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, characterized by the destruction of the cartilage of the articular surfaces, deformation of the joint and disruption of its function.
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 physico-chemical properties of cartilage.During the examination of cartilage preparations, it can be found that in places it begins to become cloudy, thin, toasted and cracked in different directions.
Ultimately, the pathological process ends with the complete disappearance of the cartilage to a greater or lesser extent, which leads to the exposure of the underlying bone.Osteoarthritis of the knee joint is more common in people over 50 years of age.
More often women suffer from arthrosis of the knee joint.Osteoarthritis of the knee joint can be unilateral or bilateral.The most common forms of arthrosis are medial.
Causes of the development of arthrosis of the knee joint
Science does not know the exact cause of arthrosis, but there are a number of factors that usually contribute to the appearance of this disease:
- Previous knee joint injuries increase the risk of developing osteoarthritis;
- Heredity - in some cases, in patients with arthrosis, a defect is detected in the gene responsible for the development of cartilage tissue, which leads to the fact that these people have an increased predisposition to the development of arthrosis, due to the low resistance of cartilage tissue to damage;
- Increased body weight - according to observations, most often arthrosis of the large joints of the lower extremities (knee, arthrosis of the hip joint) develops in patients with increased body weight and occurs due to excessive load on these joints.This can also lead to faster disease progression;
- Excessive load on joints;
- Intra-articular crystal deposits - occur in some diseases associated with metabolic disorders, especially uric acid, etc., which can lead to the destruction of cartilage.
Symptoms of arthrosis of the knee joint
Knee osteoarthritis symptoms are known to develop slowly over several years.
The most characteristic symptoms of arthrosis of the knee joint are:
- Deep pain in the knee joint, which appears especially during movement and walking;
- Swelling of the knee joint;
- Morning stiffness in the morning, which goes away after a while during movement, patients notice that they need to "disperse", after which relief comes and movements in the knee joint improve;
- 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 the treatment in the early stages of the disease, it is possible to stop the progress of the destruction of the joint cartilage tissue for a long time.
The treatment center offers modern treatment for arthrosis of the knee joint based on an integrated multifaceted approach and includes:
- The use of knee braces to relieve the medial parts 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 reliably leads to a slowdown in the progression of arthrosis;
- Therapeutic exercise, by eliminating axial loads on the joints, allows you to restore muscle tone, prevent muscle loss and restore the range of motion in the joints;
- Taking small doses of muscle relaxants leads to a decrease in periarticular muscle spasm, which also significantly reduces pain;
- Physiotherapy treatment course;
- Injection of hyaluronic acid preparations into the joint, which is a synovial fluid prosthesis;
- Taking drugs from the group of chondroprotectors;
- Taking medications that improve blood rheology and bone blood supply;
- In some cases, arthroscopy of the knee joint;
- Knee replacement - knee replacement when conservative treatment is ineffective.
Surgery for osteoarthritis of the knee joint is performed free of charge as part of the VMP.
If there are medical indications and there are referral quotas, our center performs operations using funds allocated within the program for the provision of high-tech medical care (HTMC).
Learn more about the high-tech medical care program.
Treatment of knee arthrosis using the PRP method
Along with the above-mentioned classical methods of conservative treatment of deforming arthrosis of the knee joint, our clinic has a unique opportunity to receive treatment using a unique technique based on introducing into the affected joint a biologically active substance isolated from the patient's own blood - autologous platelet-enriched plasma (PRP therapy), which makes it possible to influence the main link of pathogenesis.cartilage tissue restoration.
As a result of treatment using autologous plasma enriched with platelets, the patient does not use "chemical" pharmaceutical drugs, does not require daily visits to the physiotherapist, etc.Thus, there is no effect of the drugs on the organism as a whole and the load on important organs such as the liver and kidneys is reduced.