Life expectancy in China has increased a lot and the problem of aging population is increasing. People are living longer and longer, but the aging of the body is a natural law that cannot be resisted, and some diseases that were not obvious become more serious in the present.
Of course, the accelerated pace of life, changes in diet, environmental changes and many other factors are also acting on our fragile bodies at the same time. One of the more common diseases that we all have, but with different degrees of severity, is what we often call osteophytes, or bone spurs. These are actually osteoarthrosis, or osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis is a common and frequent disease in the middle-aged and elderly population. With the change in our lifestyle, there is an increasing trend of younger people. Some people suffer from sports injuries due to lack of reasonable scientific physical exercise, others from lack of moderate sports stimulation, in short, either too much or too little exercise, resulting in damage or degeneration of joint cartilage.
The so-called articular cartilage is a special layer of fibrous connective tissue that covers the surface of the joint. Its role is to protect the bone itself from direct wear and tear, it has very good anti-friction function, there is no artificial material can be comparable to our articular cartilage. Whether it is bearings, balls, or artificial joints, the life span is very limited, wearing out in a decade or two, only our original cartilage can last for decades or even centuries.
When osteoarthrosis occurs, there will be damage to the cartilage of the joint surface. At the same time, due to the change in force, there will be some areas of osteophytes, which is commonly known as bone spurs. On x-rays, signs such as narrowing of the joint space can also be seen.
These structural problems can cause an inflammatory response in the surrounding soft tissues. Patients may experience joint pain, recurrent and persistent swelling, and functional limitations, such as painful knee joints when walking up and down stairs, or even sudden weakness and falls, which can have a serious impact on daily life. Not only is it physically painful, but it can also be psychologically taxing.
The pain and swelling create a vicious circle, which means that the pain and swelling cause dysfunction, the normal activities of people are restricted, the joints are used less, the muscles are moved less, so the joints lack normal stimulation, the cartilage degenerates more, the muscles around the joints atrophy, and the friction is stronger when the joints are barely moving, the joint cartilage wears out more, so the osteoarthrosis becomes more and more serious.
The only way to relieve osteoarthrosis, or at least keep it from getting worse, is to break this vicious cycle. There are only three ways to do this. One is to make the cartilage better, which would solve the fundamental problem, but this is unlikely, at least not with the current state of science and technology. Because cartilage cells cannot be regenerated, a dead one is one less, and the worn out cartilage will not grow back.
Although cartilage repair and transplantation have been carried out and can improve the symptoms to a large extent, they are not as good as the original cartilage that was born. It is also difficult for us to accept surgery when the symptoms are mild.
The second option is to have a joint replacement, which can also solve the root of the problem and is the only solution for severe osteoarthrosis. However, replacement prostheses have a lifespan, which varies from one prosthesis to another, between 15 and 20 years.
The third option is conservative treatment. This involves eliminating inflammation in the joint to relieve pain and swelling, increasing the nutrition of the cartilage to promote its metabolism and self-repair, and exercising the muscles to make the joint more stable and reduce further wear and tear on the cartilage. This is the first treatment option to consider, and it is also the one that must be chosen if the condition is not so severe that surgery is necessary. Even when surgery is considered, a period of conservative treatment is usually done to relieve symptoms and improve tissue conditions, which can make the surgery go more smoothly and with better results.
So what are the common conservative treatments?
Common physical treatments include: drug ion introduction (anti-inflammatory and analgesic through the introduction of drug ions), ultrashort wave (high frequency electromagnetic field to achieve anti-inflammatory purposes), low and medium frequency electrotherapy (to improve circulation by improving the permeability of cell membranes), wax therapy (to promote local blood circulation) and so on. Of course, the specific treatment method, dosage, etc. should be arranged by a specialist physiotherapist in a specialized hospital.
Home physiotherapy equipment will also have a certain role, but from the safety point of view, the power of home physiotherapy instruments are very low, the effect is relatively poor. And each person suitable for which physical therapy is difficult to say, not necessarily you buy home just right for you, so some physical therapy equipment used by others particularly effective, introduced to you to make half a day is of little use, this is a very common phenomenon.
Of course, if there is no suitable hospital nearby, home physiotherapy instrument at home to do treatment is also a good way, and then again, it is much better than just let it go.
There are oral medications, all of which are cartilage nutrients, such as Vitality, Glucophage, etc. There are many kinds of joint cartilage nutrition drugs on the market, and there is also a class of drugs that require intra-articular injection for cartilage nutrition and lubrication of joints: such as Spironolactone and Alchemy. These drugs need to be injected directly into the joint by a professional doctor to be effective.
In addition, the most important thing is the adjustment of life activities and the related functional exercises.
First of all, you should exercise moderately: you should not feel afraid of pain and not move at all, and you should not feel that practicing is better than not practicing, so you grit your teeth and practice hard. Sometimes, excessive practice is counterproductive.
Therefore, the amount of daily activity should be adjusted so as not to increase the swelling and pain of the joints as moderate. Avoid walking and standing for long periods of time. You can divide the distance that will hurt your joints into 3-4 sections, and rest for a few minutes in the middle of each section, so as not to reduce the amount of activity, but also to avoid excessive wear and tear on the joints. By the same token, other activities and work arrangements are also this method to adjust.
Second, try to improve the living environment. For example, reduce the opportunity to take the stairs, switch to flush toilets to avoid squatting, do not walk too far around the residence shopping, etc.. Of course, the living environment can not be changed, try to find a way to consider the whole thing is.
There is also the control and minimize weight. Especially for middle-aged and elderly women who are relatively overweight, reducing weight can significantly reduce the burden on the joints. Some sources say that a 10% weight loss can reduce the burden on the knee joint by 20-30%.
Choose appropriate sports for exercise. Long and strenuous activities such as mountain climbing and ball games can cause further damage to joint cartilage, and are not suitable for patients with osteoarthrosis who already have obvious symptoms. You can choose exercises that are not too strenuous and less burdensome on the joints, such as swimming, tai chi, walking, brisk walking, etc., as a way of daily exercise.
The next step is functional exercises.
The muscles around the knee joint (especially the quadriceps on the front side of the thigh) are an important structure in maintaining the stability of the knee joint. In patients with osteoarthrosis, the quadriceps muscles are not exercised because of decreased pain and activity, and they atrophy significantly. This decreases the stability of the knee joint, causing the patellofemoral joint and femoro-tibial joint to produce unsuitable groove movements and excessive frictional impact, which can further aggravate the development of osteoarthrosis.
A common method of exercising the quadriceps is the static squat. The action requirements of the static squat are as follows: the feet are separated and shoulder-width apart, the toes and knees are forward, the upper body is straight against the wall, the center of gravity falls on the heel. Knees in the vertical direction can not exceed the tip of the foot, the angle of bending the knee can not be greater than 90 degrees. Hold this position until exhaustion, rest for 10 seconds and then repeat, 10 consecutive times / group, 2-3 groups / day. Simply put, it is the back against the wall to practice the “horse stance”.
If the symptoms are very heavy, squatting a small angle will feel pain, you can use static weighted knee extension: sit on a high chair, bed or table, below the knee joint are hanging outside the bed, tied a sandbag on the ankle, as hard as possible to completely straighten the leg, hold until exhaustion (that is, can no longer lift) count once, 5-10 times / group, 2-3 sets of daily practice.
Of course, all exercises should be gradual, from less to more, from easy to difficult, from static exercises in a static position to power exercises in motion, from simple to complex movements.