The knee joint is exposed to serious stress every day. That is why this part of the body is often exposed to various diseases. One of them is arthritis . Medicine defines this disease as a pathology of the joint as a result of various inflammatory processes. The danger of the pathology is that it often leads to disability. And it is very important to decide how to treat arthritis of the knee joint correctly, this is what we will do on the website alter-zdrav.ru.
Arthritis of the knee joint can occur in people regardless of age, gender and standard of living, but most often it occurs in women after 45 years of age.
The only way to avoid disability is to begin timely treatment, which should be carried out comprehensively. In order to make a timely diagnosis, you need to know what the characteristic symptoms of arthritis of the knee joint are.
The disease code according to ICD10 is M13 (mono and polyarthritis).
The causes of the disease can be different factors, but the characteristic symptoms are the same for all of them. Timely detection of the disease will facilitate effective treatment. It is worth paying attention to the condition of the knee joints if the following symptoms appear:
The listed symptoms are common to all degrees of knee arthritis. The more severe the degree of the disease, the more its manifestations intensify.
An advanced form of arthritis leads to changes in the knee joint due to regular muscle spasms, and subsequently the knee stops bending at all. In addition, there are additional symptoms that can accompany arthritis. Manifestations of a general disease include:
There is an opinion that arthritis is an age-related disease. This opinion is wrong; the disease can affect a person at any age. The reason for its occurrence can be several factors:
Each pathology requires its own special approach to treatment, which is prescribed by the doctor after diagnosis.
Read more about rheumatoid arthritis here, and about psoriatic arthritis here.
There are several traditional treatment methods and general recommendations for identifying knee arthritis.
The standard treatment for knee arthritis, like other affected joints, is non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications. The most popular non-steroidal drugs are:
The listed drugs help to quickly cope with inflammation and reduce pain in the joints. Nonsteroidal medications are used in cases where the inflammatory process lasts for a long time without proper treatment.
If the diagnosis of the disease was made at an early stage, then anti-inflammatory ointments and gels will help cope with the disease. Therapy with these drugs is possible only for mild arthritis. Most often, for arthritis of the knee joint, the following are prescribed for treatment:
Anti-inflammatory gels and ointments are also used in complex treatment together with injections and other medications. This is due to the fact that most often the use of gels helps only for a short period of time; pain and swelling return after some time.
In case of exacerbation of pain, the knees should be kept at rest. It is best to stay in bed and not worsen the condition of the joints with physical activity.
Compresses will help partially relieve swelling, as they also improve blood circulation in the injured knee by warming it. There are many traditional methods of compresses that will help relieve pain in the joints.
They have a warming effect; you just need to place the mustard plasters on your knees. In the early stages of the disease, it is best to carry out therapy daily, then you can feel a significant effect from this method.
To prepare such a bath, you need to take fresh spruce branches and completely fill them with boiling water. The spruce is infused for 30 minutes, after which it is necessary to cool the resulting decoction to 37°C.
When the infusion has cooled, immerse your feet in it, so that your knees are under water. You need to take such a bath for half an hour, after which you should wrap your feet in a warm blanket or lie down in a warm bed. Baths should be taken 2 times a week.
The following folk remedies will also help cope with pain:
Pain-relieving compresses made from a decoction of a mixture of valerian roots, chamomile, and elderberry flowers . Boil the mixture for 5 minutes, cool slightly until it is tolerable and apply between layers of polyethylene on the sore spot, bandage, insulate, and leave overnight.
Compresses made from a decoction of thistle, calendula, hop cones, juniper berries, mistletoe infusion, and thyme will also relieve pain and relieve inflammation.
For internal use for arthritis of the knees, a decoction of lingonberry leaves (2 teaspoons per glass of boiling water), over low heat for a quarter of an hour. Let it brew and drink it throughout the day. The product is also effective for gout, salt deposits, and articular rheumatism.
You can drink tincture of birch buds (20 grams of raw material per 100 ml of vodka), leave for 14 days, strain, drink 15-30 drops with a small amount of water three times a day. The same product can be rubbed on the affected areas.
