Degeneration of the knee joints – symptoms, treatment

Proven content

Arthritis is the price that modern societies pay for the progress of civilization and a significant extension of life. 20 percent suffer from joint pain. inhabitants of Europe, and every thirteenth person for this reason takes painkillers every day. Experts estimate that about 40 percent. degenerative changes related to the aging of the body, affects the knee joints. The rest of the diseases are the result of excessive workload and injuries.

Joint ailments are more and more a concern of young and professionally active people who want to play sports. Unfortunately, many changes occurring in the joints are discreet, without any obvious ailments. And even if we feel any discomfort, we often disregard it and we see a doctor when the damage to the joint is very advanced.

Why do joints fail?

Knee joints are one of the more complicated ones in our body. But also those that are injured most often.

There is no age limit at which degenerative changes in joints begin. Osteoarthritis has a variety of causes and can begin at any age.

Degeneration, i.e. joint damage, may be the result of untreated injuries of ligaments and menisci. This causes the joint to malfunction, so its surfaces wear down faster, which leads to the degeneration of the entire joint. Over time, a degenerative disease develops. But it can also appear as a consequence of diseases of the whole organism, but most often changes in the joints provoke rheumatic and thyroid diseases. Inflammatory changes in the synovium caused by infection with the Lyme bacteria or chlamydia, bacteria or viruses lead to damage to the articular cartilage and thus to degeneration of the joints. Another group of degenerations are those with an undetermined cause, i.e. idiopathic. The cause of joint degeneration may also be, although it is very rare, a selenium deficiency in the diet.

The condition of our joints also depends on the lifestyle, work performed and the intensity with which we play sports. And such hard physical work and competitive sports lead to faster wear of the joints. Overweight and obesity, which is common in our society, is another cause of joint damage. Very often, losing 10-20 unnecessary kilograms reduces by 30-40 percent. the risk of developing osteoarthritis of the knee joints.

The use of compression bands is a support for the joints. This is especially important for the most injured knee joints. Order the OS1st PS3 compression armband for the kneecap and knee of the jumper today. Supportively in the case of degeneration of the knee joints, use InflaCell Defense: turmeric, ginger, boswellia – Doctor Life dietary supplement.

The first ailments

Treatment of degenerative joint diseases depends on the degree of joint damage, the patient’s expectations and the causes that led to the development of the disease. If the changes are caused by diseases of the whole organism, they should be cured. When overweight is the cause of your ailments, you need to lose weight. Seemingly simple recommendations, but not always easy to implement.

For joint pain, you can apply compresses using Visiomed KINECARE VM-GB6 knee compress with a special ergonomic shape.

With minor degenerative changes in the knee joints, improvement of their condition can be achieved through rehabilitation, i.e. properly selected muscle exercises, physical therapy treatments that increase the range of motion in the joint, reduce inflammation and improve blood supply to the tissues. All this promotes the healing of minor degenerative changes.

It is also beneficial to take various preparations that can stop the development of degenerative changes. Usually, agents containing glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin sulfate are recommended. It is worth remembering that these preparations do not regenerate the articular cartilage, but only delay the progress of changes. These drugs can be purchased over the counter.

It is also worth using ointments and gels for joints, eg Poplar liniment for stress, which warms the muscles and joints and helps them regenerate faster.

Your doctor may recommend viscosupplementation, a therapy aimed at improving the quality of the synovial fluid. Then, preparations with hyaluronic acid are administered to the joint, which inhibits the progression of degenerative changes. The use of such a treatment, which usually lasts about 3 weeks, allows you to achieve a significant improvement in health, usually for a year. The preparation has an anti-inflammatory and moisturizing effect on the cartilage, which makes the joint more efficient and less painful.

Dietary substances, including antioxidants, reduce the risk of developing inflammation. One of the additional sources of antioxidants are dietary supplements, e.g. capsules containing olive leaf extract.

Time is inexorable

There is no effective method to stop the degenerative changes in your joints. When the disease continues to progress, rehabilitation or medications do not help anymore – the only option is then surgery on the knee joint. There are many operating methods. When the knee damage is minor, minimally invasive operations are performed to clean the joint of damaged fragments. Sometimes it is enough to surgically change the angle of the bones that make up the joint so that the pain disappears and its further degradation does not progress. After such a procedure, you forget about a sore knee for several years.

The most radical knee repair procedure is the surgical cutting of the bone fragments that make up the joint and replacing them with metal implants.

For people with large degenerative changes in the knee or after difficult-to-treat injuries, the only solution is often the insertion of a knee joint prosthesis. The procedure is usually performed in the case of a significant limitation of the mobility of the joint and severe pain that cannot be alleviated by drugs, rehabilitation or physical therapy, and when there are huge degenerative changes in the joint.

Do you feel pain? Order a glucosamine cream for muscles and joints or a devil’s claw root lotion. You can also apply heat therapy, e.g. using the VITAMMY Heat Electric Heating Pad.

