Knee Osteoarthritis - First symptoms and treatment methods

The disease arthrosis has many types.For example, hip joint disease is called coxarthrosis and knee disease is called gonarthrosis.

The treatment method for all subtypes is generally the same.But still, many people do not know the difference between arthrosis and gonarthrosis of the knee joint.

On this basis, many misuses of these terms have appeared among patients with this problem.

To be the cause

Gonarthrosis is a disease of the knee joint with damage to the cartilage tissue.Many people mistakenly believe that the disease is typical only for the elderly.But as experience shows, gonarthrosis appears more often in young people.

This is confirmed by the causes of the disease:

• Knee injuries (fractures, dislocations, cracks);
• Lifting weights, vigorous physical activity, without proper training;
• Inflammation of the joints due to exposure to various factors, including hypothermia;
• Excess weight, because it causes a large load on the joints and subsequent degeneration;
• genetic predisposition.

As you can see, all factors for the appearance of gonarthrosis are more typical for young people, because they lead an active lifestyle.

Due to excess weight, the disease can also appear in pensioners.According to statistics, gonarthrosis occurs more often in women after 50 years.This is the reconstruction of the body, changes in metabolic processes.

Principles and types of treatment

In general, arthrosis is a chronic disease, so it takes a long time to treat them.Therapy can be surgical or conservative.

With both the first and second methods, doctors try to somehow affect the cause of the disease, as well as eliminate pathological symptoms.

It should be noted that surgical intervention is more typical for stage 3-4 arthrosis.Fourth, it is inevitable, and thirdly, you can still try to overcome the disease using conservative methods.

In addition, it is recommended to use special sets of gymnastic exercises, for example, Bubnovsky technique.

In addition to cartilage destruction by gonarthrosis, muscle fibers and ligaments are susceptible to destruction.Treatment goal:

• relief from pain;
• elimination of inflammation;
• removal of edema of the periarticular area;
• stop the destruction of cartilage, complete or partial restoration;
• To return to full life and freedom of movement.

Even in cases where a person cannot completely cure arthrosis of the knee joint, thanks to therapy and prevention, he can partially return to a normal lifestyle.The condition continues until the next relapse.

Conservative method

This method of therapy is used in most cases and is the main one.As a rule, patients are treated in this way in the initial and middle stages of gonarthrosis.All actions involve the use of drugs (tablets, capsules, injections) with chemically active substances.

The following may be temporarily appointed:

• analgin;
• Chondroprotectors;
• non-steroidal drugs;
• synovial prosthesis;
• glucocorticosteroids.

Other conservative methods include various ointments, mud baths, etc.Includes treatment with

Recently, gymnastics and light physical exercise have become very popular to stop the progression of the disease or the possibility of the patient.

The body reacts severely to non-steroidal drugs.Nevertheless, due to its multifunctional actions, it is widely used in the treatment of arthrosis:

• elimination of swelling in the joint;
• relief from pain;
• treatment of inflammatory processes.

Due to these properties, doctors prefer these drugs to traditional analgesics.

Glucocorticosteroids are synthetic drugs that can replace the natural hormones produced by the adrenal glands.If we compare them with non-steroidal drugs, glucocorticosteroids are more powerful.In addition, they have an antiallergic effect.

Chondroprotectors act directly on the cartilage and are a completely safe treatment for knee arthrosis (gonarthrosis).They are obtained from the bone structure of animals, fish cartilage and crustacean shells.Medicines are a building material for cartilage, they improve metabolic processes and proper nutrition of the joint.

In addition to the use of drugs, the following are prescribed during treatment, recovery and prevention:

• Physical therapy;
• Physiotherapy;
• various massages;
• visiting sanatoriums and spas.

All this allows the patient to return to normal life and correct the result obtained with conservative treatment.

Plus, the lessons are easy.A very useful exercise for the knee joint with gonarthrosis is a ball placed on the floor or another cylindrical object, for example, a rolling pin, a pin rolled with your foot.

Surgical intervention

If the disease cannot be treated with the help of drugs or therapeutic exercises, it should undergo surgery.It can be done in both open and closed joints.At the same time, surgical methods are improved every day, and new methods are added to the previous ones performed using modern equipment.