For frequent exacerbations, it is recommended to take a decoction of laurel (50 grams of laurel in 300 ml of water, boil for about five minutes, let it brew for a couple of hours). Drink before bed for three days in a row. A week break, then we repeat the course. The remedy is strong, and then it will be possible to repeat the therapy only after a year.
The next nuclear remedy will be a mixture of garlic juice, horseradish juice and lemon (juice from 3 heads of chopped garlic, squeezed 10 lemons, 1 teaspoon of chopped horseradish), leave for three weeks in the dark, then drink a teaspoon twice a day until the end of the prepared mixture.
Patients are often prescribed therapeutic massage of the knee joints or manual therapy. In a state of remission, physiotherapy - magnets, therapeutic mud, electrophoresis.
A number of gymnastic exercises, such as cycling, can help treat knee arthritis.
The set of exercises itself, their implementation, and the frequency of exercises should be determined only by a doctor. The patient should remember that excessive physical activity can only aggravate the condition of the knees and not help in treatment. Specially designed exercise therapy exercises will give exactly the load on the joints that is necessary.
Exercises for the knee joints are performed in a lying or sitting position; if there are difficulties, move on to the next exercise, gradually increase the number of repetitions with a minimum of pain. For some, it will be easier to break up the gymnastics into 2-3 approaches of 10 minutes each.
Proper nutrition is the key to healthy not only joints, but the whole body. For arthritis of the knee joints, it is important to follow a strict diet, especially during an exacerbation of the disease. The patient's diet should include the following products:
When arthritis is detected in late stages, it happens that treatment does not help. In this case, surgical treatment is practiced. One type of operation is arthroscopy.
During it, the doctor penetrates the joint using a special instrument - an arthroscope. After which all growths are removed from the affected joint. Also, accumulated fluid is pumped out of the joint. Such an intervention can significantly improve joint function, relieve pain and swelling.
The replacement of the diseased knee joint with an artificial one may be prescribed. Typically, plastic or metal is used to make a new joint.
Exercise therapy for arthritis of the knee joint plays a big role in the treatment process, and is also a guarantee of inhibiting destructive changes in the joint and prolonging the period of remission of the disease.
A set of exercises for arthritis is selected by the attending physician individually for each patient.
Experts insist on the need to carry out controlled physical activity on the affected joints, even if there is pain. Otherwise, the worsening of the pathological process will be accelerated.
Destructive changes in the affected joints are caused primarily by impaired tissue trophism. Systematic implementation of a specially selected set of exercises helps to normalize the processes of microcirculation and lymphatic drainage in the pathological focus, which leads to accelerated excretion of metabolic end products, a decrease in the intensity of the inflammatory reaction and the restoration of mobility in the joint.
With an adequate approach to the development of a physical therapy complex, if the intensity of loads on the inflamed joint does not exceed acceptable limits, the following positive effect is achieved:
The development of the inflammatory process is accompanied by pain in the patient, which makes it much more difficult to perform physical exercises. However, the exclusion of movements in the joint only contributes to the aggravation of the pathology and an increase in the intensity of pain. Therefore, physical therapy is an integral element in the therapeutic process, along with the use of medications.
Exercising in water is gentle on damaged joints.
Gymnastics for arthritis of the knee joint is performed only during periods of remission of the disease. During an exacerbation of the pathological process, its effect on the area of inflammation is replaced by another technique - positional treatment.
Initially, the selection of acceptable types of physical exercise is carried out by the attending physician, who takes into account the characteristics of the development of arthritis in the patient and the degree of destructive changes in his joint. It is advisable to start classes in a physical therapy room under the supervision of an experienced and qualified instructor who will teach you the correct technique for performing each exercise. In the future, the patient can continue to perform physical exercises at home, since they do not require any specialized equipment.
All exercises included in the treatment complex are performed at a slow pace for a couple of minutes, while the patient should feel muscle tension in the area of the affected joint. Each type of exercise is repeated from 10 to 20 times, while the person performing them must listen to internal sensations and not bring himself to complete exhaustion.
