1.What is osteoarthritis? Osteoarthritis is caused by the degeneration and wear of joint cartilage and is a chronic joint disease characterized by degeneration and destruction of joint cartilage and osteophytes. The National Pain Center Liu Botao osteoarthritis can involve all joints of the body, commonly the knee, hip and other weight-bearing joints and hand joints. 2.Why do you get osteoarthritis? Osteoarthritis is divided into primary and secondary: primary arthritis has no clear cause and may be the result of a combination of factors, such as genetics, age, obesity, joint trauma or overuse. Secondary osteoarthritis is caused by trauma, inflammation, etc. 3.What are the main symptoms of osteoarthritis? In the early stage, joint pain may occur after a large amount of activity or a long period of time, but it can be relieved after rest; then there is conscious joint stiffness when going up and down stairs; further development, there is stiffness of the joints even at rest; in severe cases, there will be joint redness, swelling, heat and pain, joint effusion and even joint deformation. 4.How to treat osteoarthritis? There is no particularly effective treatment for osteoarthritis. The goal of treatment is to relieve pain, stop and delay the progression of the disease, and protect joint function. (1) Knowledge about osteoarthritis (2) Weight control (3) Moderate exercise: Patients should avoid overloading the affected joints. The correct exercise method can enhance the muscle strength around the joints to increase the stability of the joints, reduce the painful symptoms of the joints, maintain and increase the range of motion of the joints, which is conducive to recovery and disease control. (4) Physical therapy: Heat therapy is generally used, which is beneficial for osteoarthritis. (5) Medication: Oral medications include symptom-control drugs (such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), condition-improving drugs and chondroprotective agents (such as glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, etc.), pain relievers (such as tramadol, etc.); intra-articular injections (such as sodium glutamate, etc.); and local topical medications (such as capsaicin, etc.). (6) Surgery: Surgery can be considered when other treatments fail to relieve the symptoms, and artificial joint replacement surgery for hip and knee is very effective. 5, osteoarthritis treatment myths: (1) blindly according to the rheumatic disease treatment: osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis although they both have pain, but they are two completely different diseases, the treatment is not the same, do not blindly take drugs before the diagnosis is not clear. (2) Blindly taking drugs to soften bone spurs: “Bone spurs” are a pathological manifestation of osteoarthritis, not the root cause of the disease, so blindly taking drugs to eliminate “bone spurs” is a good idea. It is not advisable to take drugs that soften bone spurs in order to eliminate them, because they do not solve the root cause of the disease and do not relieve the main symptoms. (3) Considering that weight reduction is not important: the pathological change of osteoarthritis is, in layman’s terms, a cartilage defect followed by bone grinding bone. Obesity increases the gravitational load on the hip and knee joints and accelerates joint wear, so patients who are overweight should pay attention to weight control. (4) Stop exercising because of pain: osteoarthritis causes pain, sometimes even severe pain, but patients should still insist on moderate exercise, because if they do not exercise, the joint will stiffen at a certain angle, and over time the muscles will contract, and the range of joint movement will become smaller; if they do not exercise, the relevant muscles will not be stimulated, and over time the muscles will atrophy; if they do not exercise for a long time If you do not exercise for a long time, the various functions of the body will be prone to degenerative disease, especially for middle-aged and elderly patients.