Osteoarthrosis is a chronic joint disease characterized by localized articular cartilage degeneration, bone loss, joint edge spur formation and joint deformity and subchondral bone denseness, also known as osteoarthritis, degenerative osteoarthrosis, proliferative arthritis, and age-related arthritis. The disease affects the quality of life of middle-aged and elderly patients to varying degrees.
The cause of the disease is still unclear, but it is thought to be mainly related to aging and obesity. It may also be related to excessive joint activity (e.g., frequent strenuous joint activity), joint trauma, genetics, intraosseous hypertension, osteoporosis, metabolic and endocrine abnormalities. Ageing and obesity cause joint degeneration, which is a natural sign of aging, just like wrinkled skin in the elderly.
The degeneration occurs first in the cartilage, causing a change in the cartilage composition, resulting in a decrease or even loss of cartilage elasticity. The load-bearing cartilage surface changes from a normal smooth state to a ragged cotton wool state, with the subchondral bone exposed, and due to constant friction, the bone surface becomes smooth and ivory-like bone, while the non-load-bearing cartilage surface appears to be repaired, new bone is formed, and bone spurs are formed at the joint edge. In addition the whole process of the disease involves ligaments, joint capsule, synovial membrane and peri-articular muscles, eventually leading to joint pain and loss of function.
The disease can occur in all joints of the body, but it is more likely to occur in the knee and hip joints, the spine, and the finger joints, which are heavily weight-bearing. Knee and hip joint lesions are particularly common.
Clinical manifestations of osteoarthrosis.
Almost all cases have varying degrees of pain, which progresses slowly with the course of the disease. The pain is obvious when the joint starts to move and decreases after a little activity, but it increases when there is too much weight and movement. Sometimes the pain can be radiated, for example, hip pain can be radiated to the inner thigh and near the knee joint. In the early stage, joint stiffness can be seen, such as when the knee joint is in a certain position for a long time, the movement is unfavorable and it is difficult to start, and then gradually joint instability, reduced range of motion of joint flexion and extension, and reduced walking ability, especially the ability to go up and down steps, squat, run and jump. Some patients with advanced osteoarthrosis may also develop some lower limb deformities, with inversion of the knee being the most common, commonly known as “rotundity”.
Related tests.
Patients can have specific tests that reflect the degradation and synthesis of articular cartilage and subchondral bone metabolism, local disease progression, disease activity and prognosis under the guidance of a physician.
X-rays can reveal lesions of varying degrees, but they cannot be used to diagnose and determine the severity of osteoarthrosis and should be combined with patient symptoms and signs.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a safe and non-invasive examination method that can clearly observe the early changes of joint cartilage, synovium, ligaments, meniscus and other joint structures, which is important for the early diagnosis of osteoarthrosis.
How to prevent osteoarthrosis?
This disease occurs in middle-aged and older friends with heavy joints, so for middle-aged and older people should do well to.
1, weight control or weight loss. Obesity is an important reason for the occurrence of this disease, so middle-aged and elderly friends should control weight to prevent obesity. Once the standard weight is exceeded, then there is no doubt that weight loss is most important. Weight loss can prevent or reduce the damage to the joints and reduce the pressure on the diseased joints, which can help the treatment of the disease.
2. Avoid prolonged standing and long distance walking. Because they will increase the joint stress and accelerate joint degeneration.
3, timely and proper treatment of joint trauma, infection, metabolic abnormalities, osteoporosis and other primary diseases.
4.Calcium supplementation. Should be based on dietary supplements, pay attention to the balance of nutrition, eat more dairy products (such as fresh milk, yogurt, cheese), soy products (such as soy milk, soy flour, tofu, bean curd, etc.), vegetables (such as golden needles, carrots, cabbage, baby greens) and seafood such as nori, kelp, fish, shrimp. At the same time, you should see more sunlight and take vitamin D supplements to promote calcium absorption. If necessary, the appropriate amount of calcium supplements, such as calcium gluconate, calcium giant can be clinically used inexpensive calcium supplements. However, it should be noted that calcium must be supplemented under the guidance of a doctor.
5, adhere to the appropriate amount of physical exercise to prevent osteoporosis. Regular exercise can help protect joints and prevent osteoarthrosis by strengthening the support of muscles, tendons and ligaments.
6, pay attention to joint warmth. This is also important for the prevention of osteoarthrosis. Cold joints often induce the occurrence of this disease.
Simple maintenance treatment of osteoarthrosis.
1, patients should understand the dangers of the disease and the importance of early treatment, improve patient awareness of risk factors, eliminate and avoid causative factors, conducive to disease control and functional recovery, while building confidence to overcome the disease.
2.Protection of joints: weight-bearing activities of joints should be limited, avoid prolonged standing or long-distance walking, cane can be used to reduce the load on the affected joints; overweight people should reduce their weight; pay attention to the affected joints to keep warm and avoid wind and cold; in severe cases, short-term bed rest and complete braking can be used.
3, local physiotherapy: acute phase of joint fever, swelling should first local cold compress, after the reduction of heat and swelling can be applied hot compress. Chronic period can also be applied infrared, ultra-short wave, acupuncture, wax therapy, massage, etc.
4, functional exercise: reasonable exercise can restore muscle contraction, joint flexibility and prevention of osteoporosis, but unreasonable exercise will increase the joint load, causing further damage to the cartilage, thereby aggravating the clinical symptoms. It is often seen that some patients blindly take long walks, disco dancing, even running, climbing and other uncomfortable exercises after the symptoms aggravated. We advocate that exercise should be as far as possible in the joint without weight-bearing flexion and extension activities, it is recommended that the healthy limb standing weight-bearing, the affected limb flexion and extension joint activities, or sitting joint flexion and extension exercise.
Try not to do squatting and other activities that will increase the load on the joint. For the hip and knee joints, you can practice sit-ups and straight leg raises in bed as many times as possible. Swimming is a good sport for people with osteoarthritis of the knee. It is not a big burden on the knee joint and allows the muscles to be fully active. However, breaststroke requires the knee joint to make a good twisting force. Sometimes it can cause bad results, so freestyle and backstroke are recommended.