Treatment of knee arthritis (gonarthrosis)

With age, the vast majority of people are faced with the urgent question of how to treat knee osteoarthritis, with typical symptoms,inherent to this disease at its various stages.This includes the appearance of swelling in the knee area, redness around these swellings, creaking and rustling sounds, which can be clearly heard in silence when the knee moves, especially when squatting, and pronounced pain syndrome of varying degrees.The pain may appear immediately after normal daily physical activity or after exercise that is not age-appropriate in duration and intensity.When referring to the underlying causes of this pain, we must remember that its appearance can also be the result of:

• Inflammatory process in the knee joint.That is, it is a consequence of arthritis.It occurs as an independent pathology or as a complication of other diseases.
• Arthritis is a degenerative process in which joint tissues are destroyed, losing mobility and, if the arthritis process is prolonged, also causes joint deformity.
• Injury.Typically, it occurs as a result of a fall, bumping the knee, or hitting the knee on a hard surface.Joints may become deformed.
• Ligament damage.Ligaments hold the joint in place, preventing it from moving.But when they are damaged (stretched, displaced, broken), the joints are also affected - severe pain and tumors appear.In order not to make the injury worse, in such cases, urgent medical care and rest for the injured leg is required.
• Patellar meniscus injury.This protruding, round, movable cartilage in the knee can be injured even when squatting or turning suddenly.It is not always detected with the naked eye due to swelling of the knee joint that often occurs in such cases.An accurate diagnosis is made using ultrasound, X-rays and palpation by an experienced specialist.
• Popliteal cyst (Becker cyst).As a result of inflammation, fluid is formed in the joint, accumulating on the inner surface of the popliteal fossa, in the tendon area.
• Inflammation of the ligaments and tendons (tendonitis).They cause discomfort and pain localized along the ligaments and are accompanied by swelling.The pain increases when the knee is used (flexion and extension), spreading down the area along the muscles along the ligaments and nerves, above the knee, into the ligaments and muscles of the femur, and below - into the lower leg.
• Pain due to ischemia, due to impaired blood circulation in the knee joint.They can appear due to sudden changes in weather, severe hypothermia over a long period of time.For example, sailors who work for a long time at high latitudes (the Arctic).In most cases, the pain location is symmetrical, the intensity is the same, and in the early stages does not affect joint mobility.

The most serious mistake in such cases is to ignore the pain and hope that if you just rest, "everything will pass by itself."Only a specialist can give treatment recommendations and an accurate diagnosis, therefore, treatment of knee osteoarthritis at home is acceptable only based on the advice of "knowledgeable people", even only using traditional medicine.Effective treatment is possible only with a combination of drugs in the form of tablets, liniments, ointments and the use of physiotherapy.Sometimes, in severe or severe cases, surgery cannot be avoided.

Perform diagnostics

An orthopedic surgeon can diagnose knee osteoarthritis after examining your movements and medical history.The following procedures are often prescribed as a complement to the diagnosis:

• Involves laboratory tests, such as biochemical blood tests and bacterial microflora, smears, arthrocentesis and/or bone marrow, serological analysis, that is, the study of the presence of antibodies and antigens present in the serum.
• Instrumental studies, which may include ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging, densitometry, and other studies.
• Examine the internal joint capsule with an arthroscope - a device intended for a minimally invasive procedure to penetrate the cavity through an incision.Most often, this method is used after the articular cartilage is damaged or has cracks and severely worn cartilage tissue, as well as to restore the anterior cruciate ligament.Although manometry has rarely been used as a diagnostic tool recently, it has been successfully replaced by a completely non-invasive diagnostic method using MRI.
• Just "by ear" - with grade 3 joint damage, external sounds in the form of creaks, rustles and clicks can be clearly heard in the joint.

The information obtained will be compiled into a general history and only on that basis can full and effective treatment be initiated.

How to treat gonorrhea?

Restoring joint mobility is not a matter of one month.Treatment is complex, expensive due to high drug prices, and the result depends only on the patient's desire to cooperate with the doctor and strictly comply with all medical recommendations and prescriptions.

But first.What needs to be done is to immediately reduce the load on the affected joint(s).If work involves such stress, negotiate with management (if necessary, with a doctor's note) about changing your type of activity.For a while or forever - life will answer.Although frequent at first, bed rest may be necessary to restore initial joint function.Remember: joints are not muscles, you cannot “work them out” with intense training, it will only make the condition worse.Activation of vitality by vigorous movements may be required later, after the most acute inflammation has subsided.But even when increasing the load, you need to use supports such as elastic bandages, canes, crutches, etc.Sometimes you cannot do without special orthopedic insoles or even custom-made orthopedic shoes.

