the onset of crunching and restriction of mobility. When the painful sensations do not leave a person and the cartilage is thoroughly destroyed, the disease goes into arthrosis of the knee 3rd degree.
The pain for arthrosis can occur suddenly, but most often it develops slowly. One can notice pain in the morning after lifting out of bed. The knees can hurt when you walk up the stairs or when you need to knee and often the pain occurs only during a walk. For people sensitive to time, changes in time can also cause joint pain.
Swelling is a consequence of inflammation, which is periodically increased with arthrosis. The edema can also be associated with the formation of bone spurs or the accumulation of excess fluid in the knee. They can be more pronounced after a long period of inactivity, such as in the morning or after a long worktop stay. The skin can become reddish and hot when touched. If chronic inflammation of the joint occurs, pain removal and edema are usually achieved by taking anti -inflammatory drugs.
The loss of stability develops over time due to the weakening of the muscles and the instability of the whole system. From time to time, situations arise when a person is simply unable to bend or completely straighten his leg in the knee. Such a symptom is usually accompanied by knee arthrosis of the 2nd degree. It is felt that it is felt because the cartilage has lost its initial smoothness and the required amount of synovial lubrication. In the short stages, creaking sound can be caused by the fact that bone spurs rub against each other when they move.
The limited range of movements can be seen when climbing the stairs or during exercise. Many are forced to resort to walkers or canes to move. The deformity of the knee joint is probably the most horrific symptom of arthrosis, as it shows irreversible changes in the joint, turning a person into a person with disabilities. The knees can be turned to each other inside as well as out. Knee deformation is barely noticed significant.
Diagnostics
The definition of knee osteoarthritis begins with the physical examination of the doctor, the study of medical history and the conversation with the patient. Be sure to pay attention to the doctor, which most often causes pain, and tell us about the cases of the disease in the family, if any.
An additional diagnosis is made using:
- Radiography that may indicate the presence of bone spurs and changes in cartilage;
- magnetic resonance;
- Blood tests allow you to identify autoimmune disorders.
How to treat knee arthrosis, what medicines are needed for this? Seek further answers to these questions.
The principles of treatment
The standard treatment of such a disease such as knee arthrosis is aimed mainly at eliminating pain and eliminating functional restrictions. It is worth knowing that painkillers only weaken the symptoms, but are not able to affect the course of the disease and repair damaged cartilage. Drug analgesics, non -steroidal anti -inflammatory drugs, slowly acting gold preparations, corticosteroids, methotrexate and more are used for treatment.
In addition, surgery may be required as well as physiotherapy and physiotherapy procedures. Gymnastics with knee arthrosis joint helps significantly in treatment, the exercises are chosen by the attending physician. Despite the fact that in modern pharmacology the active research and development of the most effective and at the same time are undergoing safe medicines for the treatment of arthrosis, most medicines still have their side effects and with prolonged use disrupt the normal functioning of systems and organs.
Medication
Medicinal therapy of knee arthrosis provides three main directions:
- the use of non -steroidal anti -inflammatory drugs that are needed to relieve pain and reduce the intensity of the inflammatory process in the tissues;
- Taking cartilage restoration drugs that include chondroprotectors: glucosamine and chondroitin;
- The use of creams and ointments in the complex therapy for deformation of arthrosis.
In combination with physiotherapy and manual therapy, medication allows you to slow down the process of destruction of joint cartilage, accelerate the regeneration of cartilage tissue and restore the normal functioning of the limb.
The main purpose of drug treatment is to eliminate pain, improve cartilage nutrition, activate the recovery processes, increase joint mobility and normalize blood circulation.
Non -steroidal drugs
The most common for the treatment of arthrosis are such non -steroidal anti -inflammatory drugs as diclofenac, indomethacin, piroxicam, ketoprofen and others. They are used to relieve pain and reduce inflammation, but long-term treatment with these drugs is not recommended as the drugs of this group have unwanted side effects, including the negative effect on the gastric mucosa and intestines, the effect of the kidneys, liver and cardiovascular system. However, each medicine has its own characteristics. And recently, funds with minimal risk to the patient's health have begun to develop.
In addition, despite the need to use these instruments, some studies have found that NSAIDs are able to reduce the production of proteoglycans, thus dehydrating cartilage tissue, so such medicines should be taken strictly according to the doctor's prescription and under his or her control. The incidence of the side effects of NSAIDs is increased with their prolonged use, which acts as a necessity for many patients with arthrosis. Experts recommend that they choose selective anti -inflammatory drugs for long -term use, have less side effects and have no adverse effect on cartilage metabolism.
Most non -steroidal anti -inflammatory drugs are produced in various forms: in the form of capsules or tablets, in the form of a solution for injections and ointments or gels for topical external use.
Recovery of cartilage
For eating and regeneration of cartilage to its tissues, it is necessary to constantly take compounds such as chondroprotectors - glucosamine and chondroitin. These are useful substances for people suffering from knee osteoarthritis. Their intake should be done for a very long time, for six months or more, only in this case you can rely on a positive therapeutic effect. Chondroprotectors improve the quality and amount of synovial fluid, unlike NSAIDs, they increase the synthesis of proteoglycans and contribute to the regeneration of the cartilage plate. Due to such beneficial properties of these compounds, they should not be considered a major treatment of arthrosis. Deformation of knee arthrosis requires the use of chondroitin and glucosamine preparations for at least 1, 5 years. In addition, it is taken into account that they are not able to restore completely destroyed cartilage.
Ointments and creams
Treatment of disease such as knee arthrosis should include topical use of gels and ointments. These forms of dose should not be relying as the only option for therapy, their use should be considered a necessary addition to the adoption of NSAIDs and chondroprotectors. Such drugs significantly reduce discomfort, pain, swelling, improve joint mobility.
This effect is explained by the fact that penetration into the blood through the skin, ointments and creams improve blood circulation in the joint, accelerate metabolism in cartilage and, accordingly, its regeneration.
Compresses
Osteoarthritis applications have a greater effect than the use of ointments. For therapeutic compresses, the demexide tool is often prescribed, which has a good anti -inflammatory and analgesic effect, penetrates the tissue well. Bishophyte is also effective, accelerating the metabolic processes in cartilage.
Injection
Within the knee joint, the synovial fluid is very viscous, this guarantees the lack of tissue friction. An important part of this lubricant is hyaluronic acid, which binds proteoglycans to stabilize the structure of cartilage tissue. In patients with arthrosis, the level of this compound in the synovial fluid is significantly reduced, resulting in a smaller viscous, friction increases.
Hyaluronic acid -based knee injections can delay the progression of osteoarthrosis, but only half of people with such a diagnosis receive symptomatic relief. The stroke of the injections is usually three weeks, while every seven days one injection is carried out. After six months, the procedures are recommended to be repeated.
Folk remedies
Knee arthrosis provides an integrated approach to treatment, and the recipes for traditional medicine act as additional therapy. Remedies such as a decoction of onion, infusion of dandelion leaves, a mixture of aloe, vodka and honey in equal volumes, night compresses of salt with honey and many others deserve attention. It is also recommended to eat more jelly and jelly.
Replacement
If all the above treatments did not bring the result, then the surgery to replace the joint with the endoprosthesis is shown. The main purpose of the operation is to restore the natural mechanical axis of the leg and to be released from pain and discomfort. In this case, it can be replaced either part of the joint or the whole joint. The constant improvement of surgical equipment and the quality of the implants has made such a procedure quite successful and widespread.