Osteoarthritis of the knee, or osteoarthritis of the knee, is a disease that cannot be completely cured.
However, modern medicine has learned to stop the pathological destruction of the tissues of the human body. With effective treatments, doctors can:
- relieve their patients of pain;
- Eliminate discomfort while driving;
- slow the progression of the disease;
- significantly improve the quality of life of the person who applied to them.
What is knee osteoarthritis?
The disease has several names for knee damage. It is often referred to as osteoarthritis of the knee, osteoarthritis deformans (DOA), and even arthritis, although the latter is more commonly used in rheumatoid pathologies.
The disease is progressive in nature and therefore often leads to serious complications without professional help. As a result of its course, the cartilage tissue that lines the surface layer of the joint is affected. This becomes the reason for the malfunction of the capsule and the appearance of painful sensations.
According to one theory, osteoarthritis of the knee results from an increase in life expectancy. According to this theory, a person over 50 does not feel old yet and continues to be active at the same level. However, its joints fail as they deplete the resources provided by nature.
Why does osteoarthritis of the knee develop?
The restricted mobility makes it difficult to walk, run and move freely. Unusually, a person perceives such restrictions as punishment. With the exacerbation of musculoskeletal pathologies, even simple steps are difficult. After 50 years, the disease develops in every second person. The most common causes of the abnormality in addition to age-related disorders:
- Broken legs in the knee joint area;
- Dislocation of the knee, failure or damage to the menisci;
- Inflammation of the joint capsules (rheumatoid pathologies, gout, ankylosing spondylitis and others);
- Failure of metabolic processes, congenital joint weakness;
- Hereditary factor, genetic predisposition.
Osteoarthritis of the knee occurs equally in an overweight elderly woman and a young man who have been injured during exercise.
Symptoms of pathology
The disease does not come on suddenly. Negative symptoms are mild at first and worsen over time. Almost imperceptible knee pain when walking becomes more intense with increasing activity when climbing stairs. It seems that this manifests itself in the discomfort created by long immobility.
The body seems to be numb and tries to adapt itself to the new load at the beginning of the movements. As soon as a person "dissipates", the unpleasant symptoms of the disease will go away and the knee will be able to move normally again. At this point, you need to see a doctor for an exam. Ignoring the diagnosis exposes a person to great danger.
Gradually the symptoms worsen:
- The pain becomes uninterrupted, now it no longer disappears during physical exertion.
- Freedom of movement becomes scarce, the knee is restricted, swollen and enlarged.
Doctors say that visiting the clinic early will open up good prospects for treatment. The disease can be stopped without expensive methods and drugs. With every new day of inactivity, the risks increase. At stage III it becomes almost impossible to neutralize serious symptoms.
Diagnosis of osteoarthritis of the knee
During the first appointment, the specialist listens to the patient's complaints, clarifies the symptoms, examines the knee and directs the patient to an X-ray. In the first stages of changes, external signs are absent, in stages II and III:
- the contours of the bones become coarser;
- Joint capsules are subject to changes in deformation;
- The limb axis is bent and movement is restricted.
When palpating, a crunch can often be heard, it is worth moving the patella in the transverse direction. The pain grows stronger. Thanks to an X-ray examination, you can clarify the diagnosis. Images make it possible to assess the degree of changes and distinguish disorders from other pathologies.
Treatment of knee osteoarthritis
If osteoarthritis of the knee is detected, an integrated approach to treatment should be used. Sustainable improvement is only possible in this case. Here, an individual therapy plan is created for each patient, in which traditional approaches and modern authoring techniques are combined. When creating a treatment plan for knee osteoarthritis, age, medical history, lifestyle, and history of past correction of musculoskeletal disorders are taken into account.
Drug therapy
Preparations for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee joint are selected from the following groups:
- anti-inflammatory drugs;
- Painkiller;
- chondroprotective formulas based on hyaluronic acid (the purpose of which is to restore the integrity of the cartilage fibers in the damaged joint capsule).
Pharmaceutical companies make a wide variety of drugs to treat this disease. These include creams, ointments, gel formulations, tablets, injection solutions. Medication is important when you need to quickly relieve acute pain and reduce the effects of the inflammatory process. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), steroids, and vasodilators are particularly popular.
Articular hand therapy
Soft-hand techniques allow you to fine and physiologically restore the natural anatomical relationships between internal structures. Since osteoarthritis occurs due to overload of the knee, displacement and abrasion of the cartilage, as well as incorrect projection of the position of the bones to each other, it is possible to correct the situation with the help of manual therapy.
The doctor will separate the misplaced structures to bring them together in the right proportion. At the same time, the muscle and ligament corset is strengthened. The founder of the clinic uses the experience of Western colleagues and the author's methods in his work. This way you will achieve a stable result that will last for a long time.
Shock wave therapy
UHT is a method that has been successfully used in the Russian practice of treating osteoarthritis of the knee. Impact on the affected area is carried out by special devices that generate acoustic signals with a pulse frequency of 2-4 thousand per session. Thanks to the hardware technology, it is possible to activate the blood circulation, improve the metabolism in the tissue and stimulate the regeneration of bone and cartilage fibers.
Di-Tazine Therapy
The author's technique is based on a combination of photosensitization, multi-component electrophoresis and gentle manual techniques. It aims to restore the damaged joint, relieve pain and discomfort. It is complemented by kinesiological procedures, taping, physiotherapy, blockade injections, the introduction of chondroprotectors and hyaluronic acid-based drugs into the joint. All of this in one complex allows you to stop the destruction of the knee joint, eliminate pain and stimulate tissue renewal.
Plasmolifting
Safe and painless procedure. The doctor takes venous blood from the patient, processes it in a special centrifuge and, after separating the plasma, injects it into the damaged joint with a normal needle. It is recommended to take the sessions in courses to consolidate the result. Plasmolifting relieves pain and inflammation and restores the mobility of the joint capsule.
Taping
Applying tape (self-adhesive tape) in a specially selected direction according to the location of the fibers of the damaged part. A wide Teip is used in the event of illness. It relieves pain by relieving muscle tension. In case of swelling, a special lymph band is used, the rays of which are directed to the nearest lymph nodes.
Other treatments
In the clinic, specialists select orthopedic profile insoles for patients with osteoarthritis of the knee joint. They help correct functional changes, relieve pain, and distribute the load evenly across the legs. By strengthening the ligamentous apparatus through exercise therapy at home, you can stabilize the position of the knee.