Good results are obtained from physical therapy exercises in the pool, since it reduces the external pressure on damaged joints while maintaining the therapeutic effect of the training. But you should be careful when choosing a pool - conducting classes in cold water contributes to an increase in the intensity of the inflammatory reaction.
A prerequisite before starting gymnastic exercises is to warm up the affected joint, which can be achieved by rubbing it.
To do this, the patient takes a vertical position or sits on a chair, with his feet shoulder-width apart - if this is not possible, the distance between the legs can be reduced. After this, for several minutes he massages the kneecaps with his hands, making circular movements in different directions, until he feels a significant influx of heat in this area.
Physical therapy exercises should be supplemented by daily walking. The minimum duration of such exercises is at least half an hour. Walking helps stimulate metabolic processes at the site of inflammation and improve the trophism of articular tissues.
Gymnastic training can be performed at any time convenient for the patient - there are no special requirements in this matter. However, physical exercise stimulates the nervous system, so to prevent sleep disturbances, do it no later than 2-3 hours before going to bed.
Exercises for arthritis of the knee joint are performed in positions that eliminate additional stress on the pathological area. Therefore, the patient takes horizontal positions (both on his back and on his stomach) or sits on a chair.
With the patient lying on his back, the exercises are as follows:
Physical education classes should be carried out at a measured pace and not bring the patient to complete exhaustion.
When the patient lies on his stomach, he alternately bends his legs at the knees and brings the heel to the buttock with the help of his hands.
While sitting on a chair, patients are advised to make oscillatory movements with their legs or alternately raise their legs parallel to the floor surface and fix them in this position for several seconds.
If the knee is affected by arthritis, physical exercises should not only be intense in doses, but also avoid sudden movements in the affected joint. Therefore, when this pathological condition is diagnosed, the patient is prohibited from engaging in sports such as running or jumping (jumping rope).
Massage for arthritis of the knee joint serves as an additional therapeutic method, the use of which in combination with physiotherapeutic procedures and therapeutic exercises helps to quickly transfer the disease into a state of remission.
Local impact on the affected area when performing massage movements helps to obtain the following therapeutic effect:
When performing a massage of the kneecaps, it is permissible to use techniques such as kneading, stroking, rubbing, stretching and torsion. Any mechanical effects in this area should be gentle, since the popliteal fossa contains a large number of nerve endings and intense impact on them can cause not only discomfort, but also pain.
It is prohibited to perform manual therapy during periods of exacerbation of the disease, in the presence of a febrile state, damage to the integrity of the skin in the massaged area, or when the patient develops somatic pathologies that negatively affect his general well-being.
There is no therapeutic method that guarantees absolute healing of a patient from arthritis of the knee joint in medical practice today. However, the integrated use of exercise therapy, physiotherapy and massage techniques with parallel adherence to all medical recommendations makes it possible to achieve stable remission of the pathological condition, as well as prevent destructive changes in the joint elements.
Exercise therapy for arthrosis of the knee joint comes to the rescue when the patient needs to overcome pain and relieve the symptoms of arthrosis. Physical therapy contains a specific set of exercises for the joints, which allow not only to restore the knees, but also to strengthen them.
If you decide to engage in physical therapy, be sure to consult with a rheumatologist or exercise therapy instructor.
Therapeutic exercises for gonarthrosis (as knee arthrosis is called in medicine) will allow the patient to recover if he is consistent and persistent . By combining exercise therapy with physiotherapy, treatment with mud, leeches, and electrophoresis, the patient has every chance of restoring his knees.
Here are some positive factors that physical therapy brings:
Properly constructed gymnastics for the knee joints, performed systematically and persistently, will also help in cases where the disease has exceeded stage 2. If arthrosis does not go away completely, then progress in the destruction of the joint will not be observed. The patient will not need surgery, will not go on disability and will be able to return to normal life.
