Osteoarthritis (osteoarthritis) is a disease of the joints that leads to their destruction.It affects 10% of the world's population.
When osteoarthritis is diagnosed, the symptoms are severe and treatment of the disease must be comprehensive.
It is necessary to reduce stress, normalize nutrition, remove inflammation and relieve muscle spasms.What are the characteristics of osteoarthritis, how to determine its onset and which treatment to choose?
Osteoarthritis: what is it?
Osteoarthritis of the joints is a degenerative change in their structure, accompanied by pain and visible deformation.The second name of the disease, used in the international classification, is arthrosis.Let's look at the reasons why it occurs and how it is diagnosed.Osteoarthritis: what is it?
The disease begins with malnutrition of the cartilage and its destruction.The inner layer of cartilage thins, the joint loses strength, and the bone tissue fills with salts and growths (to compensate for the strength).
This is why arthrosis is called deforming arthrosis: as it develops, the joint takes on an ugly “twisted” shape.
Deforming arthrosis has three stages of development:
- 1st degree arthrosis - has no obvious symptoms, except for a slight crunch and periodic pain during movement;
- 2nd degree arthrosis - accompanied by the formation of growths, the appearance of noticeable pain, increased crunching, weakening of the muscles;
- 3rd degree arthrosis is called the acute form of the disease.Acute arthrosis is accompanied by the appearance of joint deformities and limited mobility.
Which joints does osteoarthritis affect?
Deformation and inflammation most often affect the joints of the lower extremities: hip, knee, toes (usually the big toe).Less commonly: ankles and fingers.
However, it is possible for the disease to develop in other parts of the body.
With coxarthrosis, the hip joints are affected (often the cause of coxarthrosis is untreated congenital dysplasia).The destruction of the vertebral joints is called spondyloarthrosis, while the destruction of the knee joints is called gonarthrosis.Damage to several joints is called polyarthrosis.
Symptoms of polyarthrosis are the severity of the general condition, the prevalence of the process, curvature and pain in several joints at once (legs, arms, fingers, spine).
Inflammation in polyarthrosis spreads asymmetrically, affecting different bone joints in different ways.Once polyarthrosis is diagnosed, treatment varies in duration.
Causes of osteoarthritis
The formation of arthrosis is favored by two reasons: stress and lack of adequate nutrition, which provides vitamins and minerals for tissue restoration.Every person's joints endure stress.For athletes and dancers, during physical work, the load on the legs is greater, which means that bone joints wear out faster and require high-quality nutrition.With a calm lifestyle the support system wears out more slowly, but it also requires periodic tissue renewal.
Therefore, the main condition for the destruction and deformation of joints is malnutrition and failure to absorb useful components, which often occurs due to metabolic disorders.
We list the factors that contribute to joint wear and metabolic disorders:
- Muscle weakness and improper loading of the joints.Weakness in one or more muscles increases the load on the joint and distributes it unevenly within the bony joint.In addition, improper loading of the muscles occurs with flat feet and scoliosis, so with these "harmless" diseases, cartilage tissue wears out with age and arthrosis appears.
The likelihood of osteoarthritis increases with intense physical activity.
If daily loads exceed the capabilities of bone tissues, they are formedmicrotraumas.At the sites of injury, thickenings appear that grow over time and deform the joint;
- Metabolic disorders (gastrointestinal diseases - bile stagnation, dysbacteriosis, gastritis, cholecystitis, pancreatitis, metabolic disease - diabetes);
- Psychosomatic causes: The psychosomatics of arthrosis confirms that even a negative emotional state becomes the cause of the disease.Stress forms muscle spasms, constant stress disrupts the nutrition of all tissues (internal organs, bones, joints);
- Heredity (the type of metabolism and its possible disorders are hereditary, a tendency to muscle weakness or improper formation of the bone system, poor digestion - which is the basis for the development of arthrosis in old age).
Osteoarthritis is a disease of worn-out joints that have lost a significant supply of minerals and the ability to resist stress and destruction.
Therefore, with age, susceptibility to the disease increases.After 70 years, one in two pensioners is diagnosed with arthrosis.Since the maximum load falls on the legs (a person moves: walks, stands, runs, jumps), this is where the first signs of arthrosis form.
Symptoms of osteoarthritis
Joint disease can be diagnosed by a number of painful symptoms: pain, swelling, crunching.
Symptom no.1: pain
The main symptom of the disease is joint pain.Its appearance is associated with the deformation of the joint capsules and the formation of growths.
If you have osteoarthritis, pain symptoms will increase with movement and decrease with rest.
Or they appear in an inconvenient position and disappear when you choose a comfortable position for the leg and joint.In this sense, arthrosis differs from arthritis, in which it hurts, on the contrary, more often at night, at rest, and hurts less during the day, when the person "walks up and down".
At the beginning of the disease, pain appears periodically (with movement or an uncomfortable position).As the disease progresses, the pain is felt more often and becomes stronger.It gets to the point that rest brings no relief, the joints hurt even at rest.Since blood circulation is already compromised at this point, the joint becomes “sensitive” to weather changes (“twisting”, pain).
