What is arthrosis of the joints and why it arises

A person’s life with arthrosis is divided into "before" and "after". Before the illness, there were great and small joys, sometimes insignificant problems. After that, only a daily struggle and quiet despair remained that normal life will never return. But you can solve the problem forever!

What is arthrosis

This is a disease of the joints, when the articular cartilage is destroyed over time, the articular ends of the bones are modified, the periastate DEGENERATE tissue and inflammation is actively flourishing.

Causes and development

Arthrosis can develop due to excessive loads or joint injuries. In any case, the process is accompanied by a decrease in the amount of proteoglycans (special complex proteins). Due to a decrease in the number of proteoglycans, the joint loses water, since it is these molecules that hold it. As a result, the cartilage "dries", loses elasticity and elasticity, becomes rough and dry. Because of this, abnormal friction occurs, as a result-pain. Due to friction, the joint is "erased", the cartilage becomes thinner, becomes thinner. Due to constant microdamines, growths are formed on the joint-osteophytes. The last stage is the complete disappearance of cartilage.

By mistake, people take osteophytes for "salt", which must be "dispersed". But they are not salt deposits, and there is nothing to disperse in the joints.

Risk factors for arthrosis determine its causes. Please note that if there is one factor (for example, the age of 50 years), arthrosis may not occur, but the chances of its appearance increase in the presence of 2 or more reasons, for example, an injury aged 50 years. All factors can be divided into non -general and genetic, external and internal.

Internal factors:

• Age. Over time, the body's ability to regenerate decreases, and cell activity decreases. Because of this, the reproduction of collagen decreases, the synovial fluid in the joints becomes less.
• Violation of metabolism. Various metabolic disorders can lead to arthrosis. The most common reason is a decrease in estrogen levels and diabetes. Various metabolic pathologies are also leading to arthrosis.
  Minerals and vitamins deficiency. Everything is clear here. If there is no receipt of the necessary substances, then the collagen and other substances simply have nothing to be synthesized. Pathology can develop against the background of anomalies in the assimilation of substances.
• Overweight. A little affecting the reason, since arthrosis occurs solely due to excess weight, a person needs to have weight far over 150 kilograms. But it also has an influence, increases the likelihood of developing arthrosis.
• Violation of the development of bones, joints. Such anomalies can appear not only because of heredity, but also for other reasons. The pathology of development is not a sentence, subject to certain rules of arthrosis will never arise.

• Arthritis. In the inflammatory process, the blood supply to the joint is disturbed, the composition of the synovial fluid and cartilage changes. Please note that after getting rid of arthritis, the risk of developing arthrosis remains until the composition of the fluids and tissues of the joint returns to normal.
• Joint heart attack. In another way, aseptic necrosis of the joint. It develops with thrombophilia - blood tendencies to the formation of blood clots. But usually thrombophilia does not lead to a joint joint, therefore, the development of arthrosis requires the participation of other causes.
• Chronic stress. Depression and prolonged alarming conditions lead to a decrease in the level of regeneration, a decrease in the protective properties of the body. The likelihood of developing any disease, not only arthrosis, increases.

External factors:

1. Injuries. These include various types of dislocations, damage to the joint bag, the bone base of the joint. Such injuries rarely occur, and with appropriate treatment pass without a trace. But in the presence of other factors, arthrosis may occur.
2. Excessive load on the joint. It occurs in professional athletes or among workers who pass long distances. But this factor, subject to the recommendations of the coach and, in the absence of other factors, rarely leads to arthrosis.
3. Surgical interventions(meniscectomy and others). After operations, patients are prescribed drug therapy, bed rest, other procedures to reduce the risk of complications. With their violation, the probability of arthrosis increases.

The main symptoms

Diagnosis of arthrosis is quite simple, even an unprepared person can do it, it is enough to understand the types of pain in the joints.

Types of joint pain:

1. The pain occurs and increases from the load, weakens in rest;
2. If the patient is laid, and the other person will bend his limb, then the pain will occur as usual (due to friction in the joint);
3. The pain from work increases gradually, with the course of the disease, intensifies.