Physical therapy for arthrosis of the knee joint has regulations that must be followed to avoid unnecessary suffering and damage to the knee:
Therapeutic exercise for knee joints prevents complications and restores joint activity. The bone is no longer deformed because the painful process stops. Exercises need to be approached comprehensively, combining physical exercises with simulators, exercises in water and rehabilitation courses.
For arthrosis, you can also exercise on an exercise bike; Pilates exercises, hatha yoga asanas and micromovements are recommended. It is important to do knee exercises under the supervision of an experienced trainer. To develop muscles for arthrosis of the knee joint, steppers are used - exercise machines that work on the principle of walking.
A set of physical therapy exercises for arthrosis of the knee joint
There are contraindications for doing exercises with sore joints. You can do physical exercise only if you are in stable remission. When the joints are inflamed, you should not put any weight on your knees.
There are also situations when joint gymnastics should not be done:
Physical exercises with arthrosis of the knee joint are prohibited if they cause severe pain. It is forbidden to squat low, walk for too long, carry heavy objects, or perform various jerks. When the chronic condition worsens while performing a set of exercises, you need to give it up for at least a week.
Carrying out exercises and subsequent exercises of the exercise therapy complex for arthrosis allows medications to work more actively in the body. But we can’t always afford a personal trainer or a visit to a rehabilitation center.
In this case, do not despair and just start doing gymnastics for the knee joints at home. In this case, you need to be very careful and not exercise when you feel pain. You need to approach exercises carefully and abandon them at the slightest discomfort.
Osteoarthritis begins when you put too much stress on your joints, are overweight, or seriously damage your knee joints. To get rid of pain, you need to change your attitude towards health completely. Do not abuse salt, reduce weight, do not lift weights and do therapeutic exercises.
Dr. Evdokimenko, who has written more than ten books about this insidious disease, has created his own unique method of exercises for sore joints.
Among joint diseases, there are two that occur most often. We are talking about arthrosis and arthritis of the knee joint. These diseases are often confused and taken for the same illness, which is completely wrong. Affecting joint tissues, arthritis and arthrosis have different prerequisites for their occurrence and other significant differences.
Before studying the factors, symptoms and methods of treatment for arthrosis and arthritis of the knee joint, it is necessary to clearly define these diseases.
Osteoarthritis is a progressive joint disease that affects exclusively joint tissue. The disease appears due to the following factors:
As a rule, arthrosis is diagnosed and treatment begins at a late age. With the disease, cartilage tissue is deformed and becomes thinner. Osteoarthritis of the knee joint can be primary or secondary.
In the primary form of arthrosis, the balance between the wear and tear of cartilage and the rate of its regeneration is disrupted. Chondrocyte cells die faster than they are formed.
In the secondary form of arthrosis of the knee joint, the disease develops in the knee joint. As a result, the surfaces of the articulating bones do not interact normally.
This pathology is registered due to serious injuries, constant loads on the joint during human work, and several other reasons.
Arthritis is a pathology of joint tissues, which is caused by malfunctions and inflammation in some systems and organs. Arthritis, in most cases, develops in the first half of a person’s life, that is, before the age of 40.
In arthritis, damage to the knee joint is considered only as one of the pronounced symptoms of some disorder in the body, for example, a malfunction of the immune system or an infection.
From the above definitions, it becomes clear that the most important difference between arthrosis and arthritis is the specificity of the causes that provoke the development of symptoms.
The most common causes of arthrosis of the knee joint are:
In addition, dysplasia can be the impetus for the development of arthrosis. This is a disorder characterized by abnormal cell development, inflammatory processes, congenital malalignment of bones, mutations in collagen structure, and hereditary predisposition.
Most often, dysplasia is diagnosed in older people.
Arthritis is always an inflammatory process in the body. Reaching the knee joint, inflammation begins to actively develop in the synovial membrane. After some time, the inflammation spreads to the tendons and bones. The main reasons that can lead to arthritis are:
The development of such a disease as arthritis of the knee joint is spurred by the following factors:
It is important to look at the key symptoms that patients with joint dysfunction experience and how arthrosis differs from arthritis.
