One of the greatest loads in the human body receives its skeleton, which performs musculoskeletal function. Unfortunately, because of so many loads and influenced by many factors, it is vulnerable to disease.
With age, many begin to complain of pain in the joints of the knees, which is not surprising, since it is this part of the skeleton that receives one of the most severe loads.
One of the diseases, which according to statistics affects about 20 percent of the population, is degenerative osteoarthritis (hereinafter - the pre-knee joint or, as it is also called, gonarthrosis.
Because of constant loads and pressure on the cartilaginous tissue at the joint of the joints in the knee, it is gradually "wiped and the bones begin to press against each other. As a result, bone growths are formed, as the body reacts to the stimulus and tries to protect itself, but these newforms deform the knee and cause severe pain to the person.
Content
- 1Causes: who is at risk
- 2Symptoms and Diagnosis
- 3Methods of treatment
Causes: who is at risk
This disease is peculiar to mostly elderly people and practically does not occur in those who are less than forty years old. So, if a person comes to the doctor with complaints of pain in the knee joint and this was not preceded by any injuries, then the cause will most likely be degenerative osteoarthritis.
The disease most often affected are women of advanced age, while in men it is much less common. A possible cause for this is a sharp hormonal leap that occurs in the body of a woman during menopause, calcium a disadvantage due to the fact that women breast-feed children and with age, the deficit of this trace element negatively affects the cartilaginous tissue.
Usually this disease affects one leg, less often - both at once. Therefore, it is often possible to find a diagnosis: an anterior knee joint or vice versa - a right knee joint.
As with most diseases of the musculoskeletal system, people at risk are also overweight, professional athletes, whose load on the knee joints is particularly high, and vice versa, people leading a sedentary lifestyle, with insufficient motor activity.
Symptoms and Diagnosis
To know how to better treat inflammation of the knee joints, it is necessary to understand what caused it and at what stage the disease is.There are three degrees of the disease, accompanied by different symptoms.
If the patient is presentdopular joint of 1 degree, then he experiences, as a rule, slight discomfort in the knee, stiffness of movement, which are manifested after a long absence of mobility of the body, for example, after sleeping or sitting for computer. Discomfort and mild pain go away after a person breaks and moves a little.
And, conversely, at the first degree of doc, there may be slight pain and fatigue in the knees after prolonged physical exertion. At this stage of the disease there is no degenerative change in the knee, so it is best to consult a doctor right now, when the illness is easiest to treat.
Complementary joint of 2nd degreemanifests itself more intense pain, greater stiffness of movements, when the symptoms are already difficult to ignore. The knee can swell, tingling sensations appear in the calf muscles, and during walking, there is sometimes a crunch in the knee joint. At this stage, changes in the knee, leading to its deformation, begin.
And already the last stage of the disease is consideredthird-degree joint, when the treatment will take the most time, and for recovery, certainly, it will be necessary to surgical intervention. When referring to a doctor, this disease is diagnosed as by palpation of the joint, and by hardware methods.
When pressing on the knee, there is an increase in the knee, a person experiences discomfort when touched and pain. Also, an x-ray examination can be performed by a physician to determine the condition of the cartilaginous tissue and the degree of deformity of the joint, and ultrasound is less often prescribed. The disease can also be detected by a blood test (C-reactive protein will be present in the crop).
Methods of treatment
There are several methods of treating the doppler joint, the complexity and duration of which will depend on the degree of progression of the disease.
At the initial stages of the disease, there will be enough medication, which means taking medications, promoting the strengthening of cartilaginous tissue, blockers of joint destruction, reducing its inflammation and reducing painful Feel.
More effective than tablets are injections, as they quickly deliver micronutrients to the cartilage tissue of the joint.
These drugs include
- mucosate,
- arthrosan,
- artra,
- teraflex and others containing glucosamines and chondroprotectors.
The course of treatment with such drugs is long - from thirty days to six months, depending on the positive effect. Patients are also appointedointment chondroksida, ointment Dikuletc.
It is easiest to treat before the first degree, when the disease is just beginning, and deformation in the knee has not yet begun. At this stage, there will be enough physiotherapy treatment, which implies therapeutic physical training. Moderate exercise is performed to strengthen the muscles around the bones of the knee, increase its mobility and reduce pressure on it by reducing body weight.
Methods of treatment of a dopant joint of 1 degree:
- Physical exercise, which is best done lying down, to reduce the burden on the affected joint.
- Swimming, during which the maximum mobility of the body is achieved, and the load on the joints is minimal.
- Diets that are prescribed for people who are overweight. The ration must necessarily contain dairy products, fish and exclude rice, which promotes the washing away of calcium from the body.
Treatment of pre-grade 2 usually involves a medicamental and physiotherapeutic method aimed at reducing pain, inflammation and preventing the destruction of cartilage.
Surgical intervention in extreme cases is performed in patients in the third stage of the doc, when other methods do not give a positive result. In this case, surgical intervention is performed under general anesthesia, during which either bone growths that cause deformation of the joint and causing severe pain, or put a prosthesis that performs the cartilage function and prevents further deformation the joint.
Treatment of patients with joints in sanatoriums allows achieving a tangible positive result, since a set of methods is immediately applied - both medicamentous, and physiotherapeutic, and hardware.So, in the dining room of the sanatorium only healthy and properly cooked food is served, the patients attend special exercise physical therapy, swim in the pool and pond, engage in simulators, take mineral and mud bath.
Some methods of traditional medicine, too, should be considered as a method of treatment of the disease.It is quite useful to consider ointments with beeswax, the reception of decoctions of lime, chamomile, tinctures on cranberry berries. It is believed that knuckled to the knee and wrapped on top with a warm kerchief for the night, cabbage leaf helps reduce pain and reduce swelling of the joint.
In the treatment of this disease, special knee pads are often used, which prevent knee deformation. By aligning it, they reduce the burden on the affected joint. Such knee pads are prescribed by a rheumatologist, and they are always selected individually.
Alas, at a certain age or under the influence of a number of factors, many people will learn what is meant by the experience. It is better to consult a doctor at once - with the appearance of stiffness of movements in the knee joint, slight aching pain, fatigue after a little physical exertion.
At the initial stage, treating the disease is much easier than when there are degenerative changes in bones that cause severe pain and require long-term treatment. The modern level of medicine can successfully cope with such a disease as before, most importantly - in time to see a doctor.
