The joints of the human body withstand daily loading, so that they become susceptible to various types of destructive factors. Among the diseases of the joints, arthrosis is often found and affects both large and small joints. Knee arthrosis is degenerative-dystrophic damage to the knee joint, in which its motor activity is impaired. In the absence of proper treatment, the disease can lead to damage.
As the disease provokes characteristic deformities in the joints, it is called the deformation of knee arthrosis, which rightly describes the typical characteristic of pathology. The disease is chronic and more often diagnosed in women, with excess weight and venous pathologies of the lower limbs, but there may be other causes. Due to age -related changes, people also occur in the elderly.
Young arthrosis can be provoked by injuries. As a result of degenerative-dystrophic changes, cartilage softens, delayed and covered with cracks of different depths. He subsequently ceased to perform his function.
Reasons
Various causes lead to the appearance of deformation of knee arthrosis. The traumatic factor is a common cause of occurrence. After -traumatic arthrosis may develop due to the result of a dislocation or fracture in the particular area, as well as meniscus injuries. Usually, gonarthrosis of the knee joint occurs in young people who are actively involved in sports, or in those people whose work is associated with increased mobility, lifting and weight transfer.
Few people know that such damage can be a consequence of treatment when the injury itself has already been cured, but there were blood disorders during long -term limb immobilization in this area. Because of this, gonarthrosis appeared.
Increased exercise of the knee is one of the leading factors for the onset of the disease. Most often affects athletes who have constant active knee loads. At a young age, arthrosis may not occur, and rapid changes are usually started after the cessation of physical activity.
There is also a risk of diseases in those people who do not even reduce the load on the joints even in adulthood. In such athletes, the risk of fractures and dislocations increases, microtraumas occur. Therefore, after forty years, doctors recommend that athletes reduce the loads, switch to coaching work. Running and chopsticks are best excluded, since these types of activity are mostly loading the knee joint. Most often, a limb is influenced and is found with left gonarthrosis or right gonarthrosis.
The removal of the meniscus becomes an essential factor in the development of knee arthrosis. If for some reason mention has been removed, in 90 percent of cases it leads to the appearance of arthrosis-so called the knee for baking, during which the joints experience more friction than usual.
This is the case with meniscus arthroscopy - tear - which can become a trigger for knee arthrosis joint
The problem of excess weight is also important for people with arthrosis. Excess body weight creates unnecessary pressure on the joints. As a result, the cartilage itself is damaged, but the meniscus. And with a combination of overweight, acute arthrosis threatens the varicose veins of the lower limbs.
The weak ligament apparatus in some patients is a congenital characteristic, and sometimes ligaments are affected by other diseases. In one way, weak connections cause increased mobility in the joint, which is why the joint surfaces are significant abrasion. The effects of weak relationships cannot be felt for a long time until patients experience the symptoms of true arthrosis.
Joint pathologies also lead to the development of the disease. Most often, arthrosis becomes the culprit for the onset of arthrosis - inflammation of the joints. Typical signs are observed with arthritis - worsening in the composition of synovial fluid, pathological changes in cartilage, swelling, redness of the soft tissues. Even after osteoarthritis, chronic processes lead to arthrosis.
Disorders of metabolic processes often lead to pathologies of the musculoskeletal system. Bones and joints do not receive the nutrients and minerals so necessary for the strength of the tissues. With the lack of bone and cartilage surfaces, they are subject to destructive processes, therefore, even at light load, primary arthrosis occurs.
Symptoms
Knee arthrosis is manifested by a complex of characteristics that are difficult to note. There are no signs only in the first degree of development of the pathology, but the second and third degrees give clear symptoms of arthrosis of the knee joint:
- Pain is one of the key signs that does not manifest with a crystal. Interestingly, with the development of arthrosis, pain cannot be felt for even a few months or years until the disease worsens. Usually the first signs of pain are discomfort with exercise, walking or running, but also manifests when the meniscus is pressed. In the second degree of arthrosis, the pain in the joint feels more severe and with the third degree of development the painful sensations occur even at rest. Attacks worsen even after a short walk without heavy joint load, so that patients try to spare their knees;
- Deformations - The manifestations are becoming more and more pronounced in the third stage of arthrosis development. The knee will maintain its usual shape, but it looks slightly swollen, swollen. When arthritis joins, the knee flushes, it will become hot and painful to the touch;
- Crista with arthrosis occurs in the second and third degree of development of the disease. Crunchy sounds differ from healthy clicks, which can sometimes be heard when the knee lengthens and bending. With arthrosis, the symptoms are characterized by a dry, coarse sound, which occurs sharply and is accompanied by pain;
- Synovitis is the accumulation of a certain amount of fluid in the joint cavity. It is also contained there. But the accumulation of excess amounts to the development of the cyst - the cyst of the baker, which can be determined in the open position of the leg, is most noticeable;
- Limited knee mobility is a typical sign of pathology, as patients first try to protect themselves from pain consciously and at a late stage of arthrosis, they cannot bend the limb at all. In the third degree of development, the deformation of osteoarthrosis of the knee joint (DOA) even leads to loss of movement. Patients adapt to move on bent legs using maintenance products.
