Types of arthrosis: symptoms and methods of treatment

Arthrosis is a chronic joint disease, accompanied by pathological changes in hyalin cartilage, and subsequently in adjacent tissues, a joint capsule and a synovial shell.

The defeat is dystrophic and degenerative in nature, which leads to a change in the structure of articular tissues, the loss of their functionality.In accordance with the data of the same statistics, arthrosis is subject to 12% of the total population of the planet.From 62% to 65% of all episodes of the disease falls on people over 60 years old.

Another 30-35% of cases of joint damage to this pathology are in patients aged 40-60 years.And about 3% are young people age 20-40.

What is it?

In simple words, arthrosis is a chronic disease in which progressive degenerative-dystrophic changes develop in the joint due to a violation of metabolic processes.It is the most common joint pathology, is diagnosed in 6-7% of the population.With age, the incidence increases dramatically.

Most often, with arthrosis, small joints of the brush are involved in the pathological process (in women 10 times more often than in men), the thumb of the foot, intervertebral joints of the thoracic and cervical spine, as well as the knee and hip joints.Arthrosis of the knee and hip joints occupies a leading place in terms of severity of clinical manifestations and a negative effect on the quality of life.

Arthrosis is characterized by a comprehensive damage to the articular and auxiliary devices:

• chondritis - inflammatory changes in the cartilage of the joint;
• osteitis - involvement in the pathological process of subject bone structures;
• synovitis - inflammation of the inner shell of the joint capsule;
• Burit - defeat of the perioseman bags;
• Reactive inflammation of the soft tissues (muscles, subcutaneous fiber, ligamentous apparatus) located in the projection of the involved joint (periarticular inflammation).

The disease is detected in 2% of people under 45 years old, in 30%-from 45 to 64 years old and in 65-85%-aged 65 years and older.The greatest clinical importance, due to their negative impact on the standard of living and the ability of patients, are arthrosis of large and medium joints of the limbs.

Types of arthrosis

Depending on the cause of the pathological process, the primary arthrosis, secondary and idiopathic is distinguished inside the joint.

Primary develops as an independent disease, secondary, as a result of an injury or infection, and the cause of the idiopathic form is not known.In addition to the classification of the disease, depending on the cause of the pathological process, arthrosis is distinguished at the place of localization of destructive changes:

1. Gonarthrosis is the most common type of pathology, characterized by damage to the knee joints.Most often, gonarthrosis is detected in people with excess weight, with chronic metabolic diseases in the body, weak immunity.The knee arthrosis progresses for a long time and gradually leads to a complete loss of motor function.
2. The arthrosis of the shoulder joint is the main cause of degenerative processes in this area are congenital abnormalities of the development of the shoulder joint or excessive loads on this zone, for example, when wearing heavy treasures on the shoulders.
3. The ankle arthrosis - the main causes of the development of degenerative processes in the ankle joint are suffered injuries, dislocations, stretching, fractures.In some cases, the development of the pathological process can provoke an autoimmune disease - rheumatoid arthritis.The ankle arthrosis is prone to dancers, women wearing high heels, athletes.

4. Unkoarthrosis or arthrosis of the cervical region - causes are neck injuries, progressing osteochondrosis, obesity, inactive lifestyle.At risk, people working at the computer are in offices.In addition to severe pain in the neck, patients have pronounced dizziness, inhibition of consciousness, memory impairment and fatigue.These symptoms are due to compression of the vertebral artery through which nutrients and oxygen enter the brain.
5. Coksartrosis or arthrosis of the hip joint - the main cause of occurrence is age -related changes in the tissues of the joint.At risk, people over 45 years old.
6. Osteoarthrosis of the fingers - develops for the same reason as spondylarthrosis.
7. Polyrthrosis - characterized by damage to multiple joints with progressive degenerative processes in them, while ligaments, muscles and tissue joints are involved in the pathological process.
8. Spondylarthrosis - destructive destruction is subject to tissues of the spinal column, namely its lumbar department.At the risk group of a woman during the occurrence of menopause, since spondylarthrosis progresses against the background of a deficiency of female sex hormones.

