Joint diseases “get younger.” just 20 years ago, doctors first diagnosed arthrosis in patients aged 38-42 years; now this diagnosis is given even to 25-year-olds. The reason for this is not so much natural aging as heredity, a sedentary lifestyle, lack of physical activity, slow metabolism, etc. To maintain healthy joints, it is recommended to monitor their condition, even if there are no signs of disease. An indicative diagnostic study is an ultrasound of the joints; it is advisable to undergo it every year.
Types of knee joint deformities
Absolutely all joints are subject to change over time. But the degree of change depends on the individual characteristics of the organism. The higher the load on the joint, the higher the risk of developing pathology. Therefore, maintaining the health of the knee joints becomes more difficult over the years.
Deformations pose a particular danger. When they occur, the natural anatomical axes change, affecting the entire musculoskeletal system. Concomitant diseases are added to the deformation - arthritis, arthrosis, scoliosis, flat feet.
The health of the knee joints is significantly weakened by the following pathologies:
- varus deformity. “Wheel legs” pretty much ruin the lives of some people. Girls especially suffer psychologically from this problem. Visually, the “wheel” looks like this: the knees diverge to the sides, the feet close;
- hallux valgus deformity. The legs look like the letter “X”, the knees close together, the feet diverge in different directions. The degree of pathology is determined by the width of the discrepancy and the angle of deviation of the knees. In severe cases (more than 20 degrees), it is difficult for a person to move, and posture is impaired. A mild form may not cause much discomfort, but threatens the development of joint and cartilage diseases;
- congenital abnormalities. The health of the knees can be affected by chromosomal pathologies. In addition to varus and valgus, sprains in the knee apparatus, duck gait, and lateral deformities of the feet are added.
Patients come to the Ladisten Medical Center and ask: “Is it possible to live with these problems if the deviation is insignificant?” The answer is clear: “It’s possible, but not advisable.” After all, pathology can progress; even a slight deviation from the anatomical axis has a negative impact. It is invisible in youth, but over the years the problem will manifest itself as acute pain in the joints and their destruction.
How to keep joints healthy: effective methods recommended by doctors
Popular
news
Joint diseases are considered to be age-related, characteristic of older people, but meanwhile they are becoming more and more “younger”.
Joint diseases affect people of all generations, and this is mainly due to a sedentary lifestyle. However, other factors also play an important role: genetic predisposition, old injuries, poor environment, etc. Joint diseases are very difficult to treat: in most cases, the pain subsides, but then returns again, and the person has to constantly fight it.
We will tell you how to maintain healthy joints, as well as the causes of such diseases, their prevention and treatment. Causes of joint diseases
Joint diseases are the most common among pathologies affecting the musculoskeletal system. Depending on the nature of the occurrence, joint diseases are divided into two groups:
- arthritis - inflammatory and infectious lesions; - arthrosis - degenerative-dystrophic processes.
Causes of arthritis
As mentioned above, arthritis occurs as a result of an inflammatory response to infectious and viral attacks. There are quite a few types of arthritis: rheumatoid, gonorrheal, metabolic, tuberculosis, psoriatic, gout, etc. From the names of some of them, you can guess what kind of infection triggered the disease.
Causes of arthritic joint pain include:
- allergies; — metabolic disorders; - lack of vitamins; - damage to the nervous system.
Arthritis can only be diagnosed using x-rays.
Among the accompanying symptoms of joint diseases, the following signs can be distinguished:
- acute pain, especially when walking; - morning fever, sometimes the appearance of a rash; - joint deformation, swelling.
Causes of arthrosis
Degenerative joint pain is common in older people, and this is due to wear and tear of the joint: over time, cartilage loses its elasticity.
Other causes of arthrosis include:
- excess body weight (high load on joints); - genetic predisposition (for example, detection of hip dysplasia. Determined by an orthopedist in newborns and infants in the first 2 months of life); — hormonal imbalance (relevant during menopause and hormonal diseases); - previous injuries and joint surgeries.
Types of arthrosis include knee, hip, shoulder, and ankle.
The most common diseases in this case: spinal arthrosis, dysfunction of the temporomandibular joint, glenohumeral periarthrosis. Elbow and knee joint: common diseases
Diseases of the elbow and knee joint are the most common, as both older and younger people suffer from them.
Diseases of the knee joint appear as a result of injuries. For example, many athletes are familiar with such an injury as a torn meniscus. An awkward movement, a sharp turn while running or playing football - and the first symptoms in the form of severe pain and limited movement will not be long in coming. Severe knee injury leads to synovitis - inflammation of the lining of the knee joint with the formation of excess fluid (effusion).
