How to treat osteoarthritis in its early stages? How is osteoarthritis treated at different times? People get old and organs age, and bone joints are no exception. Of all our bone joints, one joint not only carries our body weight, but also helps us to stand, walk, run, jump and other activities: our knee joint. The knee joint has the most weight bearing pressure and is most prone to wear and tear. So as we age and the joints degenerate, the knee joints are most likely to have problems, which is why the elderly around us are always prone to osteoarthritis in their knees. However, in China, osteoarthritis is an area that is often overlooked and has not received sufficient attention from society and the public, and there is low awareness and low access to medical care. Many seniors mistakenly believe that “weakness in the legs” is a normal phenomenon, not a serious disease, and that pain can be treated with painkillers, thus delaying early treatment. If osteoarthritis continues to develop, it can seriously affect the quality of life of the elderly, and untimely diagnosis can lead to disability. The number of people with osteoarthritis in China is in the hundreds of millions, and more than 50% of the elderly suffer from different degrees of osteoarthritis! The 2015 White Paper on Osteoarthritis Awareness in China shows that the number of people with joint discomfort worldwide has exceeded 360 million; studies have shown that the proportion of joint inflammation increases significantly with age. As China’s population ages, the incidence of osteoarthritis is on the rise. Osteoarthritis is prevalent in the middle-aged and elderly population, with more than 50% of people over the age of 65 suffering from this disease. The normal surface of our joints has a layer of cartilage, which is smooth and elastic and has a low coefficient of friction due to the action of joint fluid. With age, trauma, inappropriate exercise, strain and other factors, the cartilage gradually loses its original function. It starts to soften, then the surface starts to become hairy, then it cracks, and finally it falls off. Without the protection of cartilage, the rougher bones are directly exposed and rubbed, resulting in various symptoms such as pain. Bone spurs, as they are often called, are also caused by the loss of cartilage and joint instability. It should be noted that bone spurs do not necessarily produce symptoms, but rather the root cause of pain is the degeneration of cartilage. Since osteoarthritis is a manifestation of aging, is it impossible to change it. The answer is no. The key is early treatment. The key is early treatment, and different treatment options are available depending on the stage of arthritis progression. Depending on the progression of osteoarthritis, osteoarthritis can be divided into different stages, and the focus of treatment varies from one stage to another. Clinically, osteoarthritis is often divided into three stages: mild, moderate and severe (or early, middle and late stages). Early osteoarthritis is characterized only by knee discomfort, which is relieved by rest and no significant changes on X-ray, or only mild subchondral bone sclerosis. In the middle stage, osteoarthritis is characterized by persistent pain in the knee joint, which is aggravated after activity or when walking up and down stairs, and obvious pressure pain; on X-ray, hyperplastic bones are visible, and the joint space appears narrow, mostly asymmetrical narrowing. Late stage osteoarthritis is characterized by significant pain in the knee joint, often unrelieved after rest, accompanied by limited activity, and may be complicated by deformity, with obvious bone flab formation around the joint or visible free bodies on X-ray, and significant narrowing or even disappearance of the joint space. For early osteoarthritis, regular and moderate physical exercise is recommended, such as walking on flat roads, swimming, and cycling, and reducing exercises that may wear out the joints, such as climbing mountains, stairs, and squatting. For heavier patients, it is important to actively reduce body weight. Also start oral acetaminophen medications. If acetaminophen medication is ineffective, the disease has begun to progress to the intermediate stage. For mid-stage osteoarthritis, oral NSAIDs are first considered to relieve joint pain and reduce the inflammatory response. Add cartilage-protective drugs, including glucosamine and chondroitin, as well. For acute osteoarthritis of the knee, intra-articular glucocorticoid injections can be given to control symptoms, but no more than three injections per year should be given. For chronic mid-stage osteoarthritis, intra-articular injections of sodium glutamate can be given, but in patients who do not experience pain relief after the injection, this indicates that the disease has begun to progress to an advanced stage. For advanced (severe) osteoarthritis, when conservative treatment is not effective, surgery should be actively considered. Other surgical procedures, such as joint fusion, are not as effective as arthroplasty and are no longer widely used in clinical practice. The goal of joint replacement surgery is to relieve pain, correct joint deformities, restore joint function, and restore normal life. For the elderly, aggressive surgical treatment can effectively restore their daily life, avoid pain and activity disorders that lead to crutches or wheelchairs, and effectively reduce the occurrence of cardiopulmonary dysfunction and mental problems caused by lack of exercise. After decades of development, joint replacement technology has become very mature, and the minimally invasive techniques currently used in clinical practice are minimally invasive, with minimal intraoperative bleeding, and patients can walk on the ground the day after surgery and resume normal life and function after three months. As for the service life of the artificial prosthesis, currently imported joints are mostly 20-30 years, which can meet the needs of patients aged 60-70. It is important to note that after joint replacement surgery, patients still need to undergo active rehabilitation, including joint mobility and peripheral muscle strength exercises, in order to achieve the best surgical results.