Pain is a symptom characteristic of almost any disease, including joint disease. However, arthritis and arthrosis cause different pain sensations.
If the pain begins at night at rest, in particular around 2-5 hours, then this is a characteristic sign of rheumatic pain in the joints.
Arthritis demonstrates exactly the kind of pain that occurs when the leg is immobile. The pain may decrease with active movements, for example, after sports training.
Arthrosis is a disease in which pain begins with movement and increased load on the knee joint. This can happen while climbing stairs, when a person lifts weights, and in similar cases.
It is important to take a comfortable and motionless position, then the pain will decrease and soon go away completely. In addition, arthrosis in the initial stage causes practically no pain, or pain occurs after excessive stress on the joint.
It is important to remember that arthritic pain occurs with movement, and arthritic pain occurs at rest, usually in the morning and at night.
The nature of stiffness in movement is characteristic of both diseases, but the stiffness is also slightly different. Damage to joints of inflammatory origin, namely arthritis, is characterized by stiffness in the joints in the morning, which goes away by lunchtime or within several hours after a person wakes up.
With arthrosis, the motor amplitude of the joint decreases, which is associated with the fact that as pathological changes develop and when treatment is not carried out, the joint space begins to narrow and bone tissue grows. This is expressed in the appearance of osteophytes on the bone surface, as well as spines.
Then there may be spasms of muscle tissue. The more advanced a person’s arthrosis stage is, the smaller the range of motion.
In the area of the affected joint, skin redness and swelling begins, which occurs as a result of the inflammatory process. These symptoms of arthritis are often accompanied by pain, and the swelling may vary.
With arthrosis, a person’s joint area begins to swell and swell. In this case, the symptom is permanent, since, in most cases, it is a sign of late stages of arthrosis. In advanced cases of arthrosis, irreversible and total changes form in the joint.
The joint becomes noticeably deformed, osteophytes grow and synovial fluid accumulates due to the inflammatory process, synovitis begins, in this case treatment should have at least a minimal effect.
Joint crunch is most often observed with arthrosis. What is most characteristic is that the crunching intensifies and even becomes louder as the disease progresses.
The crunching noise due to arthrosis should not be confused with light clicking sounds when moving in normal joints. The joint crunch is more creaking and dull.
The appearance of a crunch is due to the fact that the surfaces of the bones in the diseased joint are not located as they should in relation to each other. Regarding arthritis, crunching is not a characteristic pathological sign of this disease.
The key symptoms and their features were studied above. But with arthritis, in many cases there are additional signs of the disease that you should also pay attention to:
For both arthrosis and arthritis, it is extremely important to start treatment in a timely manner, since this makes it possible to maintain joint mobility, extending the time of its full functioning.
Treatment for arthritis includes the following:
Treatment of arthrosis involves 3 main directions:
It must be emphasized that it is impossible to completely recover from arthrosis, however, it is possible to stop the development of the disease and significantly slow it down. It is extremely important to visit a doctor promptly for help and begin treatment.
As a rule, most joint pain is chronic or gradually progressive. In other words, a person almost always has unpleasant symptoms in the form of pain, swelling, redness, and even difficulty moving.
Most often, various medications are used to alleviate the existing condition, as well as to prevent exacerbation. Despite the advisability of using medications, they can also lead to undesirable consequences for human health. In addition, the cost of such drugs is usually quite high.
The best alternative for any pharmaceutical medicine is to use folk remedies for treating joints at home.
There are many advantages of using folk remedies. Among them:
Despite the availability and absence of negative effects on the body, any treatment, even non-drug treatment, requires prior approval from a doctor who will prescribe the necessary treatment and establish an appropriate diagnosis. In case of serious diseases, traditional medicine alone will not be enough.
As already mentioned, using any home remedy requires prior consultation with a doctor.
Certain types of diseases require contact with specialists who will give precise recommendations for treatment.
Most often, folk remedies are used to treat finger joints and other parts of the body:
Salt deposition in joints, which requires treatment with folk remedies, is one of the most common problems.