New methods of operations include:

• microsurgical intervention to restore damaged cartilage tissue;
• Treatment with a laser beam with the necessary characteristics - thickness, power, etc.;
• creation of an electrolytic plasma field 1 mm thick;
• arthroscopy;
• Endoprosthetics - Replacement of parts of a joint with artificial prostheses.

Modern surgical methods are low-traumatic and allow a large number of different manipulations with the joint.

Traditional medicine recipes

Conservative treatment methods cannot always give maximum results in the treatment of gonarthrosis.Traditional medicine recipes can be used as additional means.

You can use the following recipe to get rid of knee pain and bruises:

• 150 g of garlic;
• 4 lemons with peel;
• 250 g of celery roots.

Hold all the components in a meat grinder, mix and pour boiling water.Then put it in a saucepan, cover tightly with a lid and cool.Take 60-70 g 3 times a day for a month.If pain appears, you can repeat the course or perform it every six months for prevention.

You can also use this recipe:

• Beat two eggs and mix with 4 tablespoons of salt;
• Apply the mixture to a bandage and apply to the sore spot.

The procedure should be repeated twice in a row.Do not remove the bandage until the mixture dries.

To make medicinal ointment, you will need the following ingredients:

• 200 g of alcohol;
• 4 egg whites;
• 50 g of camphor;
• 50 g of mustard powder.

Add mustard and alternatively add camphor for alcohol.Beat the egg whites in another bowl and then mix them together.The ointment is applied to the wound.

Of course, heavy physical activity in athletes is the cause of gonarthrosis, as the joints age over time.

But recently, cases of diseases that appear without such an underlying cause are becoming more frequent.People, on the other hand, lead a sedentary lifestyle, so they gain extra pounds.

It increases the load on the joints and prevents them from staying healthy for a long time.

The difference between arthrosis and gonarthrosis

Not everyone understands the difference between gonarthrosis and arthrosis of the knee joint.Gonarthrosis is characterized only by damage to the knee, arthrosis itself is the name of a group of joint diseases that can affect any joint.

In medical theory, there are many diseases whose names contain the part "arthrosis" - osteoarthrosis, polyarthrosis, coxarthrosis, gonarthrosis.In this regard, ignorant people do not always correctly understand the meaning of each, they are all synonyms.

Gonarthrosis can be easily confused with the following diseases:

• arthritis;
• vascular pain in the knees;
• periarthitis - inflammation of knee tendons;
• meniscal damage.

However, it is still possible to distinguish gonarthrosis from these diseases.For example, damage to the meniscus (meniscopathy) is a disease that begins with sharp and unexpected pain in the knees after a failed movement and develops and progresses over the years.If meniscopathy is not treated, pain will appear from time to time, but bone deformation will not occur.

With coxarthrosis (disease of the hip joint), reflected pain in the knees is often felt, but the two diseases can be distinguished from each other in the following ways:

• With gonarthrosis, a person can move his legs calmly, in the hip joint, split;
• With coxarthrosis, on the contrary, the patient can freely bend and straighten the knee;
• If the pain is felt in both joints, we can assume that it is polydurosis.

Arthritis is characterized by joint inflammation and sudden onset, but pain does not affect joint mobility (as in periarchitis) and is relieved by warming ointments.In this disease, swelling, high temperature and increased pain at night appear.

Vascular pain occurs due to circulatory disorders - it often affects young people under 20 years of age.This is due to the rapid growth of the whole organism.

Thus, arthrosis is the general name of the disease, and gonarthrosis is a name indicating the location (knee).Therefore, it is correct to say either "arthrosis of the knee joint" or "gonarthrosis", but not "nuarthrosis" of the knee joint. It is quite possible to determine an accurate diagnosis through careful research and personal observations.

Knee Joint Arthrosis (Gonarthrosis): Diagnosis and Treatment

The knee joint is a wonderful flexion-extension mechanism that nature has provided us with.At rest, it occurs only in disabled and obese people who have lost the ability to move.

How many times a day do you move and you will come to the conclusion that the knee joint is the most mobile part of the joint.No wonder diseases often target it.

One of them is gonarthrosis or arthrosis of the knee joint.

Causes of arthrosis of the knee joint

It is difficult to say what causes early cartilage failure in some people.It is believed to be a metabolic disorder in which the metabolism of amino acids and important trace elements occurs slowly or incorrectly.

