First, the knee joint aches when walking in the end what is going on?
Medically speaking, osteoarthritis is also called degenerative arthritis, to put it bluntly, the joints are old, the body parts are not useful, can not withstand the aging and wear and tear, it is sick, and the main reason for the sickness is attached to the bone joints on a part called “articular cartilage” to play the ghost!
Second, the articular cartilage is what we know as brittle bone
When we eat chicken legs, the white brittle bone seen at the top of the chicken bones, is the articular cartilage, human joints have such a layer of brittle bone, these “brittle bone” has a certain elasticity and strength, can protect the bones under the cartilage from damage, the cartilage can also secrete a certain amount of lubricating fluid, no blood vessels within the nerves, so that when people are in motion However, it only grows to the age of 20 and is then fixed and no longer grows.
Osteoarthritis is actually a degeneration of “brittle bone”!
But the 20 years of life is just the beginning, in the long years after, this layer of articular cartilage with the increase in age and the accumulation of trauma, will slowly lose elasticity and strength, more and more fragile, the surface becomes rough and uneven, and then cracks, surface peeling erosion, causing the exposure of the subchondral bone, the bone is rich in blood vessels and nerves, extremely sensitive, when walking, the bones lose the cartilage When walking, the bones lose the protection of cartilage, and the friction between the bones will directly lead to pain;
In addition, the peeling cartilage fragments will be like a mouse scurrying around in the joint, disturbing the neighbors and causing pain!
At the same time, the articular cartilage has been damaged and become incomplete, as if a table leg was cut off, the joint will be like the table lost balance, in order to maintain the stability of the limb, the side of the joint will grow some small bones to increase the contact area between the joints, these new growth of bone is the legendary “osteophytes These new bones are the famous “osteophytes”, also known as osteophytes.
So it seems that the formation of osteophytes is to maintain the stability of the joints and born ah, this is good ah! However, what if the joint continues to be unstable and the growth continues to grow? When the growth goes beyond its stability and invades the territory of other soft tissues, it can cause joint pain, stiffness and deformity, bone friction sounds and dysfunction, and the more cartilage is destroyed, the more severe the corresponding symptoms. A good thing has become a bad thing again!
For the diagnosis of osteoarthritis, doctors will clarify the extent of the injury through questioning and physical examination followed by imaging. Commonly used tests include X-ray, MRI and arthroscopy, the difference between these three is
X-ray: X-ray plain film cannot reflect the early lesions of cartilage, but can play an important role in the middle and late stages. In the middle and late stages, X-ray can show joint space narrowing, subchondral bone cystic change, joint edge bone hyperplasia formation, and joint free body or even joint subluxation in the late stages.
MRI: MRI can show early articular cartilage degeneration, subchondral bone sclerosis, joint cavity effusion and other lesions, which is a great guide for diagnosis and treatment.
Arthroscopy: Arthroscopy is the gold standard for the diagnosis of osteoarthritis. It can directly observe the swelling and wear of joint cartilage, but arthroscopy cannot show the deep cartilage changes and subchondral bone changes, and the joint examination is invasive as its disadvantage.
Each of these examination methods has its own advantages and disadvantages, the price is different, and there is also a difference in understanding the content of the disease, the doctor will be able to understand the general situation during the questioning and physical examination, and choose the most appropriate examination method as appropriate, after the diagnosis, the next thing to do is to develop a treatment plan.
Third, joint cartilage is not renewable, don’t think you can tolerate it and get better!
Once the cartilage is worn and degraded, the joint is bound to lose its flexibility and affect the function of movement.
For those who have severe joint pain and serious joint dysfunction that affects daily life, surgery is required to relieve pain and restore joint function.
Fourth, the following surgical methods are commonly used.
1.Minimally invasive arthroscopic surgery: Arthroscopic technology originated in Japan at the beginning of the 20th century, and has developed considerably in the United States and other countries since the 1970s. Arthroscopy allows a comprehensive observation of the intra-articular structures, which is more subtle than incisional surgery, and many intra-articular structures and lesions can be directly observed and treated. The intra-articular cartilage fragments that cause joint pain can be removed through a minimally invasive 0.5 mm incision, with immediate results.
2.Osteotomy: Osteotomy simply means that according to the degree of deformity of your joint, or the degree of wear of the joint surface, the uneven joint surface will be leveled by osteotomy, so that the original surface, which is not much worn, will bear the friction of the joint and become the weight-bearing surface to achieve the purpose of relieving pain and improving function, which is mainly suitable for middle-aged and young patients under 60 years old.
3, artificial joint replacement: is an important part of the surgical treatment of osteoarthritis, the current hip, knee, shoulder, elbow, hand, foot and other joints can be replaced. Some people think that joint replacement will remove all the joints and install stainless steel joints, and the limbs after surgery are like robots, stiff and unnatural. In fact, artificial joint replacement is a very successful and proven technique. Like braces, the implantation of an artificial joint can instantly eliminate joint pain, giving people who have suffered from joint pain a new lease on life and restoring normal joint function.