Treatment of knee osteoarthritis can also be carried out at home using outpatient drugs prescribed by the doctor - chodroprotectors, analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs.Depending on the extent of joint damage and the type of inflammation, your doctor may prescribe nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).But despite all their effectiveness in relieving symptoms, they do not eliminate the cause of the disease.

Don't apply heat to joints that are painful due to arthritis!On the contrary, apply an ice pack to the inflamed area - it will help reduce swelling, redness and inflammation.

In contrast, the use of chondroprotectors does not reduce pain.But the process of restoring cartilage tissue will take place slowly but surely.The only question is the effectiveness of the drug, but you should try to use proven and certified drugs for treatment.Preferably internationally recognized.

For some types and degrees of joint damage, permanently (or temporarily) applying and wearing a tightening bandage to immobilize the joint may help.But this measure should be used only if the method is approved by the treating doctor, because in some types of joint diseases, wearing such a bandage can aggravate the course of the disease.

You cannot be completely immobilized if you have knee pain.Furthermore, with some types of inflammation, moderate physical activity is only beneficial for the joints.Your chiropractor will tell you when and how much to exercise.Moreover, complete passivity in physical activity will cause weight gain, and this will aggravate joint loading.

Drug treatment is often combined with physiotherapy courses, the most favorable methods for treating joint diseases: magnetic and laser therapy (combined laser radiation is used at safe frequencies), mechanical vibration and ultrasound, microwave settings with a deep impact on tissues - when this is therapeutically justified.

In diagnosis, three degrees of knee osteoarthritis are distinguished.

Grade I arthritis

The mildest level of the disease.It is characterized by the fact that treatment does not require much drug action, the list of drugs is small, and measures related to physiotherapy, massage and exercise will help a lot.One of the most effective methods is considered laser therapy, which significantly reduces pain, stimulates regeneration of irradiated areas and reduces inflammation.In addition, the use of coherent radiation with strictly defined wavelengths eliminates the need to use glucocorticosteroids in treatment, which cause many side effects.

Grade II arthritis

It is characterized by more intense and acute inflammatory and degenerative processes of cartilage tissue.In the acute stage, special drugs are prescribed, a special diet is recommended, and physiotherapy for such cases is recommended.Physical therapy and massage are excluded during this time.

Recommendations: reduce the load on the affected joint, limit walking, avoid any movements related to squatting.Special orthotics can be prescribed for the knee joint - devices that immobilize the joint and severely limit its mobility.

In the medical arsenal for the treatment of second-degree arthritis, along with chondroprotectors with glucosamine and chondroitin, steroid drugs, as well as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, may be present.Hyaluronic acid and other drugs can be injected into the joint capsule to facilitate gliding of the cartilage surfaces relative to each other.

A special diet with excess collagen is prescribed: jelly meat, jelly, aspic and confectionery products - gelatin soufflé.Including fish oil in your diet is beneficial.

Grade III arthritis

When the knee joint is affected by third-degree osteoarthritis, treatment is not much different from the previous condition - except that the frequency of drug use increases with a slight change in glucocorticosteroid hormones.If there are no results, surgery and joint replacement are required.

Knee gonorrhea

All of the above applies mainly to people of working age, when organic damage to the knee joint is caused by extreme circumstances and has nothing to do with the aging of the body.

A completely different picture appears when a person reaches the age of 50 - when the flexibility of the ligaments is lost, tissue dehydration begins, and metabolism slows down.

Under these conditions, the development of gonorrhea begins - deforming arthritis of varying severity.In the classification accepted in medicine, knee gonorrhea is divided into grades I, II and III.

This disease, once started, progresses very quickly.Refers to age-related pathologies of the musculoskeletal system.To one degree or another, this is inherent in all patients after 50 - another thing is that by leading a healthy lifestyle and avoiding excessive physical activity, the integrity of the cartilage layer in the joints can be preserved both after 70 and after 80 years.

Disease onset may occur

Located between the tibia and femur, the knee joint in the human body bears perhaps one of the heaviest loads.An example is regular running on hard surfaces (usually asphalt): each step causes a shock load on the knee joint.

This joint also includes the largest bone that moves the sesamoid - the patella, located at the top of the tendon of the quadriceps femoris.The joint surfaces are covered by a cartilage membrane up to 2.5 mm thick consisting of chondrocytes.Drugs with the generic name chondroprotectors help restore these cartilage tissue cells, which are mainly affected by gonorrhea.

There is primary and secondary arthritis in the knee joint.The etymology of the first word is not fully understood and there can be many different reasons.When - from a sedentary lifestyle, and when, on the contrary, from too much physical activity.Poor ecology, being overweight and addicted to smoking or drinking alcohol can also have an impact.Doctors consider identifying the early stages of joint disease a great success because the cause of the disease is difficult to analyze.

Frequent hypothermia in the feet can also cause the disease.Therefore, people at risk of such diseases are better not to choose professions related to colds (refrigerators, navy working in northern latitudes), etc.

