Osteoarthritis (OA) is a non-inflammatory degenerative change in the cartilage of the knee joint, commonly known as “long bone spurs” and “osteophytes”, and is a chronic joint disease characterized by degeneration and destruction of joint cartilage and osteophytes due to various causes. It is a chronic joint disease characterized by degeneration and destruction of joint cartilage and osteophytes. The main manifestations are joint pain, limited movement and, in severe cases, joint deformity.
Symptoms of osteoarthritis
The symptoms of osteoarthritis are manifested in three aspects: pain, reduced range of motion and joint deformation. The knee and hip joints of the lower extremities are the joints with the highest incidence of osteoarthritis, while the finger joints also have a high incidence, which are described below.
Osteoarthritis of the knee joint
Often occurs bilaterally and can be mild or severe on one side, or can occur sequentially.
1. Site of pain
Knee pain is first felt when walking, often after a long walk, or when going downstairs and feeling weakness and knee pain. The pain can be in the patella, the front of the knee or the front of the knee, and in some people it is in the N-fossa to the top of the calf. Anterior knee pain is usually due to damage to the patella and femoral articular cartilage, medial knee pain is usually due to degeneration of the anterior knee capsule and ligaments due to joint growth, and N-fossa pain is often due to irritation of the posterior joint capsule and posterior muscles. In severe cases, the pain is all around the joint.
2. Restriction of joint movement
Most commonly, the knee joint is limited in extension, not fully extended or limited in flexion. This is caused by osteoarthritis, thinning of joint cartilage, contracture of joint ligaments and joint capsule due to long-term relaxation, shortening and contracture of the medial and lateral knee ligaments, resulting in incomplete extension of the knee joint. The contracture of the anterior knee capsule causes difficulty in squatting. When the femoral muscles are weak, it is often difficult for the patient to stand after squatting, and hand support is required. When lying on the bed under normal conditions, the knee joint can be completely straightened and the N fossa can be attached to the bed; while when the knee cannot be completely straightened, the palm of the hand can be inserted behind the N fossa.
3. Joint deformity
When osteoarthritis of the knee develops to a certain stage, the knee inversion deformity will gradually appear. In normal people, the two lower legs are straight when they are together, that is, the two knee joints and the two ankle joints can touch together at the same time, and when the knee is inversion, the two ankle joints can touch together, but the two knee joints cannot touch each other and there is a gap in between. Since osteoarthritis of the knee is usually bilateral, the two knee joints cannot be affixed together, and it becomes a rotundity.
4. Causes of inversion of the knee
When osteoarthritis occurs, the cartilage on the inside of the knee often wears down more severely, even exposing the bone surface, so the knee gradually turns inward. X-ray examination shows that the joint gap between the medial and lateral knee may be as wide when the body is not weighted when the film is taken in the lying position; when the film is taken in the standing position and the body is weighted, the joint gap on the medial side of the knee becomes significantly narrower due to the lack of cartilage.
5. Causes of knee valgus
Knee deformity can also occur, the formation mechanism is the same as the knee inversion, the difference is that the cartilage of the lateral half of the knee first wears out and narrows, this situation is most common in Japanese women who kneel and work, both legs kneel on the ground for a long time, the body is always on one side, so often the left knee inversion, right knee outversion posture, forming a double knee downwind deformity.
Osteoarthritis of the hip joint
1.Pain site
The painful parts of hip osteoarthritis usually include: ① anterior hip pain, that is, groin pain, also known as thigh root pain, this pain is sometimes along the inner thigh to the inside of the knee, or the root of the thigh does not hurt, only the inner thigh to the inside of the knee pain, often mistaken for knee problems; ② lateral hip pain, often in the outer hip bone protrusion, the outer hip bone protrusion is professionally known as the large thick ridge, commonly known as the large crotch; ③ posterior hip pain, the rear of the hip is also known as the hip The posterior hip is also called the hip. Osteoarthritis of the hip is aggravated after walking more or moving more, alleviated when resting, and the pain is aggravated when lifting heavy objects.
2.Limited joint movement
Osteoarthritis of the hip joint is due to the gradual narrowing of the hip joint space and the osteophytes at the edge of the joint, and its range of motion gradually becomes smaller. When the range of posterior extension is reduced by 20 ° ~30 °, lying flat on the bed, the waist can be seen bowed forward, and the posterior waist cannot be attached to the bed surface. (3) Hip flexion is limited, normal young people flex their hips and bend their knees at the same time, and their thighs can be attached to their bellies, while hip flexion decreases in middle-aged and elderly people, and hip flexion decreases even more in people with hip osteoarthritis, often making squatting difficult.
