Osteoarthritis, also known as geriatric arthritis, is a very common joint disease that occurs in middle age and old age, with a significantly higher incidence with increasing age. Osteoarthritis can occur in all joints of the body, commonly in the knee, hip, cervical and lumbar joints, and finger joints. The knee joint is the most common joint with the most severe manifestations. The main manifestations of osteoarthritis are joint pain, joint swelling, joint effusion, joint deformity and joint dysfunction. The history of osteoarthritis is long, with patients suffering from the disease for several years or decades, and the disease remains untreated. The pain of osteoarthritis can be mild or severe, with mild pain or joint discomfort that has no serious impact on activity. In severe cases, the pain affects walking, making it difficult to walk up and down stairs, squatting and standing, and sleepless nights. Many patients simply cannot walk and are in great pain.
The main manifestations of osteoarthritis of the knee joint
1. Joint pain: Pain is the main symptom of osteoarthritis. The pain appears gradually, persists, is obvious when walking, and is aggravated when walking up and down stairs or squatting. Many patients have night pass, affecting sleep. Severe patients are unable to walk. The pain is around the joint, mainly on the inner side of the knee.
2. Joint swelling and effusion: Most patients have joint swelling, which occurs around the patella, and severe patients have joint effusion, which is uniformly significant in the joint. Joint swelling and effusion do not subside easily, and even if they do, they tend to recur. The incidence of joint swelling is higher in women than in men.
3, joint friction sounds: is the characteristic performance of osteoarthritis. In milder patients, the friction sounds are small, while in severe patients, the friction sounds are coarse.
4.Joint strangulation: The presence of joint free bodies or meniscus aging, fragmentation can cause joint strangulation, the patient walking when the joint is suddenly stuck, unable to move, appropriate shaking the joint before you can continue to walk.
5.Joint tenderness: Patients feel weakness and tenderness in the knee when going down stairs or getting out of the car, and sometimes fall.
6. Joint stiffness: Patients feel stiff and uncomfortable when they wake up, and the stiffness disappears after a while of activity, which is called “morning stiffness phenomenon”. The duration of morning stiffness in arthritis in the hometown is usually less than 30 minutes.
7, joint loosening: Patients with arthritis in the hometown due to joint cartilage thinning, wear, joint space narrowing, joint ligament relaxation, resulting in joint loosening. Patients feel unstable joints when walking and “sway” from side to side. Joint instability can further aggravate joint damage.
8.Joint deformity: Severe and late stage patients have deformed joints. The joint pike is significant, and the inversion deformity is the most common. Joint inversion deformity can cause joint gravity line is not correct, is an important cause of pain.
9, joint dysfunction: joint spurs, friction, deformity will cause joint dysfunction, the patient can not squat, leg can not be completely straight, in severe cases, the patient can not walk.
Characteristics of osteoarthritis
Medical research has found that the lesions of osteoarthritis are diverse and complex. Not only do bone spurs form, but more seriously, the articular cartilage is not only unsmooth, but becomes rough and uneven, increasing friction and causing joint pain. The articular cartilage dissolves and falls off, the elasticity of the cartilage decreases, and the lubricity decreases.
The synovial membrane of the joint also becomes hyperplastic and thickened, and the synovial fluid secretion of the joint is abnormal. The cause of these lesions is the accumulation of a large number of inflammatory factors in the joint cavity and the patient’s systemic immune function, bone and cartilage metabolic function, and microcirculation are impaired. From a Chinese medicine perspective, the patient has a systemic imbalance of meridians, cold and dampness condensation, and qi stagnation and blood stagnation. The onset of osteoarthritis is closely related to genetics, nature of work, living environment and lifestyle.
There are more patients who are female and obese. Heavy physical labor, long-term sitting in the office, often squatting work susceptible to osteoarthritis. The incidence of osteoarthritis is higher in cold areas and in those who do not regularly participate in physical activities or exercise properly. Each patient’s condition has its own characteristics, and the cause of pain and the degree of the condition are significantly different. Male patients are predominantly painful, while female patients have not only painful but also swollen joints. In elderly patients, the condition is often suddenly aggravated by joint sprains, exertion and inappropriate exercise.
The treatment must be based on the patient’s general health condition and the specific characteristics of each patient, so as to achieve good results. Based on a large amount of clinical data, our unique classification method and personalized treatment plan for osteoarthritis were first created at home and abroad, highlighting the principle of comprehensive treatment and pain location treatment, which fundamentally avoids the current uniform, simple and blind treatment defects of osteoarthritis and has achieved very satisfactory results. In addition, according to the biomechanical characteristics of joint cartilage, we have created a set of scientific joint exercises and health care methods, combining treatment and joint health care, which not only helps to improve the therapeutic effect, but also helps to prevent the recurrence of joint symptoms.
Individualized treatment methods
1. Accurately determine the location, degree and type of lesion according to our classification method.
2. Mild patients are treated with herbal joint fumigation therapy, ionization therapy, modern microwave and laser therapy.
3. Moderate patients are treated by injection surgery. Sodium hyaluronate injection in joints is simple, safe and effective. It does not affect walking and work after injection. Joint injection is suitable for patients with obvious joint friction.
4. Patients with severe disease, swollen joints, obvious synovial hyperplasia with free bodies are suitable for minimally invasive surgical treatment, through arthroscopic joint cleaning, most patients have better results.
5. Severe patients require surgical treatment including high osteotomy, joint equalization and arthroplasty.
6. All patients need a combination of medication and long-term, regular joint rehabilitation and health care treatment