As the saying goes, “old age comes before old age”, which means that when people reach a certain age, they may suffer from knee pain and have difficulty walking. This is often referred to as “osteoarthritis”. If you are not familiar with the name “osteoarthritis”, then you must have heard of the term “osteophytes”, which means something similar. Our human joints are two bones held together by a translucent, flexible structure called cartilage on the surface of the adjacent bone. Cartilage is a cushioning and protective device for the joint that keeps the two bones of the joint from colliding together when we walk, run and bounce. Think of it as a rubber cushion between two pieces of metal in a machine. But joints, like other mechanical devices, are subject to aging and wear. The rate and degree of aging and wear depends on the years of use, i.e., the age of the person, on the one hand, and on the way it is protected and used, on the other. In the case of the knee joint, if you often carry too heavy objects, or frequently go up and down steps, these are behaviors that increase cartilage wear. When the cartilage wears down, it thins out and can disappear in severe cases. This causes the two bone surfaces separated by the cartilage to collide with each other and wear away, resulting in osteophytes, pain, and even joint deformation. Sometimes the “creaking” sound when walking is the result of two bones rubbing against each other. As you can understand, osteoarthritis is a chronic joint disease in which the main changes are degenerative changes in the cartilage surfaces of the joints and secondary osteophytes. Osteoarthritis represents the aging of the joints, so it is also called age-related arthritis. However, if there are other localized pathologies in the joint, such as inflammation or trauma, the destruction and degeneration of the cartilage in the joint is accelerated and osteoarthritis develops at a relatively young age, a condition we call “secondary osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is one of the most common diseases in humans, and more than 70% of people over the age of 50 have varying degrees of osteoarthritis. The knee joint is one of the most common sites for osteoarthritis. This is because it carries the weight of the entire body and has a relatively large range of motion during walking and various sports. However, there are two other groups of joints that are also susceptible to osteoarthritis: the hip joint and the hand joint. The hip joint carries all the weight of the upper body, and the hands are the parts of the body that we use the most, and they do the most work. We see that many older people, especially women, have osteophytes and even joint deformities in many joints of the hands, which is a sign of osteoarthritis. In mild cases of osteoarthritis, there may be no obvious symptoms, or only discomfort or coldness in the joint area. Acute inflammation may occur with strenuous activity and may resolve with rest and symptomatic treatment. When sitting and standing up, the knee and hip pain and discomfort may disappear after a short walk, while the hand joints may become stiff in the morning, which will be relieved after a few moments of activity. After a long time, the disease will develop, the pain will not be relieved by activities, and it will be difficult to go up and down the stairs or squat or stand up, and you need to support your hand on the knee to do so. After more walking, the knee joint is somewhat swollen or swollen so much that some yellowish fluid can be drawn out. If there is free body formation in the joint, it can affect the joint movement and there is “joint locking” phenomenon from time to time, and finally there is deformity. So how to treat osteoarthritis? It can be divided into several aspects: 1, to promote knowledge of disease prevention, joint protection: first of all, awareness of the disease, physical exercise should be gradual, to prevent excessive joint movement and weight bearing, to avoid mechanical joint injury. In severe cases, braking or plaster fixation should be applied to prevent deformity. Reduce weight, use handles and canes to reduce the load on the affected joints. If it is related to the occupation, change the job. Exercise of the relevant muscle groups can maintain and improve joint movement to enhance joint stability. 2.Physical therapy: heat therapy, hydrotherapy, infrared light, ultra-short wave, electrical stimulation, etc. can enhance local blood circulation, relieve muscle tension and reduce pain and other symptoms. Traction therapy is more effective for patients with cervical spondylosis of the nerve root type, which can relax the muscles, relieve pain and prevent the formation of adhesions in the tissues adjacent to the nerve roots, but it must be carried out under the guidance of a specialist. 3.Medication: You can use painkillers that reduce pain symptoms, and you can also take drugs that slow down the degeneration of joint cartilage, such as glucosamine, or chondroitin sulfate. However, these drugs can only delay the wear and tear of the cartilage to a certain extent, and cannot reverse the damage that has already occurred. So what if the cartilage has largely disappeared or if oral medication is not effective? This is the choice of intra-articular injections, which we often call “closed”. There is a drug called sodium vitrate, which is similar to a lubricant with a certain viscosity and can be injected into the joint cavity to lubricate the joint and reduce pain and bone wear to varying degrees. It can be used as a form of symptomatic treatment. 4.Surgical treatment: Surgery is a relatively more effective way of treatment. Isn’t the machine part aging? Then replacing one is probably the most direct and effective way. At present, the knee and hip joint artificial joint replacement has been quite mature and popular. If the patient does not have a lot of underlying disease, recovery is quick and good. Most patients achieve a better quality of life after joint replacement. Thus, it is not necessary to wait until you are unable to walk, but rather to do it at an age when you can get the most benefit. Therefore, osteoarthritis is a common degenerative disease and not a “rheumatic disease” in the true sense of the word. It can be described as a sign that age has left on each person. But it is not incurable. As with other diseases, prevention is more important than treatment, and early treatment costs less money and effort than late treatment, and achieves better results.