Another characteristic symptom is a dry crunch in the joint when moving. Normally, the joints also crunch, but the sound from a healthy joint is sonorous and sharp, the joints do not hurt. With arthrosis, the crunch is dry, at first it is heard poorly, but it accompanies the movement constantly. At the same time, a person experiences severe pain.

With the development of the disease, other characteristic symptoms appear: low mobility, joint deformation. The X -ray picture shows a decrease in the joint gap, bone growths on the heads of bones, their deformation.

Arthrosis often occurs in the knee and hip joints, since it is they who experience increased loads. Less commonly, it occurs in the shoulder and elbow joints, on the fingers or legs. There is a variety of the disease - generalized arthrosis, in which all joints in the body are affected at once.

Stages of the disease

With arthrosis, articular cartilage, bones and tissues adjacent to them are damaged. The stages of arthrosis are distinguished depending on the degree of damage to the joint.

1st stage

At this stage, degenerative processes affect only collagen fibers and Proteoglycan molecules in cartilage. Due to the change in the composition of the cartilage or synovial fluid, pathological friction occurs, which leads to painful sensations. Pain occurs after intense physical exertion, at rest it disappears. The joint movements are not yet difficult, the changes do not relate to muscle fibers, joint bag and surrounding blood vessels. At this stage, the changes are not visible at the X -ray or they are insignificant.

Stage 2

Due to abnormal friction, cartilage loses the properties of elasticity and strength, gradually thinner and no longer protects the heads of bones. As a result, they are flattened, due to which the area of their contact increases. At the edges of the joint platform, growths are formed - osteophytes that are clearly visible in an X -ray picture.

At this stage, the pain pursues the patient not only with loads, but already with any minor movements. Peace does not give complete relief, although it can reduce pain. The joint partially loses mobility, the patient himself also tries not to load the affected limb.

Due to the lack of mobility, blood supply to the joint worsens. As a result, the composition of the synovial fluid changes, it becomes viscous, loses lubricating properties, which accelerates the course of the disease. The X-ray shows a decrease in the lumen of the joint gap by 50-70%, the joint deformation becomes noticeable.

Stage 3

At this stage, the cartilage completely or partially disappears. The mobility of the joint disappears, the patient experiences severe pain not only when moving, but also at rest. The joint gap and synovial fluid disappear, and the joint bag wrinkles and atrophies. At this stage, only surgical treatment is possible with the replacement of the joint with an artificial prosthesis. If this is not done, then anchilosis will occur with the impossibility of movement.

Methods of treatment

Even with 100% dedication of the doctor and patient, the joint is completely restored only at 1 stage of arthrosis. At 2 stages, bone deformation is observed, so it will not work to return the joint to the joint. But you can delay the operation for a long time, or even completely avoid it. Stage 3 of arthrosis is treated exclusively surgically.

In the treatment of 1 and 2 stages of arthrosis, many methods are used. First of all, it is drug treatment. Various physiotherapy, biological methods of treatment, massage are also used. With overweight, food normalization is required.

Symptomatic therapy

To eliminate pain, non -steroidal anti -inflammatory drugs are used. All funds have many contraindications, in addition, they are not recommended for prolonged use, as they worsen the synthesis of proteoglycans in the joint.

For pain relief, it is better to use selective anti -inflammatory drugs. They do not cause complications, have few contraindications and can be accepted vaguely for a long time. To improve blood circulation, you can use vasodilating drugs or local irritating ointments.

Specific therapy

It consists in taking Chondroproprotector (glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate) - drugs for restoration of cartilage. Glucosamine stimulates the activities of chondrocytes, in addition, it is a raw material for creating Proteoglycan molecules. Chondroitin sulfate increases the ability of Proteoglycan to grab and hold water. In addition, it stimulates the formation of collagen fibers and blocks the enzymes dissolving them.

