Causes of knee joint disease. Effective treatment

Salt deposition is what people often call arthrosis of the knee joint, or gonarthrosis. In fact, the cause of knee pain is not calcium salts at all, but changes in the structure of the cartilage. One way or another, you shouldn’t put it off until later, otherwise a slight stiffness in movements will develop into severe pain and complete immobility.

The knee joint is subjected to enormous physical stress in everyday life.

Reasons for the development of gonarthrosis

When walking, the knee joint suffers the most. With age, cartilage tissue wears out and destructive changes occur in its structure. However, not everyone develops arthrosis of this joint. Those most susceptible to the disease are:

• overweight people (due to increased stress on joints);
• athletes and simply lovers of an active lifestyle;
• those who have suffered a knee injury or fracture in the past, damaged the knee meniscus;
• patients over 40 years of age, especially women during menopause;
• people diagnosed with varicose veins;
• those who have a history of relatives who have already been diagnosed with arthrosis (the hereditary factor also plays a role).

Injured your knee during a scheduled workout? You are automatically at risk for developing arthrosis

Myths and facts

Myth N1

All joint pain is associated with arthritis. Although there are at least 50 types of arthritis, inflammation and pain in the joints does not mean the presence of arthritis. Pain in the joint area may be associated with damage to soft tissue or synovial membranes (bursitis). Therefore, a doctor’s consultation is necessary to make a diagnosis.

Myth N2

Clicking your joints causes arthritis. As far as we know, the click when extending a joint is associated only with the vacuum effect and nothing more.

Myth N3

Physical exercise causes joint pain. Exercise is beneficial for both people with arthritis and healthy people. Only if you have pain, you should forget about intense exercise and limit yourself to light gymnastics or exercise on exercise bikes and swimming. It must be remembered that the more a person moves throughout his life, the better. For joints, exercises help maintain range of motion. We must remember the motto “what doesn’t work, perishes.”

Myth N4

It is impossible to stop the process of destruction of joints due to arthritis. Modern drugs (NSAIDs, steroids, antirheumatic drugs) can reduce inflammation, relieve pain and, thus, inhibit destructive processes in the joint. When patients refused treatment for joints, irreversible, pronounced changes in the joints were noted, and, sometimes, in a very short period of time (3-6 months). Therefore, it is better to listen to the advice of your doctor - this will help maintain your quality of life.

Fact N1

Patients with arthritis are weather sensitive. They do not tolerate wet weather well and thrive in dry, clear weather. This is due to the sensitivity of these patients to atmospheric pressure.

Fact N2

Diet may be a factor in preventing arthritis. Yes and no. As you gain weight, your risk of osteoarthritis increases, especially affecting the hips and knees. But for other forms of arthritis, the effectiveness of the diet is not so obvious.

Dynamics of development of arthrosis of the knee joint

Gonarthrosis in the last stage never becomes a “bolt from the blue”: it is preceded by alarming symptoms that increase gradually. Depending on their intensity, the following degrees of the disease are distinguished:

• First degree. The legs get tired, while moving the person notices limited mobility of the knee joint and hears a crunching sound. At rest there is virtually no pain. And they appear either after prolonged sitting or sleep (“starting pain”), or after physical activity.

With arthrosis of the 1st degree, a slight narrowing of the joint space is noticeable on the x-ray

• Second degree. Pain limits movement. To cover a long distance, a person is forced to stop and rest. The joint begins to deform, a characteristic crunch is heard, and lameness may appear. The joint space in the image narrows even more, the bone grows, forming osteophytes. The lining of the joint can become inflamed and fluid accumulates inside.

Osteophytes (bone growths) appear in the second stage of arthrosis of the knee joint

• Last stage. The joint is practically motionless and hurts both under load and at complete rest. The bones of the knee are severely deformed, and the joint space is absent or very close to it.

Patients with third degree gonarthrosis have to live with unbearable pain

Which doctor should I contact for knee pain?

With knee pain, it is best to consult an orthopedic traumatologist or surgeon. In case of chronic knee pain, help can be provided by a rheumatologist. In order to relieve pain, people also consult a physiotherapist, massage therapist or chiropractor.

Conservative treatment of gonarthrosis

Traditional medicine does not undertake to treat arthrosis in an advanced state using conservative methods. They are used in the first and less often in the second stages. Treatment is aimed at:

• relieve a person from pain;
• eliminate inflammation;
• improve the trophism of cartilage tissue;
• activate blood circulation;
• strengthen the muscles around the joint.

For this purpose, they resort to the following methods of treating arthrosis:

• medications;
• manual therapy;
• physiotherapy;
• massage;
• cryotherapy - cold treatment;
• laser and magnetic therapy;
• thermal procedures using ozokerite, paraffin, therapeutic mud;
• acupuncture and other methods.

Physiotherapy is ideal until arthrosis reaches the second and third stages

Therapeutic exercises are indicated at the initial stage of gonarthrosis, and will also be an excellent preventative measure if you are at risk. Try this simple set of exercises – it will take about 10 minutes to complete:

Physiotherapeutic procedures

Therapy for any joint disease must be comprehensive. Physiotherapeutic procedures can reduce the need to use medications. In this case, the process of restoration of motor function is reduced.

