What is traumatic arthritis? Traumatic arthritis is a disease that is caused by acute trauma and is characterized by degenerative changes in articular cartilage and secondary cartilage proliferation and ossification. Traumatic arthritis is more similar to degenerative arthritis, but the latter occurs more often in the elderly and can occur without a history of trauma. What is traumatic arthritis in terms of the pathophysiology of the disease? The disease is a result of abnormal wear and tear on the joint surfaces due to fractures, cartilage damage, retention of foreign bodies in the joints, weight-bearing imbalances, and excessive activity and weight-bearing. This disease is a bone and joint disease, which can occur in several joints and has a chronic pathological process. The pathology is mainly degenerative degeneration of the articular cartilage and its secondary cartilage hyperplasia and ossification, causing progressive narrowing of the joint space, formation of bone spurs at the joint edges, and cystic changes in the subchondral bone. Traumatic arthritis is characterized by painful joints and limited functional activity, with joint pain increasing with excessive activity and decreasing with rest. In severe cases, the limb muscle atrophy, joint enlargement or joint cavity effusion. In advanced cases, there is loss of the medial knee space, osteosclerosis, subluxation of the knee joint, and deformity of the lower limb. Osteomalacia caused by traumatic arthritis is seen in the late stage of joint fracture. The main cause of traumatic arthritis is the disruption of the negative gravity of the joint, such as poor alignment after intra-articular fracture, uneven joint surface, and abnormal healing of the backbone fracture, which may disrupt the negative gravity of the joint. Therefore, the key to prevent this kind of traumatic arthritis is to treat and manage the joint fracture properly. What diseases are easily confused with traumatic arthritis? 1. Osteoarthritis, also known as proliferative arthritis, degenerative arthritis, and age-related arthritis. This disease is a kind of joint lesion caused by degenerative changes of joint cartilage, mainly osteophytes. It is also an accumulation of damage to joint cartilage from daily joint activities. The accumulated damage to articular cartilage is more in older people, and then there is a decrease in the mucopolysaccharide content of the cartilage matrix, an increase in the fibrous component, and a decrease in the elasticity of the cartilage in older people, which makes it susceptible to mechanical injury and degenerative changes. Clinical features of the disease: the average age of proliferative arthritis is around 50 years, whereas traumatic arthritis can occur in any age group with a clear history of trauma and accumulation of injuries. There is a fundamental difference in the pathogenesis. The early complaint of osteoarthritis is joint pain, which is persistent and dull, or sudden pain and weakness (slipping sensation) during activity, and joint pain is generally characterized by aggravation after exercise and reduction at rest. The affected joint often has the phenomenon of gluing, that is, the joint stays in a certain position for too long, and it is difficult to move at the beginning and the pain is heavy, which is relieved only after a short period of activity. Therefore, patients with this disease should not rest in one position for too long, and it is necessary to change positions frequently. Another characteristic is that the lesions are mostly degenerative changes in the weight-bearing joints of the lower extremities. twisting or rupture-like friction sounds are often heard or palpated when the affected joints are moved actively or passively. x-ray examination: the edges of the joints become sharp and progressively develop into cumbersome. The symptoms of traumatic arthritis are similar to the above, but the biggest difference is the intra-articular fracture or the presence of fracture deformity healing caused. 2, rheumatoid arthritis this disease is a connective tissue disease, swollen and painful deformities in the joints, mobility disorders. Rheumatoid arthritis often affects multiple proximal interphalangeal joints at the same time, and it is rare to find a single major joint in the negative. The disease starts slowly, often with systemic symptoms and anemia and nodules. Laboratory tests: increased blood sedimentation, positive rheumatoid factor. Traumatic arthritis laboratory tests are in the normal range. 3, large osteoarthrosis, large osteoarthrosis is in the developmental period of children, to articular cartilage, epiphyseal cartilage and epiphyseal plate cartilage degeneration necrosis as the basic lesion of endemic bone disease. The appearance of pain in osteoarthrosis varies with the disease. The disease is severe, with a corresponding increase in pain. The presence of painful symptoms is mostly accompanied by bending of the end segments of the fingers and distortion of the fingers. The pain is often polyarticular and symmetrical, especially in the knee and ankle joints. The clinical manifestations are not obvious in early stage patients and are already severe as seen on X-rays when they affect the activity of the child. All joints throughout the body have varying degrees of joint degeneration and secondary proliferative changes. These changes are multiple, symmetrical and uneven, especially in the shortening of the heel bone, and are an important differentiator between degenerative changes of other joints in large osteoarthrosis. Patients occur in endemic areas and are a strong basis for x-ray diagnosis of large osteoarthrosis.