Wednesday, 8 October 2014

Osteoarthritis

What is Osteoarthritis ?

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative condition of the joints in the human body. It is the most common form of arthritis. The cartilage lining of the joint are worn down such that the underlying bone come in contact with each other. In addition bone spurs may form and joint fluid is reduced. This causes mechanical and chemical reactions giving rise to the symptoms of Osteoarthritis.

What causes Osteoarthritis ?

1. Genetics has found to have role in the predisposition of Osteoarthritis. Genes on chromosome 2q,4 & 16 have been linked with Osteoarthritis.

2. Aging is a risk factor of Osteoarthritis. More than 80% of those above 65 years suffer from Osteoarthritis.

3. Excessive physical activity is a potentially correctable cause of Osteoarthritis. Activities like long distance running and other high endurance sports may place the joints under high stress for prolonged periods resulting in overuse injuries and accelerated wear and tear.

4. Gender plays a role in Osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is more common in men for a cohort of under 50 years and more common in women in the cohort of 50-80 years.

5. Trauma is a common cause of Osteoarthritis in the younger age groups.

What are the symptoms of Osteoarthritis?

Most common symptom are pain and swelling:

Stiff, painful and swollen joints after a workout

Stiffness in the joints in the mornings which can last about half an hour

Loss of flexibility in one's joints

Bony lumps at the base of the thumb or on the middle of the end joints of the fingers

Pain in the joints after repeated use

Osteoarthritis is often associated with joint surgery or related injury

What are the complications of Osteoarthritis ?

Osteoarthritis is the top cause of disability in older women and ranks second in older men.

Besides pain and swelling, quality of life suffers in patients with Osteoarthritis due to their loss of mobility and depression.

The loss of mobility is progressive with age.

Where does Osteoarthritis occur?

It can affect the any joint of the body although the most commonly affected joints are the weight bearing joints:

knee

hip

ankle

spine.

Other non-weight bearing joints such as

shoulder ,

elbow,

fingers

can also be affected.

How do you treat Osteoarthritis ?

Osteoarthritis is not curable and the purpose of treatment is to:

1. improve functions and

2. reduce pain and discomfort.

Treatment of Osteoarthritis can be broadly classified into:

1. Non-interventional

a. non-pharmaceutical

Weight loss is an effective way to reduce the stress on the joints and minimise the pain. Walking sticks are useful ways to offload the stress on the affected weight bearing joints such as hips or knee. The walking aids should be used on the opposite side. It can be in the form of a sturdy umbrella instead of a crutch. Hot packs are useful aids in the morning to soften a stiff arthritic joint whereas braces and knee guards are useful supports to give some comfort to the knee. Exercises that improve strength, agility and flexibility are useful to minimise the disability of Osteoarthritis. A range of motion exercises is useful to keep the joints supple and mobile. Water based exercises are a good alternative form of aerobic workout by patients afflicted by Osteoarthritis. The warm water especially is a good medium for joint mobility and together with the buoyancy of water it helps to minimise the body weight impact on the joints.

b. pharmaceutical

There are 2 main types of drugs:

1. symptom modifying drugs help to alleviate the symptoms but do not change the natural history of the conditions. Examples are Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs(NSAIDs) like diclofenac.

2. Disease modifying drugs such as glucosamine has been shown to slow down the wear and tear of the cartilage but it does have the ability to grow new cartilage. It has also being found to work better with chondroitin.

2. Interventional:

a. non-surgical

Joint aspiration is a procedure where fluid from the swollen joint is removed, helping to decompress the tension and bring relief for a while .

Vasosupplementation is a procedure whereby a lubricant is injected into the affected joint thus reducing the the frictional wear of the joint surfaces. In addition the lubricant has anti- inflammatory properties to reduce the inflammation in the lining of the joints and may ease the pain for months in early osteoarthritic cases .

b.surgical

Surgical intervention is usually the last resort when all other above treatment fail and in advanced cases:

Debridement is an arthroscopic (keyhole) procedure to clean the joint of torn cartilages, loose pieces of bones, etc. Its main use is to remove the worn out debris which may cause pain and can mechanically cause friction.

High tibial Osteotomy is a procedure to correct the alignment of deformed legs which then reduce the stress on the joint.

Prosthetic joint replacement is a procedure to replace the diseased portion of the joint with a prosthesis or artificial joint allowing painless good range of movement. It is more suitable for older patient because there is a shelf life to these implants.

Unicondylar joint replacement can now be performed in which part of one of the bone of the diseased joint is removed instead of a total joint replacement which involved removal of part of both bones of a joint.

The choice of treatment depends on the stage of the disease and whether there are associated complication.

In general non-interventional methods are more suitable at the early stage of the illness and interventional modalities are more suitable for the later stage of Osteoarthritis.

Kenneth Kee email: kwk481@gmail.com website: http://www.kennethkee.com http://kennethkee.blogspot.com http://dotkee.110mb.com http://mirage800.110mb.com http://success.myweb.io http://mirage.myweb.io Profile: A newbie to world of internet marketing. At the age of 59 years, I am struggling to learn the in and outs of online marketing. I am a educator,part-time healthcare worker,computer hardware hobbyist,now ebook writer and internet marketer. I am also a full time lifelong learner. Graduated in 1972, did my Masters in 1991 and doctorate in 1993.
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