In women over 45 years old, the frequent development of gonorrhea is associated with long-term use of contraceptives due to reduced natural synthesis of estrogen.It also often occurs during menopause or under the influence of gynecological diseases such as fibroids, uterine fibroids, endometriosis, endometrial hyperplasia.Often in women, gonorrhea is also provoked by strict diets for weight loss, in which many useful minerals and vitamins are eliminated from the diet.

It is much easier to decide on ways to impact secondary arthritis, which can be a consequence of:

• Defects in the development and formation of tissues;
• Influence of neurodystrophic processes in the cervical and lumbar spine;
• Arthritis of the knee joint;
• His minor wounds and injuries;
• Meniscectomy, meaning surgical removal of the meniscus;
• Hormonal imbalance and chronic endocrine diseases;
• Heavy and continuous physical activity, including sports.To prevent joint injuries after 40 years, it is better to significantly limit and then abandon all exercises that involve excessive loads on the knee joint (in the form of running on hard surfaces or squatting with a load);
• Abnormal joint movement.This condition occurs when the ligaments that hold the joint in place are underdeveloped or naturally weak;
• Constant stress and nervous tension.

Signs and symptoms of disease onset (stage or severity)

• Knee stiffness in the morning;
• Pain appears in the knees if you walk a distance of one and a half kilometers;
• Joint pain after standing for a long time (even without moving);
• Knee pain even after complete rest, up to 2 hours, in a sitting position;
• Pain before going to bed or in the middle of the night while sleeping.

These signs should be given the most serious attention, because if a doctor is not consulted during this period, the disease will begin to progress rapidly, leading to stage 2 disease.

Goranthrosis grade II

It's typical:

• Pain at night, as well as pain in the first minutes of the morning when getting out of bed.
• Pain when moving up stairs.
• Possibility to use public transport with restrictions.
• Slightly noticeable limp.
• Pain appears when moving at distances up to 800-1000 meters.
• Limited ability to care for oneself.

Often, simple measures of increasing the production of synovial fluid in the joints become an effective way to cure secondary gonorrhea.

Goranthrosis grade III

Characterized by:

• pain that begins immediately after rest or occurs after 500 meters of quiet movement;
• severe lameness when requiring the help of improvised means (cane, crutches);
• Joint stiffness after waking up to half an hour or even more;
• inability to climb stairs or enter high-rise vehicles independently or without assistance;
• pain at night even when not moving the joint.

The affected joint develops ankylosis, a condition in which the joint ends of adjacent opposing bones fuse together.The leg completely loses mobility and the only way to recover is to replace the joint with an artificial joint.

The choice of medication and treatment method depends not only on the degree of damage to cartilage tissue, but also on the patient's age, ability to tolerate certain medications and physical therapy methods.

When making a diagnosis, a distinction is often made between unilateral and bilateral arthropathy, and between unilateral, right-sided, and left-sided arthropathy.The latter type is often diagnosed in left-handed people.

Nutrition for gonorrhea

First of all, doctors advise excluding red meat and organs such as liver from the diet.Priority should be given to fruits and vegetables, cereals with high gluten and fiber content, and no salt and sugar.As well as fermented dairy products, fish and nuts.

The last meal should not be later than 7:00 p.m.Eating frequency may still be familiar as it has evolved over the years.But it is better to eat in small portions, 5-6 times a day in the morning.

Breakfast should be the richest - it puts the body in a working mood and maintains strength until lunch.

If, especially at first, the feeling of hunger becomes unbearable, trick your stomach - eat an apple or chew a carrot.Don't eat high-calorie bananas and grapes!

Don't give up jelly meat.Transport collagen to the body and joints - the material that makes up cartilage tissue.

Drink at least 2 liters of fluids per day: water and/or natural juices.

Eliminate from your diet:

• Red meat;
• Pork fat, smoked meat of all kinds;
• Everything is spicy;
• Semi-finished products of unknown origin;
• Sugary carbonated drinks;
• Vegetables: white cabbage, tomatoes, red bell pepper.
• Potatoes because they are high in calories (carbohydrates!) and help you gain excess weight.So the Dukan diet will be suitable.

Treatment of gonorrhea in a sanatorium

This facility uses a variety of physical therapy, mud therapy, acupuncture, and all types of massage as treatments for knee arthritis.

One of the advanced treatment methods is intra-articular injection of hyaluronic acid.They compensate for the lack of their own production of hyaluronic acid, which serves as a lubricating factor for the joint surface and protects it from wear.The effectiveness of this procedure is felt on the first day.The effect of one injection lasts on average for a month.Patients with severe stages of arthritis feel a significant relief from the pain that has tormented them for many years from the very first days, and those with moderate disease, grade 1-2, after a course of 5 injections, in most cases forget the pain completely for about six months.