Many middle-aged and elderly people experience knee pain, especially when going up and down the stairs, buying groceries, doing housework, taking walks, going to the bathroom, etc. It is very inconvenient, and women are afraid to wear high heels.
The vast majority of this is due to osteoarthritis.
What is osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis, also known as osteoarthrosis, is actually one of the manifestations of arthritis, and is more common in middle-aged and elderly people, especially women.
Obesity, heavy physical activity, excessive exercise, inappropriate exercise, advanced age, and genetic factors are all risk factors for the onset of the disease.
Multiple joints throughout the body can be involved, mainly the knee, hip, small finger joints, shoulder joints, and small joints of the spine. In China, osteoarthritis of the knee joint is the most common.
Why does the knee hurt?
There is a layer of cartilage that protects the joint at the contact surface of the two bones.
Unlike bone, cartilage is difficult to regenerate once it wears out, while bone can be regenerated, even if an old man in his nineties breaks a bone, it can grow back.
Without the protection of cartilage, the bones grind against the bones when walking, and the nerves are abundant in the outermost periosteum and surrounding synovial membrane, so it is very painful. In the long run, the knee joint will be deformed and become an O-leg or X-leg.
The specific manifestations of knee “pain” are
1. Some people experience constant dull pain in the knee joint, some have swollen joints, and others experience sudden, severe pain when moving around, resulting in a “weak leg”.
2. Joint pain is usually worse after more activities, but less after rest.
3. Joint pain is episodic at first, usually after cold, overexertion or minor sprains. Some people only suffer from it once in a year or two at first, but as the disease progresses, the attacks become more frequent and finally become persistent pain.
4. If a joint remains stationary for a long time, such as after sitting for a few hours, the joint feels stiff when it starts to move, and the joint feels like it is frozen or stuck, and is accompanied by pain.
5. Most people also have difficulty squatting. Over the years, joint deformation may occur, with “O-leg” being the most common.
How to treat osteoarthritis?
1. Early conservative treatment
Early osteoarthritis should be treated conservatively, which can effectively reduce the symptoms and slow down the development of the disease.
First, pay attention to the protection of joint cartilage, try to avoid strenuous, excessive and weight-bearing activities, such as repeated squatting, climbing stairs, walking long distances, lifting heavy objects, climbing mountains, etc. Obese people should control their weight.
At the same time, strengthen the muscle strength around the joint: for example, lying flat on the bed to practice leg lifts, straighten the leg, hook the foot, raise one leg to about 45 ° to 60 ° (feet from the bed 40 ~ 50 cm or so), adhere to 10 ~ 15 seconds and then put down, alternating between the two legs, each time to do 3 ~ 4, several times a day in the morning and evening, as a way to strengthen the quadriceps muscle strength.
If the joint pain is obvious, you can take oral anti-inflammatory and analgesic medication, local topical medication, or joint cavity medication injection. If the joint swelling is significant, high frequency physical therapy can be performed.
However, if the osteoarthritis is advanced and the cartilage is severely worn, conservative treatment is no longer effective. The only way to relieve the pain of the disease is surgery.
2. Knee replacement
This surgery is called knee arthroplasty, which is commonly known as knee replacement. Simply put, it is a thin layer of cartilage that is broken and replaced by an artificial one, with a wear-resistant spacer made of special plastic in the middle.
For example, if you have a table and the table top becomes pockmarked, instead of throwing away the entire table and replacing it with a new one, we remove the broken table top and replace it with a new one, leaving the rest of the table intact.
In some patients with more unusual conditions, where the cartilage is more worn on just one side of the joint, we can choose unicondylar surface plication to obtain the same result with less trauma.
Some common questions about knee arthroplasty
1. How long do I have to stay in the hospital and can I move around like a normal person after the surgery?
Generally speaking, you will need to stay in the hospital for 5 to 7 days after the knee arthroplasty. After two or three months of rehabilitation, you can walk up and down the stairs, do housework, take a walk, ride a bike, swim, dance, and travel without any problems, and you can fully meet the activity requirements of middle-aged and elderly people.
2. Is knee arthroplasty a risky procedure?
As long as the surgical technique is excellent, there is no post-operative infection and scientific and effective rehabilitation is carried out, the surgical results are very good.
At the same time, the risk of surgery is very much related to the patient’s own physical condition. High blood pressure, diabetes and coronary heart disease can tolerate the surgery as long as they are well controlled.
3. How long can the artificial joint last?
As long as there is no infection and no breakage, it can last for more than 15-20 years, and according to the literature, some have lasted for more than 40 years.
Due to the limitation of the service life of the prosthesis, young people should be especially cautious about this surgery, but for elderly people with severe osteoarthritis, who usually live a painful life, the sooner they have this surgery, the sooner they can enjoy the blessings, and there are many elderly people whose quality of life has improved greatly after surgery, and they are living younger and younger.