How do you feel when you meet an old man with a cane on the street?Definitely sympathy, but also assurance that you will definitely not become like this!
Not even a young, energetic person imagines his old age with diseases and lameness.Rather, the fantasy depicts a young, smiling retiree traveling around the world with healthy legs and a white smile, as in the photo in foreign magazines.
But disease is an insidious thing.And especially joint diseases.Creeping unnoticed, various diseases slowly destroy and deform the joints, manifesting a beautiful morning with pain and inability to move normally.
Among all joint pathologies, judging by the number of requests for medical help, the leading one is arthropathy of the knee joint (knee joint, osteoarthritis of the knee joint).According to statistics, every fifth inhabitant of the planet over 40 years old suffers from gonoarthrosis, and this disease "loves" women more than men.
What is arthropathy of the knee joint and is it possible to prevent it?Let's start with the definition of disease.
Arthropathy of the knee joint (knee joint osteoarthritis, knee joint osteoarthritis) 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.
Arthritis causes of the knee joint
Most often, gonoarthrosis occurs due to:
- Traumatic injuries of the knee joint.
- Excess body weight.
- Increased physical activity, even when playing professional sports.
- Pre-existing diseases (usually arthritis of various etiologies).
- Weak connective tissue.
- Metabolic disorders.
How does arthritis develop?
Osteoarthritis of the knee joint is divided into degrees 1, 2 and 3. Let's take a closer look at the distinctive features.
Symptoms of 1st stage arthrosis of the knee joint
Gonarthrosis is initially manifested by pain that occurs when climbing stairs.A person feels discomfort in the knee joint, pain that makes it difficult to go down the stairs.In other cases, the pain almost does not appear, and therefore the patient happily forgets about it or takes some kind of self-healing measures, fully trusting the advice of friends who "had it too."
It is the frequency of occurrence of pain that postpones the 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 manifest itself?
Stage 2 gonoarthrosis is characterized not only by severe pain, but also by limited mobility in the joint.
The pain occurs more often, not only during exercise, but also during 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 are observed.
They are patients with stage 2 gonoarthrosis who are patients in the clinic, who cannot cope with excruciating pain on their own and, suffering from limited mobility, turn to a doctor.
Is grade 3 arthropathy synonymous with disability?
Stage 3 arthropathy of the knee joint is characterized by constant severe pain in the joint and loss of mobility.X-ray shows dystrophic changes in cartilage tissue and severe joint deformity.The so-called deforming arthropathy develops.
Joint pain tends to be worse at night and becomes more severe in the early hours of the morning.
A patient with grade 3 arthropathy can only walk with the help of a cane, remember our old man from the introduction?That's exactly who he is.
Therapeutic strategies for arthropathy of the knee joint
The treatment process for arthropathy is a long process and requires perseverance and patience from the patient.The basic principles of the treatment of gonoarthrosis can be called:
- Systematicity.
- An integrated approach.
Treatment of arthropathy should be carried out under the guidance of a doctor.It is he who must give you recommendations on how and how to deal with 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.
Starting treatment for gonoarthrosis, like any other disease, begins with the organization of a gentle regimen.With gonoarthrosis, a gentle regime is created for the affected joint.Physical activity and prolonged walking are excluded as much as possible.In your diet, you should limit the consumption of salt, sweet and fatty foods and include in your diet more fruits and vegetables rich in vitamins.
Pharmaceutical 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 most often used for treatment.NSAIDs relieve the condition of patients, but do not eliminate the causes of gonoarthrosis.This task has been assigned by medical science to another group of drugs - the chondroprotectors.
- The effect of chondroprotective drugs is based on the restoration of the normal production of synovial fluid and damaged cartilage tissue.Medicines are very effective in the treatment of 1st and 2nd degree gonoarthrosis.
- Therapeutic ointments, gels, creams.They are applied locally, used for rubbing and compresses.The pharmacy chain offers a huge range of drugs from this group.when buying, you should be guided not by the advertising popularity of a particular ointment, but by the recommendations of a specialist.
- In case of exacerbation of the disease, not only exercise is excluded, but also massages and physiotherapy.They cannot be used in the acute period due to increased pain.Once the pain subsides, massage, exercise therapy and physical therapy methods should be added to the drug therapy.The following procedures have been shown to be good for the treatment of gonoarthrosis:
- Laser.
- SMT.
- Electrophoresis.
- Magnetic therapy.
- Ozokerite.
Unfortunately, in stage 3 of the disease, treatment with chondroprotectors has no effect.
Traditional medicine and gonarthrosis
In folk medicine, there is a huge number of different recipes for the treatment of arthropathy of the knee joint.
Decoctions of medicinal herbs:
- berries,
- cranberries,
- thyme,
- corn silk,
- golden mustache
It is taken orally and used for compresses.There are also methods that use alcohol tinctures for scrubbing:
- bitter pepper tincture,
- fly agaric tincture,
- head lice tincture.
Compresses with medical bile, apple cider vinegar, cabbage compresses and honey are also used in folk medicine.There is even a method of treating irritated joints using raw fish, which is tied to the sore spot overnight!But we don't think there will be many fans of using this recipe.
Great!Whatever folk remedies you choose, be sure to discuss the feasibility of using them with your doctor!
How to prevent the development of gonoarthrosis - preventive measures
Preventing the appearance of joints of the knee joint is not difficult if you think about it from an early age.How are prevention rules formulated?Very simple.Read the causes of the disease and do everything to avoid them, namely:
- Do not overeat, follow a bland diet and the principles of proper nutrition.
- We distribute physical activity wisely.
- Don't get too cold.
- Treat any illnesses early.
- Avoid injury.
- Do exercise.
- 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 advanced age - after all, at the beginning of the article we agreed to travel around the world on our feet!