Intra -articular injections of hyaluronic acid are also used. It is a raw material for collagen fibers and an integral part of the synovial fluid. The treatment method is common and has proved its effectiveness. To obtain the effect of specific therapy, it takes a long time-1-1. 5 years, until the cartilage is completely restored.

Surgical surgery

The latest and most radical method of treating arthrosis. During the operation, the affected joint is disconnected, the joint head and the bed of the joint are removed. In their place, an artificial joint is placed with a titanium head and a lodge made of polyethylene of high strength. The whole structure is fixed in the bones with the help of pins.

The operation to replace the hip or knee joint is complex and dangerous. Often leads to complications (pulmonary thromboembolism, infectious diseases). Even with a successful operation, the prosthesis "shatter" over time and requires replacement. This happens in a maximum of 10-15 years, and the minimum period is 1-3 years.

Other procedures

Many procedures are aimed at eliminating damaging friction in the joint, improving blood supply. Methods of treatment, a lot of all of them should be used comprehensively or alternated. We will analyze only a few of the most effective methods of treatment:

1. Manual therapy. In the process, the manual therapist "stretches" the joint, reducing the pressure with the cartilage. The procedure should be carried out often and regularly, but the effect of it appears immediately.
2. Another way of leaching the joint -hardware traction. It is effectively used on the knee joint, the knee is stretched on a special table using the apparatus. There are enough 2 courses a year for 10-12 sessions per course.
3. Therapeutic massage. After the procedure, the circulation of joint fluid improves, blood supply increases, and the plasticity of the joint increases. Massage is contraindicated in inflammatory processes.
4. Ultrasound therapy. With ultrasonic vibration, "massage" of muscles, blood vessels and cartilage tissue occurs. Ultrasound accelerates metabolism due to biochemical exposure. It also has a thermal effect when mechanical energy from sound goes into thermal energy.
5. INExercise therapyWith arthrosis, many exercises are included, including unusual training, which are used exclusively for arthrosis.
   Here is an example of exercises that the specialized doctor of Artrologs talks about with explanations for each exercise.

Eating for arthrosis

For a long time it was believed that irregular nutrition leads to arthrosis and that it can be cured with a diet. Today it became completely clear that nutrition was not directly related to arthrosis.

Of course, excess weight is one of the factors that accelerate the course of arthrosis, so the diets are useful, but only to a certain circle of people. The normalization of nutrition for arthrosis should be understood to be taken from excess weight.

Weight reduction is especially important for people suffering from gonarthrosis, because the main weight of the body is on their knees.

When dropping weight, you need to understand and use several rules that will simplify the task and give a guarantee of the result:

1. Psychological work. The desire to "eat tightly" arises due to certain psychological attitudes, as well as the desire to reward or calm the nerves with the help of sweet. Such psychological problems deprive of weight loss, and increasing stress exacerbates the situation. Losing weight without solving psychological problems will only give a temporary effect.
2. Not weight loss, but normalization of food. The main cause of excess weight is improper nutrition. If you lose weight of the body, but do not eliminate the unbalanced diet, then after a while the person gains weight again. It is necessary to remove the root of the problem. That is, it is necessary to normalize the nutrition not to a certain "period of weight loss", but forever.
3. Gradual introduction of all rules. It is very difficult to psychologically lose weight, so all the rules of a healthy diet must be introduced gradually. First, one rule is introduced (for example, not after 19: 00), after you are accustomed to one rule, introduce another.
4. Must be crossed out of the menuFried meat, any dishes prepared in oil, confectionery products made of white flour. You need to eat more vegetables, fruits, simple cereals on the water. It is advisable to break the daily diet into 5-6 meals, refuse to eat 3-4 hours before bedtime, drink more water.

Arthrosis is a terrible disease, but with a systematic and timely approach to treatment, it retreats. To defeat him, you need to know its essence, mechanisms of development, risk factors and causes of development. If you use all the recommended methods of therapy, then curing arthrosis will be quite simple.