Osteoarthritis is a chronic joint disease, accompanied by pathological changes in the hyaline cartilage and subsequently in adjacent tissues, joint capsule and synovium.
The lesion is dystrophic and degenerative, which leads to a change in the structure of the joint tissues, loss of their functionality. According to the same statistics, 12% of the total population of the planet is susceptible to osteoarthritis. 62% to 65% of all episodes of the disease occur in people over the age of 60.
Another 30-35% of cases of joint damage with this pathology occur in patients aged 40 to 60 years. And about 3% are young people between the ages of 20 and 40.
Put simply, osteoarthritis is a chronic disease in which progressive degenerative-dystrophic changes in the joint develop due to metabolic disturbances. It is the most common joint disease, diagnosed in 6-7% of the population. With age, the incidence increases significantly.
Very often, in osteoarthritis, the pathological process involves the small joints of the hand (in women 10 times more often than in men), the big toe, the intervertebral joints of the thoracic and cervical spine, as well as the knee jointsand hip. Osteoarthritis of the knee and hip joints takes first place in terms of severity of clinical manifestations and negative impact on quality of life.
Arthrosis is characterized by a complex lesion of the articular and auxiliary apparatus:
The disease is diagnosed in 2% of people under the age of 45, in 30% - from 45 to 64 years and in 65-85% - at the age of 65 and over. Osteoarthritis of the large and middle joints of the extremities has the greatest clinical significance due to its negative impact on patients' standard of living and working capacity.
Depending on the cause of the pathological process within the joint, primary, secondary and idiopathic osteoarthritis is distinguished.
Primary develops as an independent, secondary disease following an injury or infection and the cause of the idiopathic form is unknown. In addition to the classification of the disease, depending on the cause of the pathological process, osteoarthritis is distinguished by the location of the destructive changes:
Two reasons contribute to the formation of osteoarthritis: stress and lack of adequate nutrition, which provides vitamins and minerals for tissue repair. The joints of each person carry a load. For athletes and dancers, during physical work, the load on the legs is greater, which means that the bone joints wear out faster and require high-quality nutrition. With a quiet lifestyle, the support apparatus wears out more slowly, but also requires periodic renewal of tissues.
Therefore, the main condition for the destruction and deformation of the joints is malnutrition, indigestion of useful components, which often occurs with metabolic disorders.
We list the factors that contribute to joint wear and metabolic disorders:
The probability of osteoarthritis increases with severe physical exertion.
If the daily loads exceed the capacity of the bone tissues, microtraumas are formed in them. At the lesion sites, thickenings appear that grow over time and deform the joint;
Osteoarthritis is a disease of worn-out joints that have lost a significant supply of minerals and the ability to withstand stress and destruction. Therefore, with age, the predisposition to the disease increases. After 70 years, osteoarthritis is diagnosed in every second retiree. Since the maximum load falls on the legs (a person moves - walks, gets up, runs, jumps), this is where the first signs of arthrosis are formed.
When one of the reasons that provoke a disease of the joint with arthrosis appears, pathological processes begin to develop. The mechanism of their progression is not fully understood, but the main stages of mainstream medicine are known.
In the initial stage, there is a depletion of the structure of the cartilage tissue and abnormal changes in the synovial fluid. All this occurs due to metabolic disorders, in which the tissues of the joints do not receive the necessary components in sufficient quantities, or are deprived of some of them.
In addition, the elasticity of collagen fibers and the flexibility of cartilage are lost, due to the fact that in the body with a lack of nutrients, hyaluronic acid does not have time to produce, which provides softness and flexibility of the compositionstructure of the collagen fiber. Cartilage gradually dries up, becomes brittle and cracks. The fluid in the synovial capsule gradually drains and subsequently disappears completely.
Roughness and solid bone growth are formed on the cartilage tissue. At the same time, deformation of other tissues of the joint develops, their pathological degeneration, dystrophy and loss of physiological activity. For the patient, these changes mean the appearance of pain, lameness, joint stiffness.
The acute clinical picture is not typical of osteoarthritis, joint changes are progressive, slowly increasing, which is manifested by a gradual increase in symptoms:
The pain in osteoarthritis is dull, transient, appears when moving, against a background of intense stress, towards the end of the day (it can be so intense that it does not allow the patient to fall asleep). The constant, non-mechanical nature of osteoarthritis pain is not characteristic and indicates the presence of active inflammation (subchondral bone, synovium, ligamentous apparatus or periarticular muscles).
Most patients notice so-called initial pains that appear in the morning after waking up or after a long period of inactivity and disappear during physical activity. Many patients define this condition as the need to "develop a joint" or "disengage".