The causes of arthrosis

The formation of arthrosis is facilitated by two causes - the load and the absence of a full nutrition that supplies vitamins, minerals for tissue restoration.The joints of each person carry a load.The athletes and dancers, with physical work, the load on their feet is greater, which means that bone joints wear out faster and require high -quality nutrition.With a calm lifestyle, the support apparatus wear out slower, but also requires periodic renewal of fabrics.

Therefore, the main condition for the destruction and deformation of the joints is inferior nutrition, failure to disassemble useful components, which often occurs in case of metabolic disorders.

We list the factors that contribute to the wear of the articular compounds and the metabolic disorders:

• Muscle weakness and improper loading of the joints.The weakening of one or more muscles increases the load on the joint and unevenly distributes it inside the bone compound.Incorrect muscle loading is also formed for flat feet, scoliosis, therefore, with these "harmless" diseases with age, cartilage tissues wear out, arthrosis appears.
  

  The probability of arthrosis increases with strong physical exertion.

  If daily loads exceed the capabilities of bone tissues, microtraumas are formed in them.Thickens arise in the places of injury, which over time grow and deform the joint;

• Metabolic disorders (gastrointestinal disease - stagnation of bile, dysbiosis, gastritis, cholecystitis, pancreatitis, metabolic disease - diabetes);
• Psychosomatic causes - the psychosomatics of arthrosis confirms that the cause of the disease becomes a negative emotional state.Stress forms muscle spasm, constant stress disrupts the nutrition of all tissues (internal organs, bones, joints);
• Heredity (the type of metabolism is inherited and its possible violations, a tendency to muscle weakness or the incorrect formation of the bone apparatus, to poor digestion - which is the basis for the development of arthrosis in old age).

Arthrosis is a disease of worn joints that have lost a significant supply of mineral substances and the ability to counteract loads and destruction.Therefore, with age, the predisposition to the disease increases.After 70 years, arthrosis is diagnosed with every second pensioner.Since the maximum load falls on the feet (a person moves - walks, stands, runs, jumps), then it is here that the first signs of arthrosis are formed.

The mechanism of progression of the disease

When any of the causes that provoke the disease of the joint with arthrosis appears, pathological processes begin to develop in it.The mechanism of their progression is not fully studied, but the main stages of official medicine are known.

At the initial stage, the structure of the cartilage tissue and abnormal changes in the synovial fluid occurs.All this proceeds due to violations of metabolic processes in which joint tissues do not receive the necessary components in sufficient quantities, or are deprived of some of them.

Next, the elasticity of collagen fibers and the flexibility of the cartilage is lost, due to the fact that, with a lack of nutrients, hyaluronic acid does not have time to produce the softness and flexibility of the structural composition of collagen fiber.The cartilage gradually dries, becomes brittle and cracks.The liquid in the synovial capsule is gradually depleted and subsequently completely disappears.

On the cartilage fabric, roughness, solid bone neoplasms are formed.At the same time, the deformation of other joint tissue develops, their pathological degeneration, dystrophy and the loss of physiological activity.For the patient, these changes mean the appearance of pain, lameness, and immobility of the joint.

Symptoms of arthrosis

Arthrosis is not characterized by an acute clinical picture, changes in the joints are progressive, slowly growing, which is manifested by a gradual increase in symptoms:

• pain;
• periodically arising crunch in the affected joint;
• joint deformation that appears and enhancing as the disease progresses;
• stiffness;
• restriction of mobility (reducing the volume of active and passive movements in the affected joint)

The pain in arthrosis is stupid transient, appears when moving, against the background of an intensive load, by the end of the day (it can be so intense that it does not allow the patient to fall asleep).The constant, non -grozen nature of pain for arthrosis is uncharacteristic and indicates the presence of active inflammation (subchondral bone, synovial membrane, ligamentous apparatus or periarticular muscles).

