Treatment of osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is a very common orthopedic disease. The occurrence of this disease will have many impacts on patients. Generally, pain symptoms will appear in fixed seasons, especially in winter, the pain will be very obvious, and sometimes the pain is unbearable. Everyone should be able to seek treatment in time. Let us learn about the treatment methods of osteoarthritis.

Many people should have experienced osteoarthritis. They suffer from this disease in their daily lives. It is precisely because of this disease that it has a lot of impacts on their health and causes them a lot of torture. I believe that the treatment of osteoarthritis is something that everyone wants to know about.

1. Western Medicine

Osteoarthritis is a manifestation of physiological degeneration of bones and joints, and there is no drug that can reverse or stop the progression of the disease. The goals of treatment are to relieve pain, relieve symptoms, prevent and delay the progression of the disease, preserve joint function, and prevent disability. Comprehensive treatment is used, including patient education, drug therapy, physical therapy and surgical treatment.

General treatment

⑴ Promote disease prevention knowledge and protect joints: First of all, patients should be aware of the disease. Physical exercise should be done step by step to prevent excessive exercise and weight-bearing of joints and avoid mechanical injuries to joints. In severe cases, immobilization or plaster fixation should be used to prevent deformity. Reduce weight and use hand grips or a cane to reduce the load on affected joints. Those who are related to their occupation should change their jobs. Exercises that work on the relevant muscle groups can maintain and improve joint mobility to enhance joint stability. ⑵ Physical therapy: heat therapy, hydrotherapy, infrared, ultrashort wave, electrical stimulation, etc. can enhance local blood circulation, relieve muscle tension, and alleviate pain and other symptoms. Traction therapy is more effective for patients with cervical spondylosis radiculopathy. It can relax muscles, relieve pain, and prevent adhesions between tissues adjacent to the nerve roots. However, it must be performed under the guidance of a specialist. ⑶ Massage and Chinese medicine: Traditional Chinese medicine's massage and acupuncture treatment have obvious effects in alleviating the symptoms of osteoarthritis. Chinese herbal plasters can promote blood circulation and relieve pain, and sometimes have good effects.

Drug treatment

⑴ Drugs that improve symptoms: Analgesics such as acetaminophen have analgesic effects, but weak anti-inflammatory effects. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. They can relieve joint pain and improve joint mobility. ⑵ Glucocorticoids: They should not be used systemically. They can be given by local injection into the joint cavity or at the site of lesions only when other treatments are ineffective, when there are signs of acute inflammation in the joints, or when there is periarticular synovitis, dermatitis, etc. Not suitable for repeated use. The interval between the second injections in the same area should be at least 3 months. ⑶Use chondroprotective agents: can relieve symptoms, maintain and restore joint function. Such as gly-cosaminoglycan. (4) Viscosupplementation: It is the injection of high molecular weight hyaluronic acid (HA) solution into the joint cavity to reduce synovial inflammation, cartilage destruction, improve joint function, and block the vicious cycle of local lesions.

Surgical and arthroscopic treatment

Depending on the condition, arthroscopic joint flushing, osteochondral transplantation, chondrocyte or mesenchymal stem cell transplantation may be used; for severe joint deformity, osteotomy or joint destruction may be performed; for severe functional impairment, joint replacement may be performed.

Other treatments

At the 2001 European Congress of Rheumatology, allogeneic cartilage or bone marrow stem cell transplantation was reported. Autologous cartilage transplantation is usually limited to articular cartilage defects less than 2cm2. Bone columns or autologous cartilage cut from the non-load-bearing part of the distal femur are transplanted into the pre-treated cartilage defect tunnel on the femoral articular surface. The use of gene therapy for osteoarthritis has also become a research focus.

Do you have a new understanding of the treatment methods for osteoarthritis? Look at what methods you choose in your usual treatment. It is best to choose the method that suits you. There are already many treatment methods now, and some methods are not suitable for you. You must choose scientific treatment methods, and it is also important to do a good job of nursing.