Knee pain is a common complaint when they seek medical help. What causes the pain, and how to help yourself if it happens? There is no clear answer, because the knee joint may have different types of lesions for many reasons. One of these reasons (and very common) is initial joint disease. Today, I will give you a detailed introduction to knee joint disease: what are its causes, types, symptoms and signs, let's talk about the methods of treatment and prevention.
Types and causes of illness
Knee arthropathy or knee arthropathy is a major non-inflammatory disease that ultimately leads to the destruction of articular cartilage, knee deformity and limited range of motion of the knee joint. There are two main forms of the disease:
- Primary-caused by congenital joint defects;
- Minor-caused by other diseases or injuries.
The primary form begins to develop in childhood or young and is caused by the improper formation of the articular surface or ligament structure. When walking, this joint will bear a load that is disproportionate to its ability, causing its degenerative changes.
The development of secondary pathology can lead to:
- Injuries: leg bone fractures, knee bruises and dislocations, accompanied by damage to bones and articular cartilage parts and their ligaments. In this case, post-traumatic arthropathy occurs in the knee joint.
- Surgery to remove the meniscus, because they cause the overall structure of the knee to be violated and wear quickly.
- Athletes often endure disproportionately high loads on their legs.
- Excessive obesity can also cause arthropathy, because it causes the weight to put too much pressure on the cartilage of the knee joint.
- Arthritis is inflammation of the joints. Long-term arthritis is accompanied by the formation of fluid in the joint cavity. Over time, joint disease may occur.
- Metabolic disorders lead to the deposition of salt in the joint cavity.
- Other factors and diseases that accompany long-term spasms of leg muscles or blood vessels.
- Transfer operation.
The pathological process can be one-sided or two-sided. As a result of trauma, unilateral arthropathy (such as the right knee) is most likely to occur, while obesity is bilateral.
Typical symptoms
Arthropathy of the knee joint develops gradually. Sometimes in the first few months or even years before, there are no obvious symptoms (such as severe pain and visible deformities), but from time to time there will be discomfort in the knee.
In most cases, overweight women over the age of 40 will get sick, especially varicose veins will aggravate the condition.
The development of knee joint disease has gone through several stages:
- The initial stage can last for months or even years. A person is worried about periodic pain in the knee, especially when taking the first step after getting up in the morning, and when going up and down stairs.
- In the second stage, the pain becomes more intense, and any movement that accompanies the characteristic tightening occurs. Fluid may accumulate in the joint cavity, and you can notice the initial deformation during the inspection. The range of motion of the painful knee begins to decrease.
- The third stage is characterized by pain, which does not disappear even when resting. Before the weather changes, the discomfort is usually more severe. By this time, the joint has basically lost its function: the leg may hardly bend at the knee or bend to the end. Gait changes: it becomes a "staggering" or bent leg. The deformation of the knee is very obvious: the legs are bent and are O-shaped or X-shaped.
Symptoms of arthropathy develop faster after knee trauma. Against the background of the injury, there is pain and swelling in the knee area. This kind of pain often accompanies a person and worsens after physical exertion. Gradually, there was a feeling of tightness and stiffness in the knees. Sometimes, for this form of disease, it only takes a few months from the first signs to irreversible changes.
Treat knee joint disease
The scope of treatment depends on the stage of the disease and the severity of the disease. But since the disease is chronic, the only thing that can be achieved is long-term remission (a rest period when pathological manifestations are minimal or absent). At the same time, if the cause of knee joint arthritis (such as weight loss) can be eliminated at an early stage, then almost complete recovery can be achieved.
Goals of gonorrhea treatment:
- Eliminate pain,
- If possible, repair damaged cartilage and ligament organs,
- Increase the range of motion of the joints.
treatment method:
- medical treatement,
- Massage and manual therapy,
- operation treatment,
- Rehabilitation therapy (exercise therapy, physical therapy, etc. ).
Only a doctor can choose the right medicine-under no circumstances should you prescribe it yourself. Their main actions are aimed at:
- Eliminate the symptoms of knee arthropathy: reduce pain and inflammation. To this end, appropriate medications are prescribed, including hormones injected into the joint cavity.
- Improve blood supply to the affected area. It is provided by relieving vasospasm and relaxing muscles.
- Cartilage repair. To this end, drugs that nourish and repair cartilage are prescribed.
Manual impact and massage can reduce pain, relax the spasm muscles near the affected knee, help increase the range of motion, correct the position of bones, and increase blood circulation.
For far-reaching and irreversible diseases, the knee joint adopts a radical method-prosthetic treatment, that is, implanting a metal prosthesis to replace the damaged joint. So far, this is the only way to provide a complete chance of recovery, but endoprostheses have a limited lifespan and must be replaced afterwards. Due to the high cost of this type of surgery, this treatment method has not yet become widespread.
Rehabilitation treatment includes physical therapy, exercise therapy (exercise using special loads and simulators), physical therapy and hydrotherapy.
The purpose of orthopedic methods is to relieve knee pain-these are canes, orthoses, etc. , which help with walking (use if necessary).
There are many folk formulas of various ointments and compresses based on herbs, medical bile and warm bandages made of natural wool. Basically, the role of these methods is to relieve pain and eliminate major symptoms.
Precaution
Prevention of knee joint disease includes many factors:
- Nutritional balance: The diet should contain adequate amounts of protein, vitamins and minerals.
- Fight the wrong way of life and get rid of bad habits.
- Weight standardization.
- Appropriate physical activity.
- Prevent injuries during exercise and weightlifting.
The most important thing to determine the pathology of knee joint disease is not to start the disease, because its far-reaching stages can lead to disability. However, if all efforts are devoted to treatment and prevention in a timely manner—until time passes and the symptoms are trivial—then the disease may be completely cured.