Diseases of the elbow joint deserve special attention. In particular, this applies to epicondylitis and elbow bursitis. The reasons for the appearance are microtraumas and excessive loads on the joint and the consequences of psoriatic, gouty or rheumatoid arthritis, respectively. These diseases are inflammatory and degenerative in nature and require immediate treatment.
People tend to confuse arthritis and arthrosis. The symptoms and treatment are similar, but the diseases progress differently: arthrosis affects small and large joints locally, while arthritis affects the entire body as a whole. How to keep your joints healthy
To prevent musculoskeletal diseases from overtaking you either at a young or mature age, we will tell you what will help you maintain healthy joints.
Exercises to strengthen joints
Physical activity strengthens the muscles and ligaments that surround and protect the joints. Here you don’t have to limit yourself in your choice: any sports activity is suitable, from visiting the gym and swimming pool to Nordic walking. If you already have problems with your joints, consult your doctor about which exercise will be safer for you.
Exercises to strengthen joints
Normal weight
Watch your weight. Excess body weight does not benefit the body. Too much high-calorie nutrition leads to diabetes, increases blood cholesterol, disrupts hormonal processes, and that’s not all. Human joints are quite stable, but due to excess weight they wear out faster. If you want to keep your joints healthy as you age, consider visiting a nutritionist and introducing exercise.
Active lifestyle
How to keep joints healthy? Of course, move more! Try not to stay in one position for more than 1 hour. If you have a sedentary job, take breaks every 20 minutes.
Correct posture
The spine is the center of the human musculoskeletal system. As soon as you begin to hunch, your body weight transfers to nearby muscles and ligaments and puts additional stress on them. Therefore, train yourself to sit, lie and walk straight, and then you will not only save your joints, but also protect yourself from scoliosis.
Comfortable shoes
“Beauty requires sacrifice” - this is a statement about women who sacrifice the health of their feet by wearing uncomfortable high-heeled shoes. Shoes with heels and high platforms should be festive, not casual. For daily wear, opt for comfortable shoes with textured soles.
Nutrition for joints and bones
To maintain joint health, you need certain vitamins and microelements.
Nutrition for joints and bones
Calcium. This mineral strengthens bones and ensures normal muscle function. It is found in greens like parsley and spices such as coriander, cumin, turmeric. Any salad recipe can be supplemented with these ingredients.
Potassium. Potassium does not directly affect joints and muscles, but it does prevent calcium from being washed out of the body. Add potatoes and bananas to your “What to eat for healthy joints” list.
Vitamin D. While the summer days are outside, feel free to go outside to sunbathe, because the human body synthesizes this vitamin under the influence of UV rays. Well, if this is not possible, then introduce foods such as shrimp, egg yolk and sardines into your diet.
Vitamin K. It increases bone density, so foods such as eggs and cheese should be included in the diet.
Omega-3 fatty acids. Strengthens bones and is found in fish, nuts and seeds.
Limiting consumption of carbonated drinks
Carbonated drinks increase phosphate in the blood, which leads to a decrease in calcium needed by the bones. Excessive consumption of caffeine-containing green tea and coffee also leads to its loss.
Rejection of bad habits
Keeping your joints healthy is another good reason to quit smoking. Due to the harmful substances in cigarettes, the smoker’s body does not absorb calcium well, which is so necessary for healthy bones and joints.
By the way, smoking also leads to problems with the production of female and male hormones - estrogen and testosterone. And they also affect the strength and growth of bones.
It is impossible to make a rating of the effectiveness of the methods described above - they all work only together. These simple rules were established by doctors, and their effectiveness is confirmed by positive reviews from people. Try to adhere to each point mentioned above, and you will be able to maintain healthy joints and bones. Prevention and treatment of joint diseases
Prevention of joint diseases consists of simple rules: proper nutrition, an active lifestyle and giving up bad habits. The interesting thing is that thanks to such recommendations, you will not only take care of your musculoskeletal system, but in general you will soon feel better.
Prevention and treatment of joint diseases
You can also use special pharmaceutical products for prevention. We are talking about balms, ointments and creams that are sold without a doctor's prescription. For example, “Miracle-Khash” gel-balm protects cartilage tissue from destruction, restores muscle tissue that has been injured, and relieves pain symptoms. This remedy can be used after an intense workout in the gym to relieve muscle tension, or daily as a preventive measure for joint diseases.