Osteoarthritis is characterized by morning stiffness, which has a clear localization and is of a short nature (no more than 30 minutes), is sometimes perceived by patients as a "jelly sensation" in the joints. Feeling of wedging, possible stiffness.
With the development of reactive synovitis, the main symptoms of osteoarthritis are added:
In the course of the disease, medicine distinguishes between three stages, which differ in the signs of the disease, the intensity of the lesion and the localization. At the same time, the differences in all three stages relate to the types of tissues that undergo pathological changes.
In addition to these three degrees of development of the pathology, there is a final stage: the irreversible destruction of all tissues of the joint. At this stage, it is impossible not only to conduct effective therapy, but also to relieve pain.
The inflammatory process usually begins in the second degree of the injury, in rare cases, in the absence of medical intervention - in the first stage. Subsequently, it becomes increasingly difficult to stop it, and this can lead to secondary pathologies, the development of pathogenic microflora in the place of the localization of the disease.
To exclude serious consequences, treatment should be started from the first degree and, at the same time, intensive care methods should be applied. In the last phase, associated with the complete destruction of the cartilage tissue, only one technique is allowed to relieve the patient from pain and immobility of the joint - arthroplasty with complete or partial replacement of the component parts of the joint.
The consequences of inappropriate treatment and advanced arthrosis of the joints are fraught with complications such as:
The chronic course, in addition to these complications, is accompanied by intense and frequent soreness, complete destruction of the structural components of the joint, discomfort, inability to perform physical work and play sports.
Diagnosis of arthrosis is based on the evaluation of anamnestic data, characteristic manifestations of the disease, results of instrumental research methods. Indicative changes in general and biochemical blood tests are not typical for osteoarthritis, they appear only with the development of an active inflammatory process.
The main instrumental method for the diagnosis of osteoarthritis is radiography; in diagnosically unclear cases, magnetic or computerized resonance imaging is recommended.
Osteoarthritis of the knee and hip joints takes first place in terms of severity of clinical manifestations and negative impact on quality of life.
Additional diagnostic methods:
It is best to treat osteoarthritis of the joints at an early stage, the treatment itself should be pathogenetic and complex. Its essence lies in removing the causes that contribute to the development of this disease, it is also necessary to eliminate inflammatory changes and restore functions that were previously lost.
The treatment of osteoarthritis is based on several basic principles:
Drug treatment is carried out in the phase of exacerbation of arthrosis, selected by a specialist. Self-medication is unacceptable due to possible side effects (for example, the negative effect of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on the gastric mucosa).
Therapy includes the following drugs:
To relieve pain, reduce inflammation, improve microcirculation and eliminate muscle spasms, a patient with osteoarthritis is referred to physiotherapy:
In addition, thermal procedures, sulfide, radon and sea baths are used. To strengthen the muscles, electrical stimulation is performed. A gentle massage can also be used during remission.
If the listed exposure methods are ineffective, in the presence of complications, surgical treatment of osteoarthritis is used:
In the early stages of the disease, mechanical debridement, laser or cold plasma is used (smoothing the surface of damaged cartilage, removing non-viable areas). This method effectively relieves pain, but has a temporary effect - 2-3 years.
Most people these days don't want to take pills or injections. Therefore, they ask the question: how to cure arthrosis with the help of folk remedies? For the most part, such funds are aimed at increasing the tone of the body, improving blood circulation, relieving pain and increasing immunity.
Traditional medicine recipes are used to treat this disease:
Tinctures of bay, horseradish, garlic and rye grains are also considered effective. Treatment of arthrosis with folk remedies will be most effective when combined with drugs.
The basic principles of nutrition for osteoarthritis are reduced to the following points:
and, therefore, further stress on sore joints.There are absolutely no complaints about fish dishes - you can eat a lot of them, of course, in reasonable quantities.
By following the treatment regimen prescribed by the doctor, it is possible to achieve that the disease regresses and the damaged tissue begins to regenerate.
Prevention of osteoarthritis begins with proper nutrition. It is necessary to try to reduce salt intake, as well as food which can disrupt the metabolism. These include legumes, fatty meats, and alcohol. The diet includes cabbage, vegetables and fish.
For the prevention of osteoarthritis, it is necessary to attend physical education courses, warm up. If possible, it is best to walk a few kilometers. It is also important to monitor weight and prevent weight gain, as this will increase the stress on sore joints. It is not recommended to take weight loss pills, as they can disrupt the body's metabolism.
The outlook for life is favorable. Facilitating the social and occupational prognosis depends on the timeliness of diagnosis and the initiation of treatment; decreases when the decision on the question of surgical treatment of the disease is delayed, if necessary.