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 cartilage tissue at the molecular level.Over time, these changes lead to disruption of the physicochemical properties of cartilage.When examining preparations of cartilage, it can be revealed that in places it begins to become cloudy, thin, flake and crack in different directions.
Ultimately, the pathological process ends with the complete disappearance of cartilage over a smaller or larger extent, which leads to exposure of the underlying bone.Osteoarthritis of the knee joint is most 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 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 onset of this disease:
- Previous injuries to the knee joint increase 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 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 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 progression of the disease;
- Excessive load on the joint;
- Intra-articular crystal deposits - occur in some diseases associated with metabolic disorders, in particular uric acid, etc., which can lead to the destruction of cartilage.
Symptoms of arthrosis of the knee joint
Symptoms of knee osteoarthritis are known to develop slowly over a number of years.
The most characteristic symptoms of arthrosis of the knee joint are:
- Pain deep in the knee joint, which appears especially when moving and walking;
- Swelling of the knee joint;
- Morning stiffness in the morning, which goes away after some time when moving, patients note that they need to “disperse”, after which relief comes and movements in the knee joint improve;
- Crunching (crepitus) in the joint 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 in the early stages of the disease, it is possible to stop the progression of destruction of joint cartilage tissue 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 knee braces to relieve the medial parts of the joint;
- Taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which allows you to stop inflammation in the joint and reduce pain;
- Reducing excess body weight reliably leads to a slowdown in the progression of arthrosis;
- Therapeutic exercise, eliminating axial loads on the joint, allows you to restore muscle tone, prevent muscle wasting and restore range of motion in the joint;
- Taking small doses of muscle relaxants leads to a decrease in spasm of the periarticular muscles, which also significantly reduces pain;
- Physiotherapeutic treatment courses;
- Injection of hyaluronic acid preparations into the joint, which is a synovial fluid prosthesis;
- Taking drugs from the chondroprotector group;
- Taking medications that improve 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 are referral quotas, our center performs operations using funds allocated under 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 classic above-mentioned 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 the introduction into the affected joint of a biologically active substance isolated from the patient’s own blood - enriched autologous platelet plasma (PRP therapy), which makes it possible to influence the key link in the pathogenesis of arthrosis - regeneration - restoration of cartilage tissue.
As a result of treatment using enriched autologous platelet plasma, the patient does not use “chemical” pharmaceuticals, does not require daily visits to a physiotherapist, etc.Thus, there is no effect of drugs on the body as a whole, and the load on such important organs as the liver and kidneys is reduced.