The ligaments cannot be sewn together

Stability for the knees is ensured by a system of several ligaments (the most important of which are the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments, tibial and peroneal collateral ligaments). They can be compared to the inflexible band that connects bone to bone. Due to this low flexibility, ligaments are often damaged. A sharp twist of the torso with slightly bent knees, a not too strong blow, is enough to cause a serious injury. The cruciate ligament is the most vulnerable to damage. Without surgery, it cannot be repaired. The procedure involves inserting a graft from a tendon taken from the patient in place of the damaged ligament. The operation is complicated and requires the surgeon to be extremely precise, because the cruciate ligament is only 2-3 cm long. Ligament reconstruction is extremely important in restoring the normal function of the damaged joint. First of all, it is about regaining stability of the knee, but also about restoring the flow of information – nerve signals between the knee joint and the brain. The ligament is like an eye that tells the brain where the joint is positioned.

Operations are performed using an arthroscope, i.e. a device that allows not only to look inside the joint through small incisions in the skin, but also to insert micro-tools and replace the ligament. During the procedure, the femur and tibia are drilled, and then the tendon is inserted into the holes. When it is in the right place, it is attached first to the femur, and after appropriate tension to the tibia. The screws used during the procedure decompose in the body after about three years without causing any harm to it.

After the procedure, intensive rehabilitation lasts about two months, but the complete regeneration of the knee can only be discussed after six months. But such an effort pays off, because after six months you can even return to professional sports.

Meniscus – you can’t move without them

They play a very important role in the knee as they act as shock absorbers. They absorb the energy that acts on the pond. And this is quite a force, because walking in the knee produces a force equal to eight times our weight. We have two menisci in each knee. They are flexible cartilages that look a bit like a horseshoe.

A meniscus injury is the most common knee injury. It is most often manifested by severe pain in the knee or – in the case of detachment and displacement of a piece of cartilage – blocking the possibility of its movement. The damage usually occurs after a sharp twist of the knee, and less often after a violent extension or bend of the leg. The importance for the proper functioning of the knees is proved by the fact that the meniscus absorbs 30-40 percent. the load that arises when standing, and when we go up the stairs as much as 75 percent. energy arising in the knee. If the meniscus is damaged, the force in the knee acts directly on the bones that make up the joint. The result is faster destruction of the articular cartilage.

In the event of a knee injury, the sweets can burst or tear. Then the best way to repair it is arthroscopic stitching of the fragments. If the injury is not treated for a long time or the meniscus is completely destroyed, a fragment of it can be replaced or the entire meniscus can be replaced with a biomaterial implant. Simply put, it can be assumed to be a kind of foam structure (a bit like a sponge) into which the cells penetrate. Over time, the structure of the implant overgrows the patient’s tissue, and the implant itself dissolves after a few years. Then there is a new, own meniscus at the implant site.

The implant is inserted into the joint “through the keyhole, i.e. through the arthroscope. The size of the implanted fragment must match the size of the defect in the natural meniscus. Now it needs to be fixed with special seams so that it stays in the right place. Blood leaks from the knee joint into the implant within several hours from the operation. Together with it, multi-potential cells that can turn into cells that make up the articular meniscus.

After surgery, the patient can start rehabilitation faster. The latest type of implant can be combined with other surgical techniques, such as changing the position of the knee axis (osteotomy) or ligament reconstruction.

After inserting the implant, the pain disappears. But a much greater benefit is that the development of osteoarthritis of the knee is avoided. The procedure is performed on patients of all ages. In young people, they can be considered the gold standard. The procedure also protects against the insertion of a knee joint endoprosthesis.

For 4-8 weeks after the procedure, you should use crutches to relieve the joint while walking, but you need to exercise for proper joint rehabilitation.

Cartilage can be rebuilt

The destruction of articular cartilage occurs not only as a result of degenerative processes, but also during injuries. Articular cartilage damage is rare on its own. They usually occur along with other knee injuries. The causes of traumatic destruction of articular cartilage are usually contusions, during which the knee joint was subjected to enormous force or significant overload.

If a small area of ​​articular cartilage has been damaged, an effective method of repairing it is a procedure that involves drilling tiny holes in the bone beneath the damaged cartilage. A scar is formed from leaking blood from the holes, which successfully replaces damaged cartilage. A scar takes 6 to 12 months to develop.

If this method is ineffective or when the damage is very extensive, chondrocyte transplantation can be used.

A piece of articular cartilage the size of two match heads is collected from the patient. Then, under special laboratory conditions, they are multiplied. When the appropriate number of cells is obtained, they are transferred to the collagen biomaterial. The cartilage prepared in this way is implanted into the knee. Here the cells continue to multiply and over time they completely fill the cartilage defect. It is an extremely recommended method of treating damaged articular cartilage. Its effectiveness is estimated at over 90 percent. But it takes a long time to rebuild mature cartilage. This is because articular cartilage cells prepared for laboratory multiplication must sort of regress in development. It can be said that they become cellular newborns. The implanted cartilage has the consistency of a gel, i.e. it is in the form found in the joints of newborns. It takes about a year for the cartilage to mature and harden. This, of course, does not condemn people undergoing this method to stand still, but you can return to full activity after a year. Unfortunately, cartilage transplantation procedures are not reimbursed by the National Health Fund.