A. Q: What is osteoarthritis of the knee?
A: Osteoarthritis of the knee is the most common type of degenerative joint disease in humans, which is often referred to as osteophytes and long bone spurs in the knee joint. It is mostly seen in middle-aged and elderly people, especially women who are fat.
The main pathological changes of osteoarthritis of the knee occur in the articular cartilage, including wear and tear, degeneration, destruction, and osteophytes.
This disease seriously affects the quality of life of middle-aged and elderly people and is attracting more and more attention.
Q: What harm can osteoarthritis of the knee cause?
A: Osteoarthritis of the knee joint can cause pain and swelling of the knee joint, especially when the activity is more obvious, and in serious cases, joint dysfunction and even disability can occur, bringing inconvenience to daily life and seriously reducing the quality of life.
Q: What are the causes of osteoarthritis of the knee?
A: There are various factors that cause osteoarthritis of the knee, the common factors are as follows.
(1) Age factor With age, the joint has accumulated strain over the years, resulting in degenerative changes in the articular cartilage, lack of elasticity of the articular cartilage, osteophytes at the edge of the articular cartilage, that is, the occurrence of osteoarthritis in the elderly.
(2) Obesity factors The disease is related to weight overload, and weight gain in menopausal women can contribute to the occurrence of osteoarthritis.
(3) Climate factors The incidence of the disease is high in people who live in humid and cold environments.
(4) Trauma and inflammation Patients with intra-articular fractures, dislocations, meniscal and ligament injuries, tuberculosis and rheumatoid arthritis are prone to secondary osteoarthritis.
(5) Abnormalities of the joint structure, inversion and valgus deformity of the knee joint, large osteoarthrosis, multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, etc., can cause this disease.
(6) Occupation Long-term heavy physical labor of miners is prone to osteoarthritis of the knee.
Q: How to prevent the occurrence of osteoarthritis of the knee joint?
A: In general, we should pay attention to a balanced and reasonable diet structure, eat more calcium and gum-rich foods, and avoid being overweight. In daily life, you should get more sunlight, exercise in moderation (jogging is better), sit and move the knee joint to prevent contracture of the surrounding soft tissues and accelerate bone and joint degeneration, pay attention to joint protection at all times, avoid prolonged sitting and standing, wear high heels and do less frequent ascending exercises, pay attention to warmth in cold weather and avoid getting cold, etc.
V. How to detect osteoarthritis of the knee at an early stage?
A: The earliest manifestation is pain or stiffness in the knee joint, which is more obvious in the morning, when it is cold or when going up or down stairs, and the joint may also have swelling or even fluid accumulation. If these problems occur and are aggravated by cloudy weather, cold, overexertion, difficulty going up and down stairs, and weakness in the legs, you should seek medical attention as soon as possible.
X-rays are films taken to help with the diagnosis. x-rays often show changes such as hardening of the joint surface, bone spur formation, and narrowing of the joint space.
6. Q: How should osteoarthritis of the knee be treated?
A: Once you have osteoarthritis of the knee, you should treat it as early as possible to prevent further development of the disease. The treatment is to relieve the symptoms and to protect the function of the joint.
(1) Rest When joint pain and fluid accumulation occur, exercise should be reduced, rest properly, and avoid excessive weight bearing and exposure to cold and moisture. For those who are overweight, reduce weight.
(2) Functional exercise The main activity is non-weight-bearing, and the exercise of flexion and extension of lower limbs and contraction of muscles can be performed in bed (i.e. bicycle exercise), and a thick pillow can be padded with N fossa in sitting position, swinging back and forth to exercise the surrounding soft tissues to prevent adhesions of surrounding muscles and soft tissues due to bone and joint degeneration.
(3) Physical therapy can relieve pain and muscle spasm, help improve blood circulation, reduce swelling, commonly used physical therapy methods are wet compresses, hot air bath, hot spring bath, ultra-laser, ultra-short wave, etc., patients can choose under the guidance of doctors. The shock wave local muscle relaxation therapy featured by our department is very effective for mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis, which can be effective immediately after treatment.
(4) Application of anti-inflammatory painkillers: These drugs are effective in relieving pain by eliminating local sterile inflammation. Commonly used oral medications include ibuprofen, fenbid, etc., and topical medications include futalin ointment, piroxicam patch, etc.
(5) Chinese medicine treatment Chinese herbal medicine or herbal medicine with the effect of soothing the tendons and activating the blood can help the recovery of the disease.
(6) Injection therapy There are two kinds of injections: painful point injection and intra-articular injection. If the pain around the joint is obvious, injection treatment can be done to the muscle and ligament attachment points around the joint, which can significantly reduce the pain; intra-articular cavity injection of sodium vitrate and compound betamethasone has good effect on early and middle osteoarthritis.
(7) Silver needle treatment For patients with a long history of disease, local adhesions and poor results of the above methods of treatment, silver needle therapy can often achieve better results.
(8) Surgery Patients with severe disease need to consider surgical treatment and can be seen at the Department of Bone and Joint Surgery.