Development
The arthrosis of the knee joint occurs in the development of three degrees.
With first -degree arthrosis, painful pain and occurs only with active physical activity on the knee joint. Already in the first degree, the fluid in the cavity can accumulate, which in the second and third is already a cyst. With the progression, pain occurs in the movement, but it passes quickly. Externally, the deformity of the knee joint is invisible, so the diagnosis of knee arthrosis can be difficult.
Pain in arthrosis occurs even when the external signs of the disease are not noticeable
In second -degree disease, cartilage damage is more significant. If you take X -ray, then the stage of bone growth is already noticeable. With each movement in the knee there is a sharp sudden pain, but, returning to a comfortable position, the knee no longer hurts. In the second stage of DOA you can hear a crunch characteristic of arthrosis. As you progress, the problems with the extension and flexion of the knee worsen. The deformation becomes noticeable in appearance.
The osteoarthrosis of the knee joint of the third degree is characterized by a significant thinning of the cartilage. Gradually, the cartilage is soaked so much that the bone is exposed in some areas. The X -ray photo shows a significant amount of osteophytes - bone growths, salts that appear in the joint cavity. Externally, the changes are clearly visible and the patient deals with constant pain. It is easy to make a diagnosis-there is enough visual examination and control of the restraint is carried out.
With the progression of this degree, arthrosis can lead to complete loss of functionality. In any degree of development of pathology, knee osteoarthritis can join.
Treatment
Conservative
A group of most active drugs against arthrosis are non -steroidal anti -inflammatory drugs. These are mainly cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors, they can perfectly relieve inflammation, swelling and contribute to rapid recovery. These drugs have significant restrictions so that they cannot be used without the doctor's recommendation. For example, they are able to worsen gastric ulcer, heart disease and pathologies of the urinary organs. No -gossip anti -inflammatory drugs are prohibited during pregnancy.
The second group of agents are chondroprotectors that improve cartilage characteristics. They are used for arthrosis to restore the proper structure of cartilage, because in the process of resolution it loses many important components - chondroitin and glucosamine. Therefore, almost all chondroprotectors have both substances, but some medicines are one -component. With the help of these drugs, you can help the patient at the first and second stage of the disease, but not in the third when irreversible changes occurred.
In the course of conservative therapy, the doctor will make recommendations for eating. If the patient or patient is overweight, it is necessary to stick to a diet to normalize weight. How to strengthen a stable weight - the doctor will also say. It is also not recommended to eat a lot of salt, but it is better to fill the diet with calcium, vitamins and minerals. Jeli, jelly, will be useful.
Operative
The most common type of surgery for arthrosis is arthroscopy, but other interventions are performed. The treatment of knee arthrosis is usually performed in the second and third degrees, when conservative therapy no longer helps.
If necessary, minimally invasive intervention, for example, when you accumulate fluid in the knee joint, this is possible with a puncture. In the cavity of the knee joint a puncture is made and excess fluid is pumped. This method can be diagnosed with the disease, so it is used simultaneously for treatment. The fluid is taken at the initial stage in a minimal amount, but this already greatly improves to be patients well. Then, after a biomaterial examination, another part is removed and corticosteroids are introduced into the joint cavity.
Endoprotetics is sometimes the only way out for patients with third degree arthrosis
Arthroscopy is the most common. With a small incision, several tools are introduced into the skin that allow you to conduct joint examination and the necessary manipulations in it. With the help of arthroscopy, you can remove particles of tissues that are separated from cartilage, but there is always a risk of secondary gonarthrosis.
In case of severe damage, it is necessary to perform a per -semantial osteotomy. This is a greater effect on the joint, resulting in slightly nourished and installed at the right angle. After the surgery, the rehabilitation is longer, but the effect lasts longer.
Significant destruction of the joint elements leads to complete immobilization of the limb. The joint joint does not perform its function, which means that it must be replaced and you have to perform the operation. Knee joint endoprothetics are an expensive surgery, but this allows the patient to return to the limb. Different knee prostheses are installed - plastic, ceramics or metal. These are durable structures that allow you to forget about the problem for several decades.
Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy methods can only be used when the acute period has passed and the patient recovers.
The techniques are actively used:
- Ozone therapy is the effect on the affected joint of the ozone and the substance can be introduced when injected or administered as external treatment. This type of patient help is very effective, therefore often used in the treatment of various pathologies, including arthrosis. Treatment makes it possible to activate blood circulation in the problem area, to achieve anti -inflammatory and analgesic effects. At the same time, glucocorticoid treatment is performed;
- Kinesiotherapy - treatment is performed with the help of a special set of exercises. The load is formed taking into account individual data and special simulators are used when performing exercises that strengthen the joints. The difference between kineotherapy and physiotherapy exercises in active effects not only on knee osteoarthritis, but also on the whole body as a whole.
They use not only ozone therapy and kinesiotherapy, but also physiotherapy exercises. Good results are given by copyright methods to eliminate knee arthrosis - exercises in Bubovski, Eudokimenko, Dikul. In the course of the exercises and after them, we should wear a special knee pad - orthosis to strengthen the right or left knee joint.