It is not possible to postpone the treatment of arthrosis ("joint deformity", osteoarthritis) "for later". The disease always changes the joint structure, affects the bones, cartilage, can completely destroy the joint and the patient becomes disabled. Therefore, it is very dangerous to self-medicate, refuse examination and official methods of treatment.
Symptoms of Arthritis
Arthritis is a chronic degenerative-dystrophic joint disease in which the joint gradually begins to deform, its function deteriorates, bone cells grow along the edge of bone and cartilage is destroyed.
The main symptoms of the pathology are the presence of a crackling sound when walking, a pain syndrome of varying severity. Moreover, with osteoarthritis, stiff movement occurs, the pain becomes permanent, continuously increases, begins to atrophy neighboring muscles, and the distance between bones and joints narrows. Without treatment at this stage, stiffness develops (fusion of the joint surface), disability occurs.
Conservative treatment of joint disease
If you have symptoms of the disease, you need to see a doctor and conduct treatment immediately. The lack of adequate therapy can lead to a complete loss of joint function and lead to disability.
In orthodox medicine, the treatment of osteoarthritis is initially performed conservatively. Patients are prescribed medication, exercise therapy, physical therapy, orthopedic products, diet. With the permission of the joint doctor, you can apply more folk methods, traditional medicine, homeopathy. Patients need to monitor their weight, avoid uneven loads on the joints, and follow medical recommendations. If these complex methods do not yield positive results, an operation is performed.
After conservative and/or surgical treatment to prevent joint disease, you should undergo spa therapy annually. Should choose a facility that specializes in musculoskeletal diseases, including thermal springs and mud therapy.
Medical treatment
Such a disease as arthropathy can be primary or secondary (it develops against the background of other pathologies). Therefore, the list of drugs used is selected for each patient.
The main drugs in the treatment of joint diseases:
- chondroprotectors;
- medical preparations of microcirculatory action;
- multivitamins, vitamin C, group B;
- mineral complex;
- non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs;
- corticosteroids (intra-articular injection);
- analgesic;
- desensitization (antiallergic);
- medicines for external use (ointments, creams, solutions, balms, gels, tinctures and medical honey).
Chondroprotectors are prescribed at all stages, forms of the disease, because they affect the mechanism of repair of articular cartilage. HP is prescribed for oral administration, but also with arthritis the injection is made into the joint and/or muscle cavity. For intra-articular injections, both protectants and corticosteroids are used.
Secondary deforming arthropathy is treated with the same class of drugs, but additional drugs are prescribed to treat the pathology that causes degenerative-dystrophic changes in the joints.
Physical therapy
Each physiotherapist has its own list of contraindications. Therefore, when choosing them, you may need to consult a cardiologist, neurologist, endocrinologist or other specialist.
Basic physiotherapy
Osteoarthritis drugs are supplemented by electrophoresis (with alkaloids, zinc, lithium, sulfur), electrosleep therapy, and ultrasound. Apply paraffin to the diseased joint, use black wax, mud therapy. Joints damaged by osteoarthritis are also treated with lasers, magnetic fields, diadynamic currents, and other pulses.
Exercise therapy for joint disease
For 3-5 days after the elimination of acute symptoms, gymnastics is prescribed. A set of therapeutic exercises selected individually for each patient for the defined stage, form of joint disease. The first training session should start with minimal load on the painful joint and at a slow pace. Then every 7-10 days do complex