Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease that can only be delayed by taking care of your knees when you are young and training for a long time when you are old. Women who love short skirts and high heels and sit in air-conditioned rooms should pay attention to the latest statistics – the cartilage is prone to wear out after 30, and the chance of osteoarthritis after 45 is nearly 50%. And this data, the number of women is twice as many as men. Among the female population, the beauty of women who have long been exposed to cold knees and knee joints occupy a larger share of the disease. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease that almost no one over the age of 70 is immune to. It is not yet curable, but can only be treated by taking care of the knee when you are young and by long-term training when you are old to delay its onset and relieve the symptoms. Among the joints in the human body, the more movement and weight the joints are, the easier they are to “retire” or “get sick”, so the knee joint, which is used frequently every day and bears a great deal of body weight, has become the “model” of the joints. It is inevitable that the knee joint, which is used frequently and bears a great deal of body weight, becomes the “model” joint. The pathological changes are mainly cartilage degeneration, which leads to synovial inflammation, osteophytes, meniscal damage, free body formation, extra-articular soft tissue inflammation and a series of other pathologies. It seriously affects the health of the elderly as well as living and traveling, and the quality of life will be greatly reduced in serious cases. Avoid taking cold baths after sweating Both the general population and patients with osteoarthritis should pay attention to the following in their daily lives: avoid sleeping in wet places, do not blow in the wind when sweating, and do not take cold baths or wash your feet after sweating to prevent wind, moisture and cold from attacking the knee joint. In addition, emphasis should be placed on avoiding overexertion or overloading of the knee joint. If the patient feels swelling and pain in the joint worsen, he should rest immediately and try to avoid activities such as squatting, weight-bearing, going up and down stairs, etc. At the same time, he should give feedback to the specialist and supplement with physical therapy and medication. It is best to discontinue medication if symptoms are reduced, as treatment for this disease is still recognized to be based on long-term targeted exercise and sports. Patients who already have osteoarthritis can go to a pharmacy or sporting goods store to purchase appropriate splints and bandages, bandages should not be too tight or too loose, the correct choice can effectively protect the knee joint; in addition, those who have the conditions can also be supplemented with health care products in addition to exercise treatment, such as appropriate glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, fish oil and calcium, or to help the recovery of cartilage damage. Treatment: more walking jogging less climbing stairs This disease can not be cured, the most critical treatment for early patients is to stabilize the joint, adhere to the double quadriceps muscle contraction of static training, that is, take a lying or sitting position, both lower limbs straight, tense the front thigh muscle group, for 10-20 seconds, relax 5-10 seconds, repeat 20-30 times, 4-5 times a day, generally do three weeks will take effect; daily adhere to self-massage legs . In addition, the following training programs can effectively relieve symptoms to varying degrees if adhered to over time: aerobic exercise: good for the heart and can reduce joint pain, long-term training can improve joint function. The main methods are: walking, jogging, cycling and swimming, but stair climbing and steep hills are not recommended. Stretching exercises: stretching the quadriceps: pull the heel slowly toward the hip, keeping the back upright, knees together, and supporting the leg in a straight position. Stretching the N cord muscle: kneel on one knee, stretch the leg in front of the body and flex the ankle joint. The back is straightened and gradually bent forward, feeling the tension of stretching behind the thighs. Stretching the calf triceps: stand with hands on the wall in a lunge position, keeping the rear leg straight and the foot flat on the ground, with the rear toes slightly inwardly buckled. Flex the front leg to pull the triceps of the rear leg. Strength exercises: quadriceps static (isometric) contraction, sitting, knee extension, force contraction of the quadriceps on the front side of the thigh, hold for 10 seconds, relax for 5 seconds, repeat 5 to 10 times, alternating left and right, 3 to 4 times a day. Sitting knee extension exercise: sitting position, feet flat on the ground, knee extension, hold for 6 seconds, relax for 5 seconds, repeat 5~10 times, alternating left and right, 3~4 times a day. Warning: Early and late onset signs of osteoarthritis The main clinical manifestations in the early stage are: stiffness, exertion, cold or minor trauma and aggravation, difficulty in changing limbs from one position to another, pain and stiffness quickly relieved by slight activity: for