Most patients noted the presence of the so -called starting pains that occur in the morning after waking up or after a long period of inaction and passing during motor activity.Many patients define this condition as the need to “develop a joint” or “disperse”.

Arthrosis is characterized by morning stiffness, which has a clear localization and is short -term (no more than 30 minutes), sometimes it is perceived by patients as a “feeling of jelly” in the joints.Perhaps a feeling of jamming, stiffness.

With the development of reactive synovitis, the main symptoms of arthrosis join:

• soreness and local increase in temperature determined by palpation of the affected joint;
• constant nature of pain;
• increased joint in volume, swelling of the soft tissues;
• progressive reduction in the volume of movements.

Stages and degree of arthrosis

During the disease, medicine distinguishes three stages that have differences on the signs of the disease, the intensity of damage and localization.At the same time, the differences in all three stages relate to the types of fabrics that suffer pathological changes.

1. The first degree of development of arthrosis of joints is the initial phase of the disease.It is characterized by a slight lesion of cartilage tissue and the loss of physiological functions in collagen fibers.At the same time, at the first stage, minor morphological disorders of the bone tissue and structural changes in the synovial fluid are noted.The cartilage of the joint is covered with cracks, the patient has a slight pain in the place of localization of pathology.
2. The second degree is the development of arthrosis with an increase in dynamics.This stage is characterized by the appearance of stable pain, chroma.Notable morphological and dystrophic cartridges of cartilage are noted, during diagnosis, bone growths are revealed.Osteophytes are formed - bone growths that are visible during a visual examination of the destruction site.At the same time, the processes of degenerative changes in the synovial capsule occur, which leads to its structural depletion.The disease in this phase can often aggravate and be regular.The pain gradually becomes constant.
3. The third degree is active progression.At this stage, the synovial fluid is almost completely absent due to its degeneration, and bone tissues abrupt about each other.The joint mobility is almost completely absent, the pain becomes more tangible.Cartilage tissue is also absent due to degenerative and atrophic changes.Treatment of the third degree of arthrosis of the joints is considered impractical.

In addition to these three degrees of development of pathology, there is a final stage - irrevocable destruction of all joint tissues.In this phase, it is impossible not only to conduct productive therapy, but even to remove the pain syndrome.

The inflammatory process usually begins with a second degree of damage, in rare cases, in the absence of medical intervention - at the first stage.Subsequently, it becomes more difficult to stop it, and this can lead to secondary pathologies, the development of pathogenic microflora in the place of localization of the disease.

To exclude serious consequences, treatment should begin from the first degree, and the use of intensive care methods.At the last stage associated with the complete destruction of cartilage tissue, only one methodology for riding the patient from pain and immobility of joint is allowed - endoprosthetics with complete or partial replacement of the components of the joint.

Consequences

The consequences of untimely treatment and launched arthrosis of the joints are fraught with complications such as:

• disability;
• deformation without the possibility of recovery;
• the appearance of vertebrates;
• a inactivity or immobility of the joint;
• Reducing the quality and standard of living.

The chronic course, in addition to these complications, is accompanied by intense and frequent pain, the complete destruction of the structural components of joint, discomfort, the inability to perform physical work and play sports.

Diagnostics

Diagnosis of arthrosis is based on the assessment of anamnestic data, characteristic manifestations of the disease, the results of instrumental research methods.Indicative changes in general and biochemical blood tests for arthrosis are not characteristic, they appear only with the development of an active inflammatory process.

The main instrumental method for diagnosing arthrosis is radiography, in diagnostically unclear cases, computed or magnetic refusal tomography is recommended.

Arthrosis of the knee and hip joints occupies a leading place in terms of severity of clinical manifestations and a negative effect on the quality of life.

