Osteoarthritis of the knee joint(Gonarthrosis, osteoarthritis of the knee joint, deforming arthrosis of the knee joint) is a degenerative disease of the knee joint, which is characterized by the destruction of the cartilage of the articular surface, joint deformation and functional disorders.
It is believed that the initial changes in arthrosis of the knee joint are formed in the cartilage tissue at the molecular level.Over time, these changes lead to disruption of the physicochemical properties of cartilage.When examining the preparation of cartilage, it can be revealed that in places it begins to become cloudy, thin, fragments and cracks in different directions.
Ultimately, the pathological process ends with the complete loss of cartilage to a greater or lesser extent, which leads to the exposure of the underlying bone.Osteoarthritis of the knee joint is most common in people over the age of 50.
More often women suffer from arthrosis of the knee joint.Osteoarthritis of the knee joint can be unilateral or bilateral.The most common form of arthrosis is medial.
The cause of the development of arthrosis of the knee joint
Science does not know the exact cause of arthrosis, but there are several factors that usually contribute to the onset of this disease:
- Previous injury to the knee joint increases the risk of developing osteoarthritis;
- Heredity - in some cases, in patients with arthrosis, a defect in the gene responsible for the development of cartilage tissue is detected, which leads to the fact that these people have an increased tendency for the development of arthrosis, due to the low resistance of cartilage tissue to damage;
- Increased body weight - According to observations, often arthrosis of the large joints of the lower legs (knee, hip joint arthrosis) develops in patients with increased body weight and occurs due to excessive load on these joints.This can also cause a faster progression of the disease;
- Excessive load on the joints;
- Intra-articular crystal deposits - occurs in several diseases related to metabolic disorders, especially uric acid, etc., which can cause the destruction of cartilage.
Symptoms of arthrosis of the knee joint
Symptoms of knee osteoarthritis are known to develop slowly over several years.
The most characteristic symptoms of arthrosis of the knee joint are:
- Pain in the knee joint, which appears especially when moving and walking;
- Swelling of the knee joint;
- Morning stiffness in the morning, which disappears after some time when moving, the patient notes that they need to "disperse", after the release comes and the movement in the knee continues to increase;
- Crunching (Crepitus) in the joints during movement.
Treatment of arthrosis of the knee joint
Currently, it is not possible to completely cure arthrosis of the knee joint.However, by starting treatment at an early stage of the disease, it is possible to stop the progression of joint cartilage tissue destruction for a long time.
The treatment center provides modern treatment for arthrosis of the knee joint based on an integrated multilateral approach and includes:
- Using a knee brace to relieve the medial part of the joint;
- Taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which allow you to stop inflammation in the joints and reduce pain;
- Reducing excess body weight definitely leads to a slowdown in the development of arthrosis;
- Therapeutic exercises, eliminating the axial load on the joints, allow you to restore muscle tone, prevent muscle wasting and restore a range of motion in the joints;
- Taking small doses of muscle relaxants leads to a decrease in periarticular muscle spasms, which also reduces pain;
- Physiotherapy treatment course;
- Injection of hyaluronic acid preparation into the joint, which is a synovial fluid prosthesis;
- Taking drugs from the chondroprotector group;
- Taking drugs that increase blood rheology and blood supply to bones;
- In some cases, arthroscopy of the knee joint;
- Knee replacement - Knee replacement when conservative treatment is ineffective.
Surgery for arthrosis of the knee joint is performed free of charge as part of the VMP.
If there are medical indications and there is a referral quota, our center performs operations using funds allocated under the program for the provision of high-tech medical care (HTMC).
Learn more about high-tech medical care programs.
Treatment of knee arthrosis using the PRP method
Along with the classic above-mentioned conservative methods for summarizing arthrosis of the knee joint, our clinic has a unique opportunity to receive treatment using a unique technique based on the introduction into the affected joint of biologically active substances isolated from platelets enriched with tissue plasma.
As a result of treatment using enriched autologous platelet plasma, patients do not use "chemical" pharmaceuticals, do not need daily visits to physiotherapy, etc.Therefore, there is no effect of drugs on the body as a whole, and the burden on important organs such as the liver and kidneys is reduced.