Gonarthrosis or, as it is sometimes incorrectly called, gonoarthrosis (arthrosis of the knee joint) is a chronic disease that has a gradually progressive course accompanied by degenerative changes in the cartilage tissue of the joint.
As the disease progresses, a person may completely lose the ability to move independently. Timely diagnosis and treatment of gonarthrosis makes it possible to stop the pathological process and save a person from pain.
Most often, this pathology is diagnosed in middle-aged and elderly people, but it can also occur in young people. Women are affected by this disease several times more than men. In this article, we will consider the clinical signs and tactics of gonarthrosis treatment.
The main clinical signs of gonarthrosis
As we have already said, gonarthrosis has a gradually progressive course. Thus, in the initial stages of a sick person, practically nothing bothers him, but over time, the symptoms intensify.
The main clinical symptom is mild pain in the knee that occurs for a long time or during heavy physical exertion. The patient shows some feeling of stiffness in the joint, the appearance of "initial" pain syndrome (occurring at the beginning of the movement, passing after the "disintegrated" person).
There are no external changes in the knee with this disease. Sometimes people feel some swelling.
As the disease progresses, the pain becomes stronger. The pain syndrome appears with little physical activity, and is more pronounced with long-term loading on the knee. The pain subsides at rest, then returns with movement.
In the future, the pain syndrome becomes constant, it is present both during exercise and at rest. Movements in the joint are limited, when the knee is bent, a rough crack is heard. With the revealed pathological changes, the knee is deformed, which further limits the movement.
How is knee osteoarthritis treated?
Treatment of arthrosis of the knee joint consists of both non-drug and drug methods, and, if necessary, surgical intervention.
Patients with this disease are advised to avoid stress on the knee, try to relieve it as much as possible with the help of various orthopedic devices and canes. The most important thing is to lose weight. In 2017, scientists from the University of Medicine published an article in which obesity increases the likelihood of developing gonarthrosis by 4-10 times and occurs in every third patient.
In addition, a patient is prescribed special therapeutic exercises, physiotherapy procedures, for example, UHF therapy.
Regarding drug treatment, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may be recommended to reduce pain. With their ineffectiveness, intra-articular injections of glucocorticosteroids are performed. Also, the treatment plan is completed with chondroprotectors and hyaluronic acid injections.
Note that any medicine can be used only as prescribed by a doctor.
In the later stages of the disease, the main treatment method is surgical intervention, which involves replacing the articular surfaces with artificial implants.