Additional diagnostic methods:

• Atraumatic arthroscopy;
• ultrasonography (assessment of the thickness of the articular cartilage, synovial shell, the condition of the joint bags, the presence of fluid);
• Scintigraphy (assessment of the state of bone tissue of bones that form the joint).

How to treat arthrosis?

It is better to treat arthrosis of the joints at an early stage, the treatment itself should be pathogenetic and complex.Its essence is to remove the causes that contribute to the development of this disease, it is also necessary to eliminate inflammatory changes and restore the functions that have been lost earlier.

The treatment of arthrosis is based on several basic principles:

1. Saturation of the joint with oxygen, or the so -called intraarticular oxygenotherapy.
2. Therapy with drugs.
3. Intra -focusing blockade, as well as decompression of metaepifiz.
4. Rational approach to nutrition.
5. Damaged joints should be eliminated from excessive load.If possible, during treatment, it must be generally reduced to minimum.
6. Following the established orthopedic regime.
7. Classes of physiotherapy exercises.
8. The passage of physiotherapy, which includes a magnet and electrotherapy, shock-wave, as well as laser therapy.
9. Sanatorium treatment.To do this, it is necessary once a year, on the recommendation of a doctor, undergoes course treatment in specialized resorts.

Preparations for the treatment of arthrosis

Drug treatment is carried out in the phase of exacerbation of arthrosis, selected by a specialist.Self-medication is unacceptable due to possible side effects (for example, the negative effects of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on the gastric mucosa).

Therapy includes the purpose of such drugs:

1. Anti -inflammatory drugs.Starting therapy of arthrosis is comprehensive, you can slow down the course of the disease and largely improve the quality of life.It is worth dwelling in more detail at some treatment points.In particular, therapy with drugs includes at the initial stage - this is the removal of pain, as well as the elimination of inflammatory processes occurring in the joints.For this, all doctors use non -steroidal anti -inflammatory drugs.Experienced doctors do not recommend their oral use, since these drugs largely irritate the walls of the stomach.Therefore, depending on the chosen drug, either intravenous or intramuscular administration is used.Sometimes as auxiliary means, NSAIDs are used in the form of ointments, but their absorption is extremely low, so it is not possible to achieve a significant effect.
2. Hormonal corticosteroids.When arthrosis is at the stage of exacerbation, hormonal corticosteroids are advisable.They are inserted into the joint.Outwardly, you can use a special patch, ointment or tincture, which are made on the basis of burning pepper.
3. Chondroprotectors aimed at restoring cartilage and improving the high -quality composition of synovial fluid will not be superfluous.The course lasts a rather long period of time until the moment until improvement occurs.Nevertheless, if the expected effect does not appear over a half -year trick, the drugs should be canceled.Also intra -fast, along with chondroprotectors, it is advisable to use drugs made on the basis of hyaluronic acid.They contribute to the formation of a cell membrane responsible for the formation of a cartilage of the joint.

Physiotherapeutic treatment

To stop pain, reducing inflammation, improving microcirculation and eliminating muscle cramps of the patient with arthrosis, is directed to physiotherapy:

• In the phase of exacerbation.Prescribe laser therapy, magnetotherapy and ultraviolet irradiation,
• In the phase of remission.Electrophoresis and phonophoresis are shown.

In addition, thermal procedures are used, sulfide, radon and sea baths.To strengthen the muscles, electrical stimulation is carried out.A gentle massage can also be used in the phase of remission.

Surgical treatment

With the ineffectiveness of these methods of exposure, in the presence of complications, resort to surgical treatment of arthrosis:

1. Decompression of metaepifiz and prolonged intraosseous blocks (decrease in intraosseous pressure in the affected area);
2. Corrective osteotomy;
3. Actoprosthetics of the joints.

