Osteoarthritis of the knee joint(gonarthrosis, osteoarthritis of the knee joint, deforming osteoarthritis of the knee joint) is a degenerative disease of the knee joint, characterized by the destruction of the cartilage of the joint surfaces, deformation of the joint and disruption of its function.
The initial changes in osteoarthritis of the knee joint are believed to form in the cartilage tissue at the molecular level.Over time, these changes lead to disruption of the physicochemical properties of the cartilage.When examining cartilage preparations, it can be revealed that in places it begins to become cloudy, thin, flakes and cracks in different directions.
Ultimately, the pathological process ends with the complete disappearance of the cartilage over 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 old.
Most often, women suffer from osteoarthritis of the knee.Osteoarthritis of the knee joint can be unilateral or bilateral.The most common forms of osteoarthritis are medial.
Causes of the development of osteoarthritis of the knee joint
Science does not know the exact cause of osteoarthritis, but there are a number of factors that generally 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 suffering from osteoarthritis, 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 osteoarthritis, due to the low resistance of cartilage tissue to damage;
- Increased body weight - according to observations, osteoarthritis of large joints of the lower extremities (knee, hip arthrosis) most often develops in patients with increased body weight and occurs due to excessive load on these joints.This can also lead to more rapid progression of the disease;
- Excessive load on the joint;
- Intra-articular crystal deposits - occur in some diseases associated with metabolic disorders, including uric acid, etc., which can lead to the destruction of cartilage.
Symptoms of osteoarthritis of the knee joint
The symptoms of knee osteoarthritis are known to develop slowly over several years.
The most characteristic symptoms of osteoarthritis of the knee joint are:
- Deep 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 a while when moving, patients note that they need to “disperse”, after which relief comes and movements of the knee joint improve;
- Crackle (crackle) in the joint during movement.
Treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee joint
Currently, it is not possible to completely cure osteoarthritis of the knee.However, by starting treatment in the early stages of the disease, it is possible to stop the progression of the destruction of joint cartilage tissue for a long time.
The treatment center offers modern treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee joint based on an integrated multilateral approach and includes:
- Use knee pads to relieve the medial parts of the joint;
- Take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which help stop inflammation in the joint and reduce pain;
- Reducing excess body weight reliably leads to a slowdown in the progression of osteoarthritis;
- Therapeutic exercise, eliminating axial loads on the joint, allows you to restore muscle tone, prevent muscle wasting and restore the range of movements of the joint;
- Taking small doses of muscle relaxants leads to a reduction in periarticular muscle spasms, which also significantly reduces pain;
- Physiotherapeutic treatment courses;
- Injection of hyaluronic acid preparations into the joint, which is a synovial fluid prosthesis;
- Take drugs from the chondroprotective 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 osteoarthritis of the knee joint is carried out free of charge within the framework of the VMP.
If there are medical indications and reference quotas, our center carries out operations using funds allocated under the High-Tech Medical Care Delivery Program (HTMC).
Learn more about the high-tech medical care program.
Treatment of knee osteoarthritis using the PRP method
In addition to the above-mentioned classic methods of conservative treatment of deforming osteoarthritis 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 blood - enriched autologous platelet plasma (PRP therapy), which makes it possible to influence the key link in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis - regeneration - restoration of cartilage tissue.
Thanks to treatment using enriched autologous platelet plasma, the patient does not use “chemical” pharmaceuticals, does not require daily visits to a physiotherapist, etc.Thus, drugs have no effect on the body as a whole and the load on such important organs as the liver and kidneys is reduced.