Arthosis is a progressive joint disease in which there is a slow destruction of its cartilage. If it is not, then the articulation mobility is finally deteriorated abruptly and the person is disabled. The article considers information about what osteoarthritis, its symptoms and treatment, characteristic signs and causes of appearance is.
What you need to know about this disease
The dystotic destruction of the joint and cartilage is the most common joint disease throughout the planet. Statistical data are surprising: four out of five people worldwide suffer in one degree or another for the lesion of the articular tissue and all the consequences of such a pathological process.
The disease is also often in men and women. For a long time it was believed that osteoarthritis was an elderly joint disease. But recently, the joints began to be affected by people under 30.
Such osteoarthritis is very dangerous, because it can quickly lead to the development of immobility in a person. Unfortunately, the number of changes in a degenerative joint increases annually.
What is the difference between osteoarthritis and arthritis? With arthritis, inflammation of the intra -articular tissue occurs. But with osteoarthritis, a person suffers progressive damage to the musculoskeletal system.
Why it arises
The main cause of osteoarthritis is a violation of metabolism in the articulation. Because of this, the cartilage gradually loses elasticity. The causes of this articulations disease are:
- Pronounced disorders of the metabolic process;
- hormonal imbalance;
- decrease in the volume of blood that feeds the joint;
- rheumatoid arthritis;
- Soriasis;
- Increased physical activity in the joints (including athletes), because they begin to collapse, and this happens at a relatively early age.
The appearance of osteoarthritis and its additional progression can affect such factors;
- injuries (the more injuries and heavier were, the degree of development of the highest pathology);
- greater body weight (leads to excessive load in the joint and, as a result, even a faster development of the disease);
- purulent arthritis;
- Age (in elderly patients, the disease occurs much more frequently);
- Bad quality, unbalanced diet;
- frequent hypothermia;
- penetration of articulation infection;
- some autoimmune pathologies;
- General poisoning of the body, including alcohol and nicotine;
- Specific infectious diseases, such as syphilis, gonorrhea, tuberculosis;
- some pathological states of the thyroid gland;
- hemophilia;
- Pertes syndrome.
Characteristic characteristic
The most obvious and characteristic sign of osteoarthritis is pain. Slide if the affected organ is at rest and intensifies if it is subject to intensive loads. We learn everything about osteoarthritis, more about these groups of signs, since in some cases they are the first to register in the development of bone and cartilage lesions.
Pain
If the articulation begins to get sick, this is the first sign of its defeat. Unpleasant sensations intensify if a person makes acute movements. Location of the symptoms of pain of osteoarthritis: only in the place where the pain is. But in some cases, it can also be applied to other sections of the musculoskeletal system, which are not affected by the pathological process.
It is characteristic that at night a person almost does not experience pain. If you find the optimal position of the body, then you will fall asleep calmly. Closer to the morning, they are activated, which forces a person to wake up. In the last stages of pathology, pain becomes so severe that it deprives a person of peace.
Cryst in the joints
This is a distinctive symptom of the degenerative lesion: due to the fact that the elasticity of the organs is reduced, the bones begin to rub each other, which is accompanied by a characteristic sound. Sometimes you can listen to it remotely.
The sound will be brighter, more actively progresses this disease. And in any case, it will be significantly different from crunch.
Mobility limitation
In the initial stage of the development of the pathology, the volume of active movements is preserved. But if osteoarthritis progresses, bone formations begin to germinate in cartilage tissue, so muscle spasm occurs. The active movements of this are violated, since the mobility of the joint is guaranteed by a sufficiently developed cartilage.
A decrease in movements activity also comes from the fact that the body cannot cope with conventional loads. That is why in the last stages of the development of this pathology, movement is almost impossible.
Deformation
This symptom appears due to the fact that growth appears on bone surfaces, cartilage. Due to constant irritation, the production of synovial fluid is activated, so the organ swells.
Important! Deformation is one of the late symptoms of osteoarthritis. The joint is already affected by the disease to a large extent, and often the conservative treatment does not bring results.
Stages of the disease
In total, doctors in the classification of the severity of the disease distinguish four stages (degrees) from osteoarthritis.
- In 1 grade, osteophytes are not detected in the diagnosis. There is some narrowing of the joint gap.
- With the damage to the second degree joint, the gap is reduced slightly, and the osteophytes have already achieved the surface of the bone. With acute osteoarthritis, very severe pain is observed.
- With the third grade damage, the gap is markedly reduced, and on the surface of the bone there are a large number of osteophytes. With exacerbation, the temperature increases.
- The fourth stage of the osteoarthritis of bones and joints is characterized by the fact that there is practically no articular gap, and the cavity is almost completely affected.