Ankle osteoarthritis
Ankle osteoarthritis is less common than hip and knee osteoarthritis and is characterized by ankle pain, walking pain, and reduced range of motion. The main problem is that the dorsiflexion of the foot is reduced and the angle between the dorsiflexion of the foot and the calf cannot be less than 90°.
Osteoarthritis of the hand
The hand has many daily activities, so it is also a good site for osteoarthritis.
The joint between the fingers and the palm of the hand is called the metacarpophalangeal joint. From the palm of the hand, the nearest bone of the palm is the proximal phalangeal joint and the end of the finger is the distal phalangeal joint. The joint between the proximal and middle phalanges is the proximal interphalangeal joint, and the joint between the middle and distal phalanges is the distal interphalangeal joint. Osteoarthritis of the fingers occurs mostly in the proximal and distal interphalangeal joints. The manifestation of osteoarthritis of the interphalangeal joints is thickening and pain in the finger joints, which is usually not severe, but the range of motion gradually decreases. When the fingers are flexed normally, the tips of the fingers can reach the center of the palm. In most people, there is a horizontal line in the palm of the hand that runs from the tiger’s mouth of the thumb to the center of the little finger. In osteoarthritis, the fingertips do not reach this horizontal line when the fingers are flexed, nor do they reach the center of the palm, and sometimes they do not extend straight. When osteoarthritis of the interphalangeal joints becomes severe, the fingers are skewed to the little finger side, and there is a deformity of the flexed fingers, and the range of motion is further reduced.
Osteoarthritis of the elbow joint
It occurs mainly in people who use their elbows excessively. The pain in the elbow joint is not severe or not painful, but the range of motion in extension is reduced, and the elbow cannot be straightened, which can be about 20° worse. The range of motion in flexion is not very restricted. In normal people, the elbow joint is flexed and the fingers can reach the shoulder on the home side with the wrist joint flexion.
How to prevent osteoarthritis
Since osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease that gradually worsens as people age, it is not easy or possible to completely prevent its occurrence, but it is possible to advance bone health through diet.
How to prevent osteoarthritis in terms of diet
1, the diet should be balanced, reasonable, nutritious
Eat more sulfur, histidine and vitamin-rich foods. Such as eggs, onions and garlic, rice, cereals, etc.; eggplant foods and other iron-rich foods, try to eat in moderation or less. Such as tomatoes, peppers, etc.
2, calcium supplementation should be careful
In addition to calcium, phosphorus, zinc, iron, collagen, amino acids and other indispensable nutrients, they each play an important role in the bone irreplaceable by other components. So don’t neglect to replenish your bones while supplementing calcium.
3, pay attention to the supplement collagen
Collagen is the body to slow down the aging of nutrients must be supplemented, accounting for more than 30% of the total body protein, an adult body has about 3 kg of collagen. It is widely present in the human skin, bones, muscles, cartilage, joints, hair tissue, playing a triple role of support, repair and protection.
Collagen loss is a major cause of osteoarthritis, so proper collagen supplementation is needed. It is recommended to take fish collagen, which is fat-free and will not cause the body to gain weight.
4.Prevent obesity
Obesity can induce the occurrence of degenerative osteoarthritis of the knee joint. The incidence of degenerative osteoarthritis of the knee joint in obese women is four times higher than normal weight. Therefore, daily try to avoid long-term high-fat diet.
Be outdoors regularly
Exercising more in the sun and sweating more often can help eliminate excess acid from the body and thus prevent arthritis from occurring.
Maintain a good mood
Don’t have too much psychological stress. Too much stress can lead to acid deposition and affect the normal metabolism. Properly regulating your mood and your stress can maintain a weak alkaline constitution, thus preventing the occurrence of arthritis.
Supplementation of articular cartilage components
After the age of 20, human joint cartilage will stop growing and wear out year by year. Experts remind that the prevention of rheumatic and rheumatoid arthritis is to pay attention to warmth and cold and moisture, proper exercise to enhance immunity, prevent tonsillitis and upper respiratory tract infections, in short, to increase their own resistance to prevent the occurrence of this disease (small experimental recipe: wrapped in gauze fried salt, especially old sea salt, hot compresses on the joints, can treat arthritis caused by humidity, rheumatism, etc.); patients with osteoarthritis, then Patients with osteoarthritis should pay attention to less activities that use joints, such as climbing mountains and stairs; and preventive measures for gouty arthritis are none other than scientific diet, less big fish and meat, more light food, and must follow the doctor’s dietary advice.
