How do you feel when you meet an elderly person with a cane on the street?Certainly sympathy and also confidence that you will definitely not look like that!
Not a single young and energetic person imagines his old age with illnesses and lameness;rather, the imagination depicts a smiling young retiree traveling the world with healthy legs and a snow-white smile, like in photos from foreign magazines.
But illness is an insidious thing.And especially joint diseases.Appearing unnoticed, various illnesses gradually destroy and deform the joints, manifesting themselves one fine morning with pain and the inability to move normally.
Among all joint pathologies, judging by the number of requests for medical help, the main one is arthrosis of the knee joint (gonarthrosis, osteoarthritis of the knee joint).According to statistics, every fifth inhabitant of the planet over the age of 40 suffers from gonarthrosis, and this disease “loves” women more than men.
What is osteoarthritis of the knee joint and is it possible to avoid it?Let's start with the definition of illness.
Arthrosis of the knee joint (gonarthrosis, osteoarthritis of the knee joint) is a degenerative-dystrophic change in the articular cartilage.
It can be primary or secondary, that is, it occurs in the context of other diseases.
Causes of osteoarthritis of the knee joint
Most often, gonarthrosis occurs due to:
- Traumatic injuries of the knee joint.
- Excess body weight.
- Increased physical activity, including professional sports.
- Pre-existing diseases (generally arthritis of various etiologies).
- Weak ligamentous apparatus.
- Metabolic disorders.
How does osteoarthritis develop?
Osteoarthritis of the knee joint is divided into grades 1, 2 and 3. Let's take a look at the distinguishing features.
Symptoms of stage 1 arthrosis of the knee joint
Gonarthrosis first manifests itself with pain that occurs when climbing stairs.The person feels discomfort in the knee joint, pain that makes it difficult to descend stairs.In other situations, the pain hardly appears and so the patient happily forgets it or takes some therapeutic measure of their own, trusting completely in the advice of friends who “also had it”.
It is the frequency of pain that delays going to the outpatient clinic until later, which leads to the disease transitioning to a more serious level, 2nd degree.
How does stage 2 disease manifest?
Stage 2 gonarthrosis is characterized not only by severe pain but also limited mobility in the joint.
Pain occurs most often not only during exercise, but also at rest.
It becomes difficult for the patient to bend and straighten the knee, and a characteristic crunching sound is heard in the joint during movement.
On visual examination, swelling of the joint and slight deformation of the joint are noted.
These are patients with stage 2 gonarthrosis who are clinic patients, unable to deal with unbearable pain on their own and, with difficulty moving around, turn to the doctor.
Is grade 3 osteoarthritis synonymous with disability?
Stage 3 osteoarthritis of the knee joint is characterized by intense and constant pain in the joint and loss of mobility.Radiographic examination shows dystrophic changes in cartilaginous tissue and severe deformation of the joint.The so-called deforming arthrosis develops.
Osteoarthritis pain tends to intensify at night and becomes more intense in the early hours of the morning.
A patient with grade 3 osteoarthritis can only walk with the help of a cane, remember our old man from the introduction?This is exactly him.
Treatment tactics for arthrosis of the knee joint
The osteoarthritis treatment process is long and requires perseverance and patience from the patient.The basic principles of treating gonarthrosis can be called:
- Systematicity.
- An integrated approach.
Osteoarthritis treatment must be carried out under the guidance of a doctor.It is he who must give you recommendations on how and how to treat the disease, which must be followed very carefully.You can also add traditional methods to your medical prescriptions, but only after your treating physician approves them.
The beginning of treatment for gonarthrosis, like any other disease, begins with organizing a gentle regimen.With gonarthrosis, a gentle regimen is created for the diseased joint.Physical activity and prolonged walks are excluded as much as possible.In your diet, you should limit the consumption of salt, sweets and fatty foods and include more vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables in your diet.
Drug treatment
- To relieve pain, medications from the group of analgesics and antispasmodics are prescribed.
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are very popular.Medicines in this group are not prescribed for long courses due to the abundance of side effects.Therefore, tablets or injections and long-acting injections are most often used for treatment.NSAIDs alleviate the condition of patients, but do not eliminate the causes of gonarthrosis.This mission was entrusted by medical science to another group of medicines - chondroprotectors.
- The effect of chondroprotective drugs is based on the restoration of normal production of synovial fluid and damaged cartilaginous tissue.The medications are very effective in treating grade 1 and 2 gonarthrosis.
- Therapeutic ointments, gels, creams.They are applied topically, used for rubbing and making compresses.The pharmacy chain offers a wide range of medicines from this group;when purchasing, you should not be guided by the advertising popularity of a particular ointment, but by the recommendations of a specialist.
- If the disease worsens, not only exercise, but also massage and physiotherapy are excluded.They cannot be used in the acute period due to increased pain.As soon as the pain subsides, massage, exercise therapy and physiotherapeutic methods should be added to the drug treatment.The following procedures have proven themselves well in the treatment of gonarthrosis:
- Laser.
- SMT.
- Electrophoresis.
- Magnetotherapy.
- Ozokerite.
Unfortunately, at stage 3 of the disease, treatment with chondroprotectors has no effect.
Traditional medicine and gonarthrosis
In folk medicine, there are a huge number of different recipes for treating arthrosis of the knee joint.
Decoctions of medicinal herbs:
- blueberries,
- blackberries,
- thyme,
- corn silk,
- golden mustache
Taken orally and used for compresses.There are also methods that use alcohol tinctures for rubbing:
- bitter pepper tincture,
- fly agaric tincture,
- lice tincture.
Compresses with medicinal bile, apple cider vinegar, cabbage and honey compresses are also used in folk medicine.There is even a method for treating joint pain with raw fish, which is tied to the painful area overnight!But we don't think there will be many fans of using this recipe.
Important!Whichever folk remedies you choose, discuss the advisability of using them with your doctor!
How to prevent the development of gonarthrosis - preventive measures
Preventing the occurrence of arthrosis of the knee joint is not difficult if you think about it from a young age.How are prevention rules formed?Very simple.Read the causes of the disease and do everything to avoid them, namely:
- Do not overeat, follow a moderate diet and the principles of proper nutrition.
- We distribute physical activity wisely.
- Don't get too cold.
- Treat any illnesses in a timely manner.
- Avoid injuries.
- Do gymnastics.
- Please contact a specialist in a timely manner.
At first glance, the recommendations are quite simple.And if you follow them, gonarthrosis will not threaten you.And you don't need to worry about advancing age – after all, at the beginning of the article we agreed to travel the world on our own two feet!