Among the effective physiotherapeutic procedures are:

• ultrasound;
• infrared irradiation;
• magnetic therapy;
• mud therapy;
• electrophoresis;
• phonophoresis;
• laser therapy;
• paraffin therapy;
• medicinal baths;
• UHF;
• microcurrents.

Physiotherapeutic treatment is required when the exacerbation of the underlying disease subsides. Such procedures should only be prescribed by a doctor, taking into account the indications.

Drug treatment of arthrosis

The main role in the fight against the manifestations of gonarthrosis is played by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and chondroprotectors.

• Non-steroidal – relieve inflammation and eliminate pain. However, if you take them for a very long time, the symptoms of the disease are “masked” and it becomes impossible to prescribe adequate treatment. In addition, according to recent studies, drugs of this particular group negatively affect the synthesis of proteoglycans, which is why the affected cartilage is destroyed even faster.
• Chondroprotectors – nourish and restore the functioning of cartilage tissue. At the third stage, these medications can no longer help - they are not able to restore completely destroyed cartilage or return the knees to their original shape.

The positive effect of treatment with chondroprotectors occurs only after 6-18 months

• Medicinal ointments and creams only alleviate the patient’s condition.
• Compresses have an anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect, but, like ointments, they are only an adjuvant in the treatment of osteoarthritis and arthrosis.

Are injections effective: injection injections are different

Intra-joint injections today aim not only to reduce inflammation and alleviate the patient’s condition. Modern drugs are many times more effective than chondroprotectors in restoring articular cartilage by renewing synovial fluid. Today intra-articular injections of the following drugs are practiced:

• Glucocorticoids.

They allow you to quickly eliminate pain and relieve inflammation, but do not improve the condition of the cartilage. They can be used only in the acute period, with synovitis, when other methods are contraindicated. The drugs are hormones, so their frequent administration stops the regeneration of cartilage, and with excess weight, hypertension, peptic ulcers and other diseases, side effects often occur.

• Hyaluronic acid.

Such preparations are also called “liquid prostheses”. Once inside the joint, they act as natural synovial fluid, lubricate the surfaces, and stimulate the restoration of cartilage. Products based on hyaluronic acid can cause allergies. Their validity period is only a few months, since immune cells in the human body contribute to the rapid breakdown and elimination of the drug.

• Synthetic synovial fluid substitutes, such as Noltrex

Noltrex is an artificial endoprosthesis that also replaces synovial fluid and restores its normal viscosity. Unlike natural-based drugs, it contains no components that would be broken down by phagocytes. That is why the medicine remains at the injection site for a long time and provides a long-lasting effect - up to one and a half to two years.

Synthetic Noltrex is absolutely safe and hypoallergenic

Diagnosis of arthritis

Timely detection and treatment of arthritis or arthrosis will help maintain normal joint function and the ability to lead an active lifestyle even in old age.
For successful treatment of the disease, it is important to establish its cause. In addition to analyzing complaints and symptoms, laboratory and instrumental diagnostic methods help determine the type of arthritis, as well as the severity of the inflammatory process.

• General clinical blood test. An acute process is characterized by an increase in ESR. When the disease is caused by microorganisms, leukocytosis is observed. In case of an allergic reaction, an increase in the number of eosinophils is possible.
• Blood chemistry. It is carried out to determine the cause of the disease, as well as the severity of inflammation.
• Immunological blood test. It is especially relevant in identifying rheumatoid and reactive forms of the disease. Indicates the presence or absence of specific antibodies to infectious pathogens or the patient’s own tissues.
• General urine analysis.
• Radiography. The main instrumental method for diagnosing arthritis. Allows you to determine the condition of the bones and identify changes caused by the inflammatory process.
• CT scan. Used to assess the condition of soft tissues - muscles, articular discs, ligaments.
• Magnetic resonance imaging. Allows you to more clearly examine the earliest changes in bone structures, articular and adjacent tissues.
• Ultrasonography. In case of arthritis, it helps to determine the degree of damage to large joints, the superficial location of which allows you to examine them from different sides, as well as to identify an increased volume of intra-articular fluid.
• Examination of synovial fluid. In the infectious form of arthritis, bacteriological analysis helps to identify the pathogen and select an effective antibacterial drug for treatment.
• Arthroscopy. An endoscopic method that involves inserting a special sensor into the joint cavity.
• Arthrography. Shows the condition of the cartilage and soft tissues that surround the joint.

Noltrex injections:

• effective at any stage of knee arthrosis;
• give a long-lasting effect - from nine months to two years;
• do not cause allergies due to their synthetic origin;
• absolutely safe due to biocompatibility with body tissues;
• do not give adverse reactions;
• indicated, including for diabetes mellitus - under the supervision of an endocrinologist.

Even the last stage of gonarthrosis is not a death sentence. Medicine does not stand still, so it’s too early to despair! Consult a specialist you trust and choose the most suitable treatment for you. And most importantly, maintain a positive attitude and faith in recovery!

Physiotherapy

Thanks to regular exercise therapy, good results can be achieved. Such exercises improve joint mobility and stop the development of the pathological process. Training partially helps restore the functionality of the knee joint. After training, it will be easier to bend and unbend it.

Physical therapy should only be prescribed by a doctor. Exercises can be performed when the inflammatory process has stopped and the pain has subsided. All physical therapy movements must be performed smoothly, avoiding the development of painful sensations. Main; perform the exercises systematically, daily.