Quite often, if it hurts, you can use warming agents, including compresses based on alcohol, honey and related products. If the pain is moderate, a single use of a compress will be enough to help reduce pain or completely relieve pain. In case of more severe pain, a course consisting of 4-5 procedures may be required.
Warming procedures that use salt, mountain wax, dry buckwheat, paraffin and boiled potatoes are quite effective.
Alcohol-based products are also quite effective. They have an analgesic, absorbable and anti-inflammatory effect.
Quite often people use cabbage leaves as a compress.
Any factor can aggravate the course of the disease, and treatment will depend, first of all, on the cause of the disease. There are also quite a lot of recipes for treatment and everyone can choose the appropriate one depending on the nature of the disease. You can use both external and internal methods of treatment. For example, bay leaf is a fairly effective way to prevent pain in the joints.
Joint diseases can be treated in various ways. As a rule, proper preventive treatment is a sufficient means of preventing any disease. You can use oatmeal, fir oil for rubbing, gelatin tinctures. The most effective is the use of complex treatment methods, namely medications, folk remedies and physiotherapeutic agents. As a rule, the use of preventive measures reduces the risk of visiting a doctor and using medications.
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Patients suffering from various joint diseases are recommended a special diet for arthritis of the knee joint, which helps reduce acidity.
The diet for arthritis of the knee must include raw fruits and vegetables, as well as dishes from boiled or steamed vegetables.
Apples, asparagus, sorrel, plums, black currants, blueberries, rowan, stone fruit and sea buckthorn are the most useful foods for arthritis.
Eggplants and beetroot juice have proven themselves very well as a therapeutic food for arthritis.
With regular use of natural May honey (50 grams per day), a significant improvement in the patient’s condition is also noted.
The common cherry is very useful for sore joints. It is rich in vitamin P (bioflavonoids), which normalize blood pressure, strengthen the walls of blood vessels and significantly reduce the risk of hemorrhages.
Recommendation: in case of exacerbation of the pathological process, the patient is prescribed a raw food diet (for a week he is allowed to eat only raw vegetables and fruits). This diet can be prescribed no more often than once every 2 to 3 months.
Patients suffering from metabolic arthritis (gout) should necessarily exclude from their diet foods rich in purine bases (meat, mushroom and fish broths, offal, fried fish and meat, cauliflower and legumes). At the same time, you should not drink coffee and strong tea, coffee and alcohol.
Juices made from apples, grapefruit, as well as turnips with honey greatly relieve the condition of patients suffering from various forms of arthritis.
Recommendation: You should eat 20 berries every day during the cherry season.
As a medicinal drink, it is recommended to prepare juice from beets, cucumbers and carrots (3:3:10) or from lettuce, cabbage and carrots (4:4:8).
And finally, I would like to remember such an excellent anti-inflammatory agent as garlic. Literally 2 – 3 cloves a day, eaten as a preventive measure, will protect joints from swelling and help maintain them in a mobile state. According to experts, garlic is able to block substances produced by affected tissues that provoke local inflammation.
Note: These juices are very popular, like many other traditional methods of treating arthritis.
Proper drinking regimen is very important for patients suffering from arthritis. For normal joint function, you need to drink at least two liters of clean water during the day.
Diet for arthrosis of the knee joint. Nutrition is probably the most significant factor in joint diseases. If your weight is above normal, then a diet is exactly what will ease your pain. The load on the joints will decrease and, accordingly, they will hurt less. There is no diet as such. There are only general recommendations regarding the food consumed. For example, eliminating meat and increasing the diet of fresh vegetables and fruits. Availability of vitamins in the diet.
As practice shows, people suffering from increased body weight have a much higher risk of arthrosis than those who eat in moderation. It is also known that if you reduce your body weight even by 10 kilograms, then the risk of arthrosis will also decrease.
Diet recommendations.
They are primarily aimed at controlling the amount of food consumed and reducing hunger.
What should you exclude from your diet?
