How do you feel when you meet an old man with a cane on the street?Certainly sympathy, and also confidence that you will definitely not become like that!
No young, vigorous man imagines his old age with sickness and lameness;on the contrary, the imagination pictures a youthful, smiling pensioner traveling the world with healthy legs and a snow-white smile, as in the picture of foreign magazines.
But disease is an insidious thing.And especially joint diseases.Creeping unnoticed, various diseases little by little destroy and deform the joints, showing a beautiful morning with pain and 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 knee arthrosis and is it possible to avoid it?Let's start with the definition of the disease.
Arthrosis of the knee joint (gonarthrosis, osteoarthritis of the knee joint) is a degenerative - dystrophic change of the articular cartilage.
It can be primary or secondary, that is, it occurs against the background of other diseases.
Causes of arthrosis of the knee joint
Most often, gonarthrosis occurs due to:
- Traumatic injuries of the knee joint.
- Excess body weight.
- Increased physical activity, including when playing professional sports.
- Preexisting diseases (usually arthritis of various etiologies).
- Weak ligamentous apparatus.
- Metabolic disorders.
How does arthrosis develop?
Osteoarthritis of the knee joint is divided into degrees 1, 2 and 3. Let's take a closer look at the distinguishing features.
Symptoms of stage 1 arthrosis of the knee joint
Gonarthrosis first manifests itself with pain that occurs when walking on 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 arise, and therefore the patient happily forgets about it or takes some kind of therapeutic measures, fully trusting the advice of friends who "had it too".
It is the frequency of occurrence of pain that postpones a visit to the clinic for later, which leads to the transition of the disease to a more severe, second degree.
How is stage 2 disease manifested?
Stage 2 gonarthrosis is characterized not only by severe pain, but also by limited joint mobility.
The pain appears 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 cracking sound is heard in the joint when moving.
On visual examination, swelling of the joint and slight deformity of the joint is observed.
It is the patients with stage 2 gonarthrosis who are patients in the clinic, unable to cope with excruciating pain on their own and, suffering from limited mobility, turn to the doctor.
Is grade 3 osteoarthritis synonymous with disability?
Stage 3 of knee arthrosis is characterized by constant severe pain in the joint and loss of mobility.X-ray examination shows dystrophic changes in cartilage tissue and severe joint deformity.The so-called deforming arthrosis develops.
Arthritis pain tends to intensify at night and becomes more intense in the early hours of the morning.
A patient with grade 3 arthrosis can only walk with the help of a cane, remember our old man from the presentation?This is exactly him.
Tactics of treatment of arthrosis of the knee joint
The process of treating arthrosis is a long process and requires perseverance and patience from the patient.The basic principles of gonarthrosis treatment can be called:
- Systematicity.
- An integrated approach.
Treatment of arthrosis 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 doctor approves them.
The beginning of the treatment of gonarthrosis, like any other disease, begins with the organization of a gentle regimen.With gonarthrosis, a gentle regimen is created for the diseased joint.Physical activity and prolonged walking are excluded as much 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.
Drug treatment
- To relieve pain, drugs from the group of analgesics and antispasmodics are prescribed.
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are very popular.Medicines of this group are not prescribed for long courses due to the abundance of side effects.Therefore, long-acting tablets or injections and injections are more often used 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.Medicines 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 range of drugs from this group;when buying, you should not be guided by the advertising popularity of a particular oil, but by the recommendations of a specialist.
- In case of worsening of the disease, not only exercises, but also massages and physiotherapy are excluded.They cannot be used in the acute period due to increased pain.Once the pain subsides, massage, exercise therapy and physiotherapeutic methods should be added to the drug treatment.The following procedures are well proven for the treatment of gonarthrosis:
- Laser.
- SMT.
- Electrophoresis.
- Magnetotherapy.
- Ozoceritis.
Unfortunately, in stage 3 of the disease, treatment with chondroprotectors has no effect.
Traditional medicine and gonarthrosis
In folk medicine, there is a large number of different recipes for the treatment of arthrosis of the knee joint.
Decoctions of medicinal plants:
- berries,
- blueberries,
- thyme,
- corn silk,
- golden mustache
It is taken orally and used for compresses.There are also methods of using rubbing alcohol tinctures:
- bitter pepper tincture,
- Tincture of fly agaric,
- wood lice tincture.
In folk medicine, compresses with medical bile, compresses with apple cider vinegar, cabbage and honey are also used.There is also a method of treating sore joints using raw fish, which is tied to the sore spot at night!But we don't think there will be many fans of using this recipe.
Important!Whatever folk remedies you choose, be sure to discuss the advisability of their use 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 overdo it, observe a soft diet and the principles of proper nutrition.
- We distribute physical activity wisely.
- Don't get too cold.
- Treat any illness at the right time.
- Avoid injuries.
- Do gymnastics.
- Contact a specialist at the right 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 advancing age - after all, at the beginning of the article we agreed to travel around the world with our feet!