example, stiffness and pain in the morning when getting up or standing up after sitting for a long time, symptoms are obvious, and joint symptoms are reduced or disappear after activity. Due to the early appearance of this symptom is not taken seriously, coupled with the lack of timely treatment, this symptom slowly aggravated, every 1 to 2 years acute attack, the attack of a slight swelling of the joint or a small amount of fluid, sometimes joint activities appear friction, function is affected to a certain extent; development to the advanced stage of joint pain will increase, rest at night can wake up in pain, pain will continue until the joint deformation, enlargement, functional activities are impaired, or life is difficult to take care of. The pain will continue until the joints are deformed, swollen, and the function of the joints is impaired. In the treatment of osteoarthritis, many patients tend to fall into misconceptions, and the following seven misconceptions need special attention. Myth #1: Osteoarthritis requires antibiotics Aunt Liu, a 47-year-old sales clerk, came to the hospital with knee pain and heard her doctor say she had osteoarthritis. Can I hang some saline? She believes that since the joint is inflamed, of course anti-inflammatory drugs – antibiotics – should be used so that osteoarthritis will heal more quickly. Nowadays, when people hear the words “inflammation” and “inflammation”, they associate them with bacterial infections as a matter of course. In fact, the medical term inflammation includes both inflammation caused by infection and aseptic inflammation. In addition to joint pain and swelling, infectious arthritis is often combined with symptoms such as generalized fever, redness and fever around the joints, and changes in blood indicators such as blood count. The majority of middle-aged and elderly arthritis is degenerative or called senile osteoarthritis, only need to take anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs and some nutritional cartilage drugs to relieve symptoms, blind use of antibiotics is not only ineffective, long-term use of drugs will cause bacterial resistance, fungal infections, etc. Myth 2: “Softening bone spurs” drugs can soften bone spurs In orthopedic clinics, every day we meet patients who ask for “softening bone spurs” drugs. They are often very nervous when they hear that they have a bone spur, and some patients even try to seek “softening bone spur” drugs, but after taking them for a period of time, they find that the bone spur does not disappear. Bone spurs are osteophytes that appear around the area of cartilage destruction in the joint, which is the normal bone that has formed. Therefore, the so-called “softening spur” medication cannot be eliminated and should not be eliminated. Imagine how serious the adverse effects would be if the bone could be softened by a drug that would soften the normal bone. In fact, none of the various drugs on the market that claim to “soften bone spurs” are able to do so. So, what should be done about bone spurs? Generally speaking, bone spurs that do not affect joint movement do not need to be treated. However, a small number of patients with severe osteophytes and free bodies that affect joint movement can undergo arthroscopic debridement. If the symptoms seriously affect daily life, and the X-ray shows a significant narrowing of the joint space, and measures such as weight loss and avoidance of strenuous exercise are ineffective, artificial joint replacement is required. Misconception 3: Chondroprotective drugs can be used or not Old Liu went to the clinic to see osteoarthritis, the doctor prescribed him chondroprotective drugs and suggested he take them for 6 weeks. When Liu heard this, he shook his head repeatedly, thinking how the drug would take so long. After taking the chondroprotective drug for a week, the symptoms did not improve significantly, so Li asked the doctor to switch to other fast-acting drugs. Osteoarthritis is the result of abnormal proteoglycan biosynthesis in joint cartilage and degenerative lesions. Chondroprotective drugs are curative drugs that can improve bone morphology, restore the normal biochemical environment of the joint, and repair damaged joint cartilage. Unfortunately, many patients do not recognize the curative effect of these drugs, and consider that they can be used or not, resulting in a significant reduction in the effectiveness of treatment. For this reason, we recommend that patients with osteoarthritis should start taking chondroprotective medications early and regularly. The most widely used chondroprotective drugs in clinical practice are the glucosamine class. This class of drugs can improve joint movement and relieve pain with few side effects and can be taken for a long time. In general, a course of treatment is taken for 4-6 weeks continuously, and about two courses of treatment a year. Myth 4: Over-the-counter analgesics have no adverse effects Mrs. Wu came to the hospital for knee replacement due to chronic knee pain. A preoperative examination revealed that she had only 4 grams of hematocrit and was severely anemic, so the surgery had to be suspended and she was immediately transferred to an internal medicine ward for treatment. After taking a detailed medical history, the doctor found that Mrs. Wu had been taking antipyretic and analgesic drugs for a long time, which had caused chronic gastric bleeding. At present, many non-steroidal antipyretic and analgesic drugs on the market are prescription drugs. These drugs are widely used and easily available in pharmacies, so it is easy for some patients with chronic diseases to use and abuse them more often. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) statistics, the incidence of upper gastrointestinal ulcers, bleeding and perforation is 1%-2% for those who use NSAIDs for 3 months or more; if it takes up to one year, the incidence is 2%-5%. Therefore, elderly patients who may have renal, hepatic and cardiac impairment and those with coagulation disorders should use over-the-counter antipyretic analgesics with caution. At the same time, it is necessary to pay attention to adverse reactions when using over-the-counter antipyretic and analgesic drugs, and once discomfort occurs, the drug should be stopped and a doctor’s opinion should be sought. If it is not effective, it is better to go to an experienced doctor and ask him/her to determine the treatment plan. Myth 5: The more painkillers you take, the better the effect In the past, when Lao Yang had joint pain, he ate a piece of painkiller and quickly got better. But now he can’t take one piece after a few hours. Therefore, he had to keep eating. The doctor took a look at the analgesic he was taking, but he took it four times a day, which was more than twice the normal dosage. Drugs have a certain half-life in the body, which is related to the time of drug action, so some drugs have to be taken 3 times a day, while others are taken only once. The analgesic effect is not proportional to the dosage when the drug reaches the body. When a certain dosage level is reached, increasing the dosage will not enhance the analgesic effect, but will cause serious adverse reactions due to the accumulation of the drug in the body because of the excessive dosage or the prolonged use of the drug. Therefore, instead of blindly taking the drug several times, you should consult your doctor and change the drug or combine it with other drugs appropriately. Misconception six: multiple analgesics at the same time Recently, the osteoarthritis that has been winding old Zhu for many years has come back. He had to run to several hospitals, and the doctors at each hospital prescribed many drugs. In order to get better as soon as possible, Zhu took the drugs prescribed by different doctors at the same time. Unfortunately, after a few days, although his arthritis had improved, his stomach began to feel uncomfortable. In reality, there are many people who take painkillers prescribed by different doctors at the same time in order to get better as soon as possible. In fact, this is a very dangerous practice. It is possible that the painkillers prescribed by different doctors only have different trade names, but the ingredients are exactly the same. Moreover, even for analgesics with different ingredients, many of them have exactly the same mechanism of action, and if they are taken at the same time, there is a risk of drug overdose. There is also cross-allergy between many NSAIDs analgesics, and the combination with other NSAIDs in large quantities for a long time can obviously increase the hepatic and renal toxicity, and at the same time, it also greatly increases the chance of gastric mucosal damage, which can cause gastric bleeding. In addition there may be a certain chemical reaction between drugs, which is also detrimental to health. Myth 7: Chinese medicine for osteoarthritis has few side effects After old Zhao was diagnosed with age-related osteoarthritis, his doctor recommended that he take anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs and cartilage nutrients. Hearing from other patients, both of these drugs are western drugs and have greater side effects. So, Lao Zhao simply went to the pharmacy to buy Chinese medicine with fewer side effects to take, and also bought a variety of proprietary Chinese medicines recommended by many promoters. Chinese medicine will be joints, limbs and other places appear sore, pain, numbness, heavy and flexion and extension of unfavorable symptoms called paralysis, is the Western medicine called arthritis. It includes osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, etc. Traditional Chinese medicine uses evidence-based treatment to treat the symptoms by opening the meridians, activating blood circulation, stopping bleeding and nourishing blood, which can indeed provide relief. However, modern medicine believes that the etiology of osteoarthritis goes far beyond paralysis, but is a multi-factorial cause of cartilage damage. The Chinese medicine component is complex, and a very small number of rheumatism treatment of blood circulation and meridian activation Chinese medicine long-term use may also cause liver and kidney function damage. As for the creams, although many patients have good results, some patients have skin allergies, skin rashes, pigmentation and even breakouts around the creams. Therefore, Chinese medicine should also be used under the guidance of a doctor, do not blindly.
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