Functional exercise after treatment
Appropriate activities
1.Activate the joints
Because the nutrition of cartilage comes from the normal joint fluid, joint lubricating fluid is secreted by the synovial membrane and extruded by the cartilage during weight bearing, and the synovial fluid is sucked back into the cartilage when not under weight, so moving the joint is an important measure to keep the cartilage nutrition, lubrication and slowing down degeneration. Although the articular cartilage is degenerating, moderate joint movement will increase the nutrition of articular cartilage and slow down the degeneration of articular cartilage; while less joint movement or inactivity will reduce the nutrition of articular cartilage, reduce lubrication and accelerate degeneration.
2, maintain or strengthen the muscle strength around the joint
Muscle strength is the guarantee of joint activity, because the power of joint activity is the muscles around the joint, muscle strength must be able to handle the weight of the joint to maintain joint activity. Knee extension relies on the muscle strength of the quadriceps in front of the thigh to keep the body standing. The muscle strength of the quadriceps is greater than the body weight, so that activities such as flexion and extension of the knee, sitting and rising can be accomplished. The aforementioned joints are composed of joint ligaments and joint capsule, these tissues without active contraction are passive to maintain joint stability, while the active contraction of the muscles around the joints can make the joints move and protect the joint ligaments and joint capsule from passive pulling damage, muscle health is the main factor to keep the joints healthy.
Prevent overwork and excessive weight-bearing
Joint cartilage degeneration, thinning, and reduced elasticity, when the joints are strenuously active, overworked activities or weight bearing, can cause damage to joint cartilage, thus aggravating its degeneration. For example, some farmers, though 70 years old, can still persist in field work, which means that the load of overwork and weight bearing is high. In contrast, some people who are not physically active in their youth and middle age will be less active in their middle and old age, and the weight-bearing capacity of their joints will be greatly reduced. Therefore, the standard of overwork and load-bearing varies from person to person, and is related to whether or not to adhere to a certain amount of activity and labor in youth and middle age, and is improved by proper activity and exercise. Each person can control his or her own scale and pay attention to protection.
Protect your joints from external factors
Especially the joints exposed outside the clothing such as the hand joints, joints with less muscle and soft tissue around the joints, such as the front of the knee, the subcutaneous joint capsule is the joint, the hand joints are often in contact with cold water or work in cold water in winter, the knee does not pay attention to warmth, when the cold are prone to joint pain. Don’t blow directly on the affected area when you turn on the air conditioner in summer, and pay attention to protection.
Prevention of joint deformities and rehabilitation exercises
Inappropriate exercise can aggravate joint damage, but if the normal physiological load of the bone and joint is reduced, it will accelerate the occurrence of osteoporosis in old age. Therefore, patients with osteoarthritis should exercise scientifically and be careful not to try the following dangerous exercises that damage the knee joint: the reciprocal movement of squatting – standing up – squatting again; bicycling, especially small wheeled bicycles with short seats; bicycling uphill; the movement of turning the knee joint, which some people call “Many older women are used to bending their legs and holding their knees in the morning exercise, twisting a few times on the left and a few times on the right.
The knee joint is the largest joint in the human body, and over the course of a person’s long life, the knee joint has the highest load of all joints and is the most prone to wear and tear. The earliest part of the knee to wear out in osteoarthritis is the patella, because the patella is the power “force” device for lower limb flexion and extension, that is, a “fulcrum” when extending the knee joint. Therefore, the correct exercise principle is: to minimize the load on the joint, to strengthen the muscles and bone exercise.
1.Swimming
The elderly who can swim may wish to swim often, because in the state of swimming, the load on the various bone joints are very small, but the muscles and bones can be fully exercised.
2.Straight leg raise exercise
The specific way to let the joint surface of the patella get full recuperation under reduced load and to let the bone get full exercise is to contract the muscles of the thigh without the patella “sliding” (i.e., straightening the leg), which is medically called the straight leg raise exercise. This is an easy way to do it: lie flat on your back, stretch your leg up, let the muscles in your thigh tighten, tense, and the bed at an angle of 45 degrees, each time maintain 1 second, let the straightened leg stay in mid-air, and then slowly lower. Repeat this for 50, 50 as a group. This type of exercise can also be practiced standing. When you do it for the first time, you will have some soreness in your thigh muscles the next day, but after a week of continuous practice, the soreness will gradually disappear, and the knee joint’s resistance to load will be gradually strengthened instead.
Tip: The number of times and time for each functional exercise depends on your own control, which is related to the different physical conditions of each person, don’t take too long at the beginning, gradually increase, the right amount can be, the next day don’t feel tired as degree.