In the early stages of the disease, mechanical, laser or cold -plated debate (smoothing the surface of the damaged cartilage, removal of non -viable areas) are used.This method effectively stops the pain syndrome, but has a temporary effect-2-3 years.

Folk remedies

Most people in our time do not want to take pills or make injections.Therefore, they are wondering - how to cure arthrosis with the help of folk remedies?For the most part, such funds are aimed at increasing the tone of the body, improve blood circulation, relieve pain and increase immunity.

For the treatment of this disease, such recipes of traditional medicine are used:

1. Egg solution is prepared from fresh egg yolk, which is mixed with turpentine and apple cider vinegar in a ratio of 1: 1: 1. The liquid must be thoroughly mixed and grate it with the affected joint for the whole night.Then you need to wrap everything with a woolen scarf.It is recommended to perform rubbing for 1 month 2-3 times a week.
2. The pharmacy is purchased by the root of Eleasil.As a rule, it faces packs of 50 g.For the preparation of tincture, it will take half a pack of plant roots and 150 ml of high -quality vodka.The ingredients are mixed, placed in a dark bottle and insisted for 12 days.Rubbings are performed before bedtime, and if possible in the morning.

3. The use of boiled oatmeal also gives good results.Take three or four spoons of oatmeal, pour boiling water and cook over low heat for five to seven minutes.The amount of water used should ensure the receipt of thick porridge, which should be cooled and used as a compress at night.Use only recently boiled flakes.Yesterday's porridge for the compress is not suitable.
4. Birch leaves, nettles and inflorescence of calendula are taken in equal parts.As a result, you need to get two tablespoons.We fold the resulting chopped collection in a thermos, pour a liter of boiling water and leave it overnight.Starting next in the morning, it is necessary to take half a glass of decoction four to five times a day.The course of taking this recipe is two to three months.

Tinctures of bay leaf, horseradish, garlic and rye grains are also considered effective.Treatment of arthrosis with folk remedies will be the most effective if you combine it with treatment with medications.

Eating for arthrosis

The basic principles of nutrition for arthrosis are reduced to the following points:

1. Do not eat heavy food for the night so as not to cause an attack of arthrosis.
2. Eat fractionally.
3. Constantly monitor weight, in order to avoid increasing body weight,And that means additional load on sore joints.
4. When there is no exacerbation of the disease, to take hiking after eating.
5. The menu must be balanced, compiled with the attending physician.

There are absolutely no complaints about fish dishes - they can be used quite a lot, of course, in reasonable quantities. 

1. Do not forget about the regular intake of vitamins with food.For patients with arthrosis, B vitamins are especially relevant
2. An important role in the treatment of arthrosis is assigned to the cold man.Such food will be a real storehouse of trace elements for sore joints.The most important component in the cold is a collagen of natural origin.
3. Vitamin B will help the production of hemoglobin.It can be “obtained” by eating bananas, nuts, cabbage and potatoes.It is worth getting carried away with greenery and legumes.They will become a source of folic acid.The liver, mushrooms, dairy products, as well as eggs will be useful.They are rich in riboflavin.

Observing the treatment regimen prescribed by the doctor, it can be achieved that the disease will retreat, and damaged tissues will begin to recover.

Prevention

The prevention of arthrosis begins with proper nutrition.It is necessary to try to reduce salt consumption, as well as food that can disrupt metabolism.These include legumes, fatty meat, alcohol.The diet includes cabbage, greens and fish.

For the prevention of arthrosis, it is necessary to attend physical education classes, make warm -ups.If possible, it is better to pass several kilometers on foot.It is also important to monitor your weight and prevent weight gain, as this will give an additional load on inflamed joints.It is not recommended to take pills in order to lose weight, as they can disrupt metabolism in the body.

Forecast

The forecast for life is favorable.The favorableness of the social and labor forecast depends on the timeliness of the diagnosis and the beginning of treatment, is reduced when tightening the resolution of the issue of surgical treatment of the disease if necessary.