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 be like that!
Not a single young, energetic person envisions his old age with diseases and lameness;rather, the imagination imagines a youthful, smiling pensioner traveling the world on healthy legs and with a snow-white smile, as in the picture in foreign magazines.
But disease is an insidious thing.And especially joint diseases.Various ailments creep up unnoticed and destroy and deform joints little by little, showing up one beautiful morning in pain and inability to move normally.
Among all joint pathologies, judging by the number of requests for medical help, the leading 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 disease.
Osteoarthritis of the knee joint (gonarthrosis, osteoarthritis of the knee joint) is a degenerative - dystrophic change in the joint cartilage.
It can be primary or secondary, that is, it occurs against the background of other diseases.
Causes of osteoarthritis in the knee joint
Most often, gonarthrosis occurs due to:
- Traumatic injuries in the knee joint.
- Excess body weight.
- Increased physical activity, including when playing professional sports.
- Pre-existing diseases (usually arthritis of various etiologies).
- Weak ligament apparatus.
- Metabolic disorders.
How does osteoarthritis develop?
Osteoarthritis in the knee joint is divided into grades 1, 2 and 3. Let's take a closer look at the characteristic features.
Symptoms of stage 1 osteoarthritis of the knee joint
Gonarthrosis first manifests itself with pain that occurs when climbing the stairs.A person feels discomfort in the knee joint, pain that makes it difficult to go down the stairs.In other situations, the pain almost does not occur, and therefore the patient happily forgets about it or takes some form of his own therapeutic measures, relying completely on the advice of friends who "also had it."
It is the frequency of the occurrence of pain that postpones a visit to the clinic until later, which leads to the transition of the disease to a more serious, 2nd degree.
How does stage 2 disease present itself?
Stage 2 gonarthrosis is characterized not only by severe pain, but also by limited mobility of the joint.
Pain occurs more 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 when moving.
On visual examination, swelling of the joint and slight deformation of the joint are noted.
It is patients with stage 2 gonarthrosis who are patients at the clinic who cannot cope with severe pain and suffer from limited mobility who turn to a doctor.
Is grade 3 osteoarthritis synonymous with disability?
Stage 3 osteoarthritis of the knee joint is characterized by constant severe pain in the joint and loss of mobility.X-ray examination shows dystrophic changes in cartilage tissue and severe deformation of the joint.The so-called deforming arthrosis develops.
Osteoarthritis pain tends to intensify at night and becomes most intense in the early morning hours.
A patient with grade 3 osteoarthritis can only walk with the help of a cane, remember our old man from the introduction?It's exactly him.
Treatment tactics for osteoarthritis of the knee joint
The treatment process for osteoarthritis is a long process and requires persistence and patience from the patient.The basic principles of treatment of gonarthrosis can be called:
- Systematics.
- An integrated approach.
Treatment of osteoarthritis should 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 attending physician approves them.
The beginning of treatment for gonarthrosis, like any other disease, begins with the organization of a gentle regimen.With gonarthrosis, a gentle regime is created for the diseased joint.Physical activity and prolonged walking are excluded as far as possible.In your diet, you should limit the consumption of salt, sweets and fatty foods and include more fruits and vegetables rich in vitamins in your diet.
Medical treatment
- To relieve pain, drugs from the group of painkillers and antispasmodics are prescribed.
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are very popular.Drugs in this group are not prescribed for long courses due to the abundance of side effects.Therefore, long-acting tablets or injections and injections are used more often for treatment.NSAIDs relieve the condition of patients, but do not eliminate the causes of gonarthrosis.This mission has been entrusted by medical science to another group of drugs - chondroprotectors.
- The effect of chondroprotective drugs is based on restoring the normal production of synovial fluid and damaged cartilage tissue.The drugs are very effective in the treatment of grade 1 and 2 gonarthrosis.
- Therapeutic ointments, gels, creams.They are applied topically, used for rubbing and compresses.The pharmacy chain offers a large selection of drugs from this group;When buying, you should not be guided by the advertising popularity of a particular ointment, but by the recommendations of a specialist.
- In case of worsening of the disease, 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 drug treatment.The following procedures have proven effective in the treatment of gonarthrosis:
- Laser.
- SMT.
- Electrophoresis.
- Magnetotherapy.
- Ozokerite.
Unfortunately, treatment with chondroprotectors in disease stage 3 has no effect.
Traditional medicine and gonarthrosis
In folk medicine, there are a large number of different recipes for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee joint.
Decoction of medicinal herbs:
- cranberries,
- cranberry,
- thyme,
- corn silk,
- golden mustache
Taken orally and used for compresses.There are also methods of using alcohol tinctures for rubbing:
- bitter pepper tincture,
- fly agaric tincture,
- woodlice tincture.
Compresses with medicinal bile, apple cider vinegar, cabbage and honey compresses are also used in folk medicine.There is even a method of treating sore joints using raw fish, which is tied to the sore spot overnight!But we don't think there will be many supporters of using this recipe.
Important!Whatever folk remedies you choose, be sure to discuss the advisability of using them with your doctor!
How to prevent the development of gonarthrosis - preventive measures
Preventing the occurrence of osteoarthritis in 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, observe a gentle diet and the principles of proper nutrition.
- We distribute physical activity sensibly.
- Don't get too cold.
- Treat any diseases in time.
- Avoid injury.
- Do gymnastics.
- Contact a specialist in time.
At first glance, the recommendations are quite simple.And if you follow them, gonarthrosis will not threaten you.And you don't have to worry about age - after all, at the beginning of the article we agreed to travel around the world on our own feet!