If it is too late to engage in prevention, the doctor prescribes treatment for joint diseases. Depending on the degree of their progress, he may prescribe conservative treatment or surgery. In some cases, as an auxiliary method, you can sometimes resort to treatment with folk remedies, but only after consultation with your doctor.
Causes of knee joint diseases
How to preserve joints until old age? First of all, it is necessary to reduce the risk of developing deformities. The health of the knee joints suffers for the following reasons²:
- lack of vitamin D and calcium, rickets;
- excess body weight and additional stress on the joint;
- problems with the endocrine system in the mother;
- congenital bone diseases;
- early attempts to learn to walk;
- injuries, leg fractures and ligament ruptures, improper fusion during the rehabilitation period;
- infection of bone tissue – osteomyelitis;
- restriction of movements in the pelvic area.
Unfortunately, not all causes can be avoided. Therefore, treatment of deformities is one of the leading vectors in orthopedics.
Risk factors for arthrosis
Arthrosis or osteoarthritis is cartilage degeneration. Every 4th person sooner or later encounters this common disease. The main symptoms of wear and tear of joint cartilage are poor mobility and dull pain. In some cases, untreated arthrosis can significantly ruin life. The reasons for the development of this disease have not yet been fully studied by medical science. However, doctors still managed to find out the risk factors that may cause osteoarthritis.
There are modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors. The first ones can be influenced independently. That is, by changing your lifestyle and habits, you can avoid or delay the development of the disease. In the second case, risk factors are inherent in a person at the genetic level, and nothing can be done about them.
Variable factors
Doctors identify 7 main modifiable risk factors for arthrosis. If you put in the effort and work on yourself, most of them can be minimized and keep your joints healthy for many years to come.
- Excess weight. In obese people, arthrosis usually affects the hip and knee joints - those that experience increased stress. But other cartilages also suffer. Doctors suggest that the cause of this is an inflammatory process, which is almost always present in the body of overweight people.
- Features of work. The development of osteoarthritis is invariably associated with the type of human activity. Those who work with their hands usually suffer from small joints in their hands. Professionals who are forced to kneel for long periods of time and frequently squat experience problems with their knee joints. Work associated with prolonged standing and constant use of stairs can cause the development of arthrosis of the hip joints.
- Injury. Regular increased loads and joint injuries over time lead to irreversible changes in cartilage tissue. First of all, this applies to athletes, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the army.
- Nutrition. Online you can find complete diets for those who want to keep their joints healthy until old age. But usually such menus are ineffective. In the process of research, doctors have identified only one clear relationship between food and the appearance of arthrosis. It turns out that this disease develops when the body lacks vitamins C, D, K. However, their usual intake is not a panacea against osteoarthritis, research is still underway.
- Smoking. People addicted to nicotine are more likely than others to have joint problems and a number of other diseases. If a diagnosis of arthrosis has already been made, smoking will only worsen the situation.
- Infectious diseases. It has been scientifically proven that past infectious diseases can cause destruction of cartilage and bone tissue in joints. To avoid negative consequences, even with ordinary tonsillitis you need to consult a doctor.
- Other diseases. There are diseases not associated with tissue infection that can negatively affect joint health. Thus, the problem of insufficient blood clotting is accompanied by repeated hemorrhages and adhesions in the joints. As a result of inflammation, cartilage damage is almost always observed.
Unchangeable Factors
If the factors listed above can be influenced independently, reducing the risk of developing osteoarthritis, then in this case nothing can be done.
- Age. The risk of arthrosis increases with age as all body systems naturally age. According to the American Center for Disease Control, more than 30% of citizens aged 65 years and older have sought medical help with signs of osteoarthritis.
- Heredity. If close relatives have joint problems in the family, the risk of developing arthrosis increases sharply. Despite the fact that not a single gene has yet been identified that would be responsible for this, about 50% of cases of the disease have a heredity marker.
- Gender. At a young age (up to 45 years), men suffer from arthrosis more often than women. However, over the years everything changes. Older women are much more vulnerable to the disease. Doctors suggest that this is due to bone weakness and increased extensibility of the ligamentous apparatus, the cause of which is the hormone estrogen.
Attention
Bone density decreases especially rapidly in postmenopausal women. The fact is that during this period the production of estrogens, which not only ensure the reproductive function of a woman, but also suppress the processes of destruction of bone cells, sharply decreases. Accordingly, these processes are activated.