Here, in turn, the following reasons should be blamed:

1. Certain immune-related diseases (such as rheumatoid arthritis)
2. Self-neglect: Exercise and movement, a nutritious diet with complete vitamins, amino acids and minerals, are pushed aside by people who are too far away for "later" ("I'll start on Monday")
3. The natural balance is also disturbed by birth - the so-called hereditary reasons.It is quite easy to check your genetic predisposition: ask what your grandparents got sick with and what their father got sick with
4. Disturbed hormonal balance: such disorders affect the female body during the period of estrogen deficiency, a hormone necessary for osteosynthesis.This is the sign of "over 50", when most of the victims of arthrosis are not yet old, but already wise.
5. Vascular diseases: Arthrosis is often accompanied by venous insufficiency, vascular thrombosis and other diseases
6. State of mind: If stress only makes you feel bad, you're wrong—stress substances slow down metabolism by putting it in a state of suspended animation.
7. A risk factor for arthrosis is excess weight

What symptoms allow us to suspect this bad pathology?

Symptoms of gonarthrosis by stage

Each stage has its own characteristics, but they are combined with the gradual development of the disease:

You can't suddenly stop walking because of pain: a sharp, sudden pain symptom in the knee most likely indicates an injury.

The first stage.In the first stage, the following symptoms appear:

• Mild pain after a long walk, stairs, etc.
• Stiffness after rest
• There is no deformity in the knee, but it may be slightly swollen due to accumulated fluid: this phenomenon is called synovitis.Fluid can even accumulate in the back - popliteal fossa, forming a cyst that is often mistaken for a cancerous tumor.The cyst usually resolves easily after treatment with NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) or glucocorticosteroid injections.

The second stage

In the second stage, the following symptoms are observed:

• Increased pain after exercise and movement and the appearance of a characteristic rough crisis
• Increases morning stiffness
• Movement or 90 degrees is accompanied by a symptom of pain, sometimes it is impossible to complete it
• Due to the onset of deformation, the bones become thick and rough - this can be determined by palpation
• Synovitis can get worse

The third stage

In the third stage, which is already defined as late deforming arthrosis of the knee joint, symptoms appear:

• Constant pain that does not go away even at night: knee pain and twisting, especially in cold damp weather
• Abrupt reduction in range of motion: no more or less than 90 degrees
• Changes in gait: The patient begins with persistence, slowly half-bent legs, walks, it is especially difficult to take steps
• A severe deformity that appears by mixing the axes of the joints - so the feet take the shape of the letter "X" or "O" (these signs are called Hallux Valgus).
• At this stage, the cartilage, as a rule, is already completely destroyed, and organs (ossification) occur in the ligaments.
• Subsequently, the surface of the joint grows with calcium deposits, which is why the knee looks uneven.
• Movements in the knee become extremely painful due to severe deformation and lack of synovial fluid
• Gradually, almost complete ineffectiveness of the Knees to undergo Late Deforming Art

Treatment of gonarthrosis

The treatment of this disease is complex and long, effective only in the first stages.The last, conservative treatment only plays a role in alleviating the patient's condition.

Diagnostics.It is an important initial stage diagnosis.

• The best way to diagnose whether the pain is due to injury or arthrosis or knee joint is using an x-ray or mini.
• If arthrosis is diagnosed, it is diagnosed: a small gap between the cartilage tissue or the joint and the capsule

Conservative treatment

The most important condition for treatment during research is:

• Maintain rest and light exercise
• Painkillers (for severe pain - in the form of fine injections)
• In the third and fourth stages of arthrosis, fluid injections are also prescribed to lubricate the joints

The following types of physiotherapy are effective for gonarthrosis:

• SWT (shock wave therapy)
• electrical stimulation
• acupuncture
• magnetotherapy
• RadioFrequency Therapy etc.

Rehabilitation treatment

To prevent corrections and further immobility, knee exercises should be started immediately after acute pain subsides - for this, exercise therapy is prescribed under the supervision of a rehabilitation specialist.Long-term cyclic administration of substitutes for the natural components of cartilage - chondroprotective drugs is also carried out.

Attention: In the third degree, arthrosis of the knee joint cannot be treated with the help of chondroprotectors.

Surgery

Effective treatment of late arthrosis is only surgical - replacement of a joint that has lost its function with an endoprosthesis.