Symptom no.2: creaking
Creaking occurs due to the loose mutual arrangement of the bones in the diseased joint relative to each other.
However, a slight creak is possible even in healthy joint capsules (with weak ligaments, with hereditary mobile joints).
The crunch of osteoarthritis is characterized by growth.Over time it intensifies, becomes louder and more distinct.
Symptom no.3: joint deformation and reduced mobility
This symptom appears as the disease progresses.It progresses with increased pain and is associated with the growth of salt accumulations, which prevent the joint from bending and straightening completely.The deformity becomes evident in the later stages of the disease.First, the joint swells, then "bumps" appear, an unhealthy bend is formed, "twisting" of the joint capsule.
Treatment of joints with osteoarthritis
The treatment of arthrosis (osteoarthritis) is based on two postulates: eliminating stress and providing the joints with adequate nutrition.How to treat osteoarthritis to achieve sustainable improvement and stop the destruction of cartilage and degeneration of bone tissue?The treatment of deforming arthrosis uses a complex approach.The patient is prescribed tablets and injections, compresses and physiotherapy.
When arthrosis is diagnosed, treatment cannot be one-sided.
You can't just nourish the cartilage tissue with chondroprotectors or just relax the muscles.Unilateral measures will not help to cope with such a serious disease.
How to treat osteoarthritis correctly?During treatment, several therapeutic areas are selected:
- Drug therapy: pills, injections, blocks.In case of arthrosis, treatment with tablets, powders and capsules provides the body with chondroprotectors.Preparations with chondroitin improve the synthesis of collagen, which nourishes and restores cartilage tissue.These are glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate.They are produced in the form of tablets for arthrosis, capsules or powders.They help in the initial stages of the disease and lose effectiveness in advanced conditions, when the cartilage is almost completely worn out or destroyed.In this case, the patient undergoes surgery (endoprosthesis), replacing the destroyed joint with artificial tissue.Injections with anti-inflammatory and analgesic components – blocks – are also prescribed.And injections into the joint.In case of arthrosis, with their help, gels simulating intraarticular fluid, as well as painkillers and anti-inflammatory substances, are introduced into the bone joint.
Injections into the joint ensure that the medicine reaches the center of the inflammation.
The use of such injections allows you to reduce the number of tablets for arthrosis.In addition, vitamin-mineral complexes are prescribed to nourish the tissues;
- Physical therapy.For osteoarthritis, the treating doctor selects a series of gymnastic exercises to be performed independently at home.You can learn how to perform them during physical therapy classes at the clinic.
Gymnastics for arthrosis helps to restore muscle tone and eliminate one of the causes of the disease: the weakness of muscle fibers;
- Physiotherapy treatment.This includes shock wave therapy (destroys large salt deposits, normalizes blood flow, activates the synthesis of its own collagen), oxygen therapy (saturation of the joint with oxygen), massage (relaxation of muscles and unloading of joints), electrotherapy, wave techniques;
- Dietary food.When arthrosis is diagnosed, the course of the disease depends on nutrition.For osteoarthritis, the diet excludes any nightshade plants (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants).In addition, nutrition for arthrosis limits alcohol, sugar, baked goods, sweets;
- Using additional amplifiers(orthopedic corsets for joint support - orthoses);
- Alternative treatments.These include acupuncture (acupressure on reflex points that activate blood flow in certain parts of the body), homeopathic treatment and hirudotherapy.
To successfully treat arthrosis, it is necessary to apply the entire complex of listed procedures and measures for several months (from 4 to 7).
Who cures osteoarthritis
Which doctor is a specialist in the treatment of osteoarthritis?We list the specialists who can provide you with effective assistance:
- The rheumatologist is a doctor who treats with therapeutic methods (tablets, injections, physiotherapy);
- An arthrologist is a doctor specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of joint diseases, mastering conservative and surgical treatment methods, unfortunately a rare specialty;
- Orthopedist – most often works with patients on an outpatient basis, but in specialized research institutes orthopedic surgeons perform surgical treatment;
- Therapist and surgeon are doctors available in any clinic;they are the ones you need to contact to receive a referral for initial examination and treatment.
Treatment of arthrosis with folk remedies
What can you do yourself?When osteoarthritis is diagnosed, treatment with folk remedies at home can often reduce pain and maintain mobility.
Osteoarthritis is often treated with gelatin (which the body uses to restore cartilage tissue).
Prevention of osteoarthritis
Prevention of deforming arthrosis consists of the following measures:
- Load limitation;
- Massage after physical activity;
- A healthy and complete menu with vitamins, minerals, enzymes and bacteria (fermented milk products), carbohydrates, fats and proteins;
- Excess weight control.
When arthrosis is diagnosed, the course of the disease depends on preventive measures, nutrition and the presence of physical (emotional) stress.
Prevention of the disease is recommended for those people whose work and daily activities lead to increased stress on the joints.And also for those over the age of 45.
Osteoarthritis is easier to prevent than to treat.It is easier to maintain a joint in a healthy state than to restore cartilage tissue after its destruction.