That is why it is advisable for women over 50 years of age to undergo densitometry, a study of bone density, if possible. And also, after consulting with your doctor, take calcium-based products for prevention.
Where can effective treatment of joints in older people be provided?
Not long ago, the state decided to allow the opening of private boarding houses, in which elderly people receive qualified medical care, attention and care. The price of such services is not very high; all the money spent will be repaid with well-being and a dignified old age for the guests. That is why in modern families where there are elderly relatives, a private boarding house for the elderly, in which grandparents get rid of loneliness, is one of the main topics for discussion.
Old age should be dignified and interesting. Older people, like everyone else, need acquaintances and communication. Given that the world is a very small place, residents of nursing homes may meet old friends or classmates there. After all, it is much more interesting for people with similar interests and life experiences to communicate; you can remember the years of your youth and the happiest moments in life.
To register an elderly relative in a private boarding house for treatment and care, the average income per family is enough. The cost of keeping a pensioner in such an institution is equivalent to caring for him at home. But in comparison with home care, in a private boarding house, guests are provided with competent and timely medical care. There are always doctors next to the elderly, which guarantees their safety and your peace of mind.
You should not suffer from remorse if your family has a need to register an elderly relative in a boarding school for the elderly and disabled. Such a step is a competent and reasonable decision; it is a concern that will definitely be appreciated by old people. The reasonable cost of living in a boarding house gives a reason to think about the future, evaluate the disadvantages and advantages of home care.
If just a few decades ago in Russia private boarding houses for the elderly were a rarity, today their number is growing, and our fellow citizens are using their services more often.
- A commercial boarding school requires considerable expenses. In most cases, staying in such an establishment will cost the same as a room in a premium hotel. But there are boarding houses available to people with average incomes. Nursing homes are rated based on the level and number of amenities, some of which can compete with five-star hotels.
- Qualified care for guests around the clock. This is the main advantage of commercial establishments. Even a personal nurse will not be able to provide such service, but in a boarding house pensioners will be under constant supervision. People are hired to work in a private nursing home under strict conditions. There are not many guests in such an establishment, so attention is paid to each resident.
- Interesting and eventful life of the guests. Old people in such an institution receive much more than the required minimum. Commercial boarding houses provide everything for leisure: from TVs, recreation areas, well-groomed areas for walking, gyms and board games to fun holidays. The organizers create interest groups where elderly residents find interlocutors among their peers. This is done to make pensioners feel at home among friends.
- In a commercial boarding house, each resident is treated individually. The staff treats the guests with understanding and attention, taking into account their problems, desires and needs. If necessary, the owners will provide the elderly with medical equipment, create an individual menu, treat diseases or provide psychological assistance.
- It is easier to enroll a relative in a private boarding school than in a government institution. The choice of such places is great; there are almost always free places or you don’t have to wait long for them. Simplified registration process.
- You can visit pensioners in a private nursing home at any time. It is possible to place a relative in such an institution for a short time (if you need to go on vacation or a business trip), or for permanent residence.
- Some establishments provide a trial stay service. Responsible boarding house owners understand how important it is to help an elderly person feel comfortable. They give the opportunity to stay in a nursing home for several days for free, so that the resident understands whether he feels good here or not. If the pensioner is satisfied with the conditions, the registration procedure begins; if not, he simply goes home.
We recommend
“Care for an elderly relative: how to arrange and organize it correctly” Read more
Joint structure
Joints, however, like other parts of the human body, have a very intelligent structure that ensures the necessary mobility of bone joints, their strength and performance throughout life. They consist of:
- rounded ends of bones - epiphyses;
- smooth cartilaginous tissue covering the epiphyses;
- a durable, sealed joint capsule (bursa) that isolates the joint space;
- synovial membrane covering the joint capsule from the inside;
- synovial fluid that fills the joint capsule and serves as a lubricant, as well as a nutritional medium for articular cartilage rubbing together.
On the outside, the joint capsule is surrounded by ligaments, tendons, and muscles. Branches of blood and lymphatic vessels and nerve endings approach it.
On a note
For strong bones, it is important that calcium not only enters the body, but also “reaches” the bone tissue. There are products that prevent this, so it is advisable to limit their consumption.
Sweet soda contains phosphoric acid, which accelerates the excretion of calcium.
Coffee and other caffeinated drinks leach calcium from your bones.
Alcoholic drinks : Alcohol blocks the absorption of calcium.
Spinach, sorrel and other foods rich in oxalic acid interfere with calcium absorption.