In general, everyone needs to know when to stop, and especially those who suffer from gout and salt deposits. For arthrosis and arthritis, proper nutrition is also very important. In the fall, exacerbations most often occur. This is caused by dampness, cold, winds. Also, exacerbations are provoked by switching to less healthy foods. In the summer we eat what has grown in the garden. And with the arrival of cold weather, we switch to canned food, dumplings, and fatty rich broths. We lean on the meat and so on. You won’t be satisfied with light salads; you’ll freeze, so you’ll crave hearty food.
And these products are rich in toxins and quickly pollute the body - so you have exacerbations. Everything settles in the joints, inflammation occurs. Therefore, in order not to suffer in cold weather, you still have to give up junk food. Even despite the craving for her.
What you need to eat
They are on sale all year round and the price is quite affordable for all segments of the population. They contain substances in large quantities that have a positive effect on joint tissue. Capable of relieving inflammation.
Can be purchased frozen or fresh. In addition to a large number of vitamins, it also contains substances that can ease the well-being of arthritis. You can cook it by steaming. Boil for only 10 minutes so that the crunch is retained and the color does not lose. If you overcook it, you may not like it.
I advise you to definitely include it in your diet. Eat a handful of nuts daily. You can also have sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. In a word, you need to eat nuts little by little. They contain vitamin E, which is needed by joints.
You also need to eat baked sea fish. It is best baked in foil in the oven.
Osteoarthritis of the knee joint occupies a leading position in the frequency of occurrence in the group of diseases of arthrosis lesions of the joints. In terms of severity, the disease is in second place after coxarthrosis.
Every fifth person on the planet suffers from gonarthrosis. People over 40 years of age are especially predisposed to this disease and, as noted, the incidence in women is almost 2 times higher than in men. According to statistics, 7-22% of people in the world suffer from gonarthrosis.
We can say that with this disease, the articular cartilage cracks, becomes thinner, losing its fibrousness and shock-absorbing properties, which, in principle, does not make it possible to soften the periodic impacts of the knee joint and body during movement.
Today we will look at arthrosis of the knee joint, find out what it is, what the symptoms of this disease are, and also tell you effective treatment methods, including at home.
For what reasons does arthrosis of the knee joint develop, and what is it? Every day, our knee joints are subjected to physical stress while walking, supporting the weight of the entire body. Cartilage wears down over the years, causing changes in the joint. Therefore, older people experience arthrosis of the knee joints.
People at risk for gonarthrosis include:
The disease develops gradually; it is very important to seek qualified help from a doctor in time to avoid restriction of joint movement and disability in the future.
With arthrosis of the knee joint, certain symptoms are observed. Nature of pain:
The most important symptom indicating the occurrence of gonarthrosis is pain in the knee joint area. In this case, the disease does not occur suddenly; the pain will increase over many months and even years. At first they will bother the patient only with increased loads on the legs, and then even at rest.
Arthrosis of the 1st degree occurs with virtually no visible symptoms. This phase of development is characterized by:
Painful symptoms, if they occur, appear to a minor extent. At this point, knee arthrosis appears on an x-ray as small irregularities on the cartilage tissue and bone surface.
A slight narrowing of the space between the bones may also be observed. At this stage, it is extremely difficult to diagnose pathology, so radiography is mandatory.
With grade 2 arthrosis of the knee joint, the symptoms are more pronounced. Pain occurs from minimal exertion or immediately after it. In the affected part of the leg, pain is caused by almost any movement. After a long enough rest it usually goes away completely. However, the next physical actions immediately cause pain.
Approximately at the second stage of development of the disease, the following pain sensations are added:
Rough arthritic crunching of joints, as a rule, is barely audible at first, but as the disease progresses it becomes very loud and distinct. When you try to bend your leg, a sharp pain occurs at the knee. In some cases, this can only be done up to an angle of 90 degrees, and then only with difficulty and overcoming pain. A change in the shape of the joint also becomes obvious, which is further aggravated by the accumulation of pathological fluid in it.