Depending on the type and place of damage to the articulations of the disease:
- Osteoarthrosis is a degenerative distributing disease of a support motor system with cartilage damage;
- Multiple degenerative damage to the joints;
- The bone lesion spoke;
- defeat of the shoulder joint;
- Cooksarrosis is the osteoarthritis of the knee;
- Reactive osteoarthritis is damage to the joints after an infectious disease;
- Wandering - Transitory osteoarthritis;
- Ankle joint injuries, wrist joint;
- Degenerative hands of the hands.
What is the danger of osteoarthritis?
Without the desired treatment, this disease is dangerously multiple complications:
- complete organ destruction;
- significant deformation;
- damage to peripheral joints;
- Almost complete impossibility of carrying out any movement that threatens the development of disability;
- Violation of the spine, the development of intervertebral hernias in it;
- A significant decrease in the quality of the patient's life.
Diagnostic methods
The diagnosis of joint diseases includes:
- General Inspection;
- palpation;
- a procedure that allows you to diagnose the volume and amplitude of the movements made;
- Blood analysis (general and biochemist);
- urine analysis;
- articulation x -ray;
- study of a fragment of cartilage tissue under a microscope;
- Ultrasound;
- Magnetic resonance
How to treat articulation
It is necessary to start treating osteoarthritis as soon as possible: this is the only way to suspend the development of the pathology and avoid the complete immobilization of the patient. The main task of the doctor and the patient is to eliminate the causes of destruction, the elimination of inflammatory processes, pain. Remember that it is impossible to completely restore joints, but treatment can improve your condition.
The principles of disease treatment are as follows:
- get rid of excessive loads;
- Medical Gymnastics classes in osteoarthritis;
- Physiotherapy recipe;
- the purpose of walking on the knees;
- SPA treatment;
- oxygenapia;
- Pharmacological treatment;
- Diet optimization.
These medications are prescribed from medications for the treatment of osteoarthritis.
- Non -steroidal anti -inflammatory drugs. With your help, you can effectively relieve pain, reduce the intensity of inflammatory processes. In addition, the prescription of ointment medications will be the most effective: they eliminate damage to the gastrointestinal mucosa.
- Corticteroid medications relieve inflammatory phenomena and pain in the process of exacerbation of the process. The intra -articular administration of medicines is shown (this procedure is performed only under clinical conditions). These products can be used for rheumatoid osteoarthritis.
- Osteoarthritic tablets that help restore the cartilage tissue of the joint. These funds must be used to a pronounced improvement and an increase in the volume of the joint movements carried out. It is shown that it uses all medications based on hyaluronic acid. The use of these medications is often justified in the treatment of the osteoarthritis of the knee joint.
- With osteoarthritis, the use of other means is indicated. The improvement after the start of treatment with such medications does not happen before, as in a month, provided that the medicine is constantly applied. Effective treatment with these medications is possible if the patient meets all doctor's recipes and, above all, falls into excess weight.
With very serious pain, the doctor can prescribe analgesics from the narcotic series. However, its use is limited due to the risk of complications.
The treatment of osteoarthritis with popular remedies can be used as a type of auxiliary therapy. In addition, the doctor selects the most effective tool individually for each patient. An important place in this therapy is occupied by adequate nutrition.
Pay attention! The osteoarthritis of the cure, including the deforming osteoarthritis of the knee joint, is completely impossible. With the help of effective treatment, it is possible to suspend greater destruction of tissues and prevent patient immobilization.
Nutrition and osteoarthritis
With the progressive chronic destruction of the joint cartilage, great attention should be paid to adequate nutrition. It is strictly authorized, because excess body weight can cause greater destruction of the joint. To reduce weight, flour products should be excluded from diet, sweet. It is forbidden to drink alcoholic beverages and mainly beer.
But the fish must be on the table with osteoarthritis every day. It is better if it is low in fat. Particularly useful in the destruction of the joint is gelatin. It contains a lot of collagen health. The body absorbs it very quickly and replenishes the lack of cartilage tissue. The regular use of this tasty and healthy dish makes the joints mobile, and the cartilage makes it elastic.
The daily menu must have more products and dishes containing vitamin B6: pyridoxin. It is found in legumes, nuts, potatoes, vegetables. It is useful to eat eggs, liver, dairy products: they are rich in riboflavin.
Osteoarthritic prevention
The methods to prevent this disease are the following:
- Standardization of motor activity, elimination of hypodinamia;
- An occupation only of those sports that do not require excessive load (the physical state and aerobics will be very useful for such a person);
- Avoid heavy physical work, which leads to intensive destruction of joints;
- Avoid eating in excess, fighting the overweight of all available and harmless forms;
- eradication of all bad habits;
- regular walks in fresh air;
- Swim;
- Exclusion of stressful situations.
Arthrosis is much easier to warn than to treat it later. In the first appearance of articulation pain, crunch and the doctor's restrictions, you must immediately visit the doctor to verify the joints. The timely beginning of the treatment will prevent the development of complications. Arthrosis is dangerous because a person can be disabled by him.