But we must remember:

• In old age, the prosthesis heals more slowly
• There may be pain for a year after the operation
• Long-term rehabilitation with memory therapy and comprehensive exercise therapy is necessary

If the patient refuses surgery, then conservative supportive treatment is to control pain and maintain motor function of the knee.

Arthrosis of the joint is often confused - gonarthrosis?

• When diagnosing gonarthrosisMistakes are just as common, if not more, in diagnosing hip disorders.
• Below is a list of diseases that are most often mistaken for arthrosis of the knee joint (gonarthrosis).
• From the practice of Dr. Evdokimenko,Most often, arthrosis of the knee joint is confused with the following diseases:

Damage to the meniscus (meniscopathy) and blockage of the knee joint

Meniscal injuries and knee impingements occur in people of all ages, young and old.Men and women are equally affected.Usually one knee joint is injured.

Unlike gonarthrosis, the disease develops quickly.As a rule, after an unsuccessful movement during walking, running or jumping, a person hears a crunch in the knee and feels a sharp pain in the joint.After 10-15 minutes, the sharp pain decreases a little and the person can move.But the next day or the day after, the knee swelled and the pain intensified again.

Without proper treatment, the disease lasts for years - pain or recurring pain.But compared to gonarthrosis, meniscopathy rarely causes deformation of the bones of the knee joints - damage to the Meniscus triggers the development of arthrosis of the knee.And this, it should be noted, happens often.

Arthrosis of the hip joint (coarthrosis)

The diagnosis of "gonarthrosis" is often mistaken for "referred" pain, which occurs with arthrosis of the hip joint, and with arthrosis of the hip joint.

But it is very easy to distinguish these conditions - with arthrosis of the hip joint, the mobility of the knee does not decrease at all, the knee bends and is easily and painlessly straightened.

But a person suffering from arthrosis of the hip joint has a sharp decrease in the legs to turn the leg "from the hip" and spread the legs to the sides.

A person suffering from gonarthrosis, on the other hand, easily rotates his leg from the hip and easily spreads his legs to the sides.But he barely bends his knee and bends down in pain.

Arthritis

Knee joints are the most sensitive joints of the human body.In addition to arthrosis and meniscopathy, the knee joint can be affected by any of the arthritis described in the second part of the book - reactive, rheumatoid, psoriatic, gout, ankylosing spondylitis and articular rheumatism.

Arthritis affects people of any age, but the onset of the disease is most common in young people.

With arthritis, either one or both knees can be inflamed.

A characteristic feature of arthritis inflammation of the knee joint is increased pain with open swelling and swelling of the knee, as well as pain in the affected joint (about 3-4).That is, at night, the pain at rest can be stronger when walking.With arthrosis, as you remember, the pain subsides late.

In addition, almost any arthritis occurs not at once, but several joints: in addition to the knees, it turns into the inside of the fingers and toes, thigh joints, ankle joints and any joint.

Vascular pain in the knees

These pains caused by blood circulation in the knee joints are familiar to many people.Usually beginning in adolescence, the period of active growth - in fast-growing adolescents, vascular development often does not keep pace with accelerated bone growth.

Occurring once, vascular pain in the knees can accompany a person almost all his life.But their intensity usually decreases after 18-20 years (and does not increase with age, as happens with arthrosis).Unlike arthrosis pain, vascular pain in the knees is not accompanied by a decrease in the mobility of the knee joints.

Pain sensations are usually symmetrical, that is, they are equally pronounced in the right and left knees;It occurs when the weather changes, when it is cold, during a cold, and after physical activity.At such moments, sufferers complain of "bending" of their knees.

In most cases, vascular pain in the knees is easily relieved by warm ointments, massage and self-rubbing (rubbing the knees vigorously) or by taking vasodilatory drugs.No specific therapy is required for this condition.

Inflammation of the knee tendons (Bursa Anserina periari)

Mostly women are affected, mostly those over 40 years of age.The pain usually occurs when climbing stairs or carrying heavy objects or heavy bags.Pain when walking calmly on a simple surface is extremely rare.

The pain caused by periarthritis does not extend to all knees.It is directed just inside the knees, below the point where the knees touch when you bring your feet together.Unlike arthrosis, there is no restriction of knee mobility with periarthritis;The leg bends and extends at the knee as expected.