Characteristic features of grade 3 arthrosis are severe pain, regardless of the amount or intensity of physical activity. The joint bothers a person even at night, causing significant inconvenience.
The mobility of the knee joint is impaired and the person is no longer able to independently bend the leg at the knee. There is sensitivity to weather changes, to which the affected area reacts very sensitively.
An x-ray can show global changes in cartilage tissue, joint surface, and uncharacteristic growths. An O-shaped or X-shaped curvature leads a person to disability.
The doctor, after listening to the patient’s complaints, during the examination first of all pays attention to visible changes in the structure of the limb (coarsening of the bones, deformation), decreased mobility in the joint. Palpation is accompanied by pain, and a crunching sound is heard when the kneecap shifts.
The main method for diagnosing gonarthrosis is radiography of the joint (at the same time, at the first stage, the pathology may not be detected). There may be several such images to track the dynamics of the disease. In addition to X-rays, an MRI or computed tomography may be prescribed.
All these studies are necessary to correctly determine the causes of the disease, as well as to differentiate gonarthrosis from other joint diseases.
For diagnosed arthrosis of the knee joint, treatment may include the following methods:
Goals of treatment of gonarthrosis:
Massage procedures, physical therapy and proper balanced nutrition (diet) are very important. If contacting a doctor is too late or no method has given any results, then surgery on the joint can be performed: surgical intervention is called installation of an endoprosthesis.
The main groups of medications used to treat arthrosis include the following categories:
The drugs used as NSAIDs are diclofenac, ketoprofen, piroxicam, butadione, indomethacin, ibuprofen, nimulide, Celebrex and their derivatives.
For arthrosis, non-steroidal, i.e. non-harmonic, anti-inflammatory drugs are traditionally used to eliminate inflammation and pain, since due to severe pain it is not possible to begin treatment. Only after the pain is eliminated with anti-inflammatory drugs can you proceed to massage, a complex of therapeutic exercises and physiotherapeutic procedures.
In cases where NSAID treatment is not enough and the disease continues to progress, the doctor may prescribe hormonal injections. They belong to the “heavy artillery” means and help to quickly eliminate pain, relieve inflammation and swelling of surrounding tissues.
Commonly used hormonal drugs:
Due to the large number of side effects, hormonal drugs are prescribed in short courses, only during the acute period of the disease, when inflammatory fluid accumulates in the joint cavity. The drug is administered into the joint space no more than once every 10 days.
They are the only medications that directly affect the cause of joint arthrosis. Especially in the early stages and especially those that contain chondroitin and glucosamine sulfate.
Chondroprotectors include:
The action of these drugs is based on restoring the normal production of synovial fluid and damaged cartilage tissue.
Quite effective in the initial stages of arthrosis of the knee joint. Injected intra-articularly.
The procedure is not cheap. Helps reduce abrasion of joint cartilage surfaces. The main thing is that the medicine does not penetrate into the bloodstream, there is a risk of embolic complications.
There is a large list of ointments and gels aimed at relieving pain and reducing inflammation.
This list includes ointments for arthrosis of the knee joint:
The list of ointments for knee joints is quite large and is not limited to those listed by us, and the composition of the medications included in the ointments is sometimes similar to each other.
How to treat knee arthrosis at home? Some traditional medicine recipes can complement drug therapy.
Many patients with arthrosis of the knee joint note a significant improvement in their condition and a decrease in painful and unpleasant sensations after using traditional medicine intended for external or external use.
A positive result is not possible without a course of therapeutic exercises, which can be performed at home. It strengthens muscles and improves blood circulation in the joint. To get the desired effect, you need to forget about intense joint tension.
The main rule when treating with gymnastics is slow and measured movements without any jerks.
Proper nutrition is an important component of successful treatment for knee arthrosis.
You should eat more often, eating small portions. This will speed up your metabolism, which will lead to weight loss. Between main meals, if hunger pangs occur, snacks are allowed. Fruits, with the exception of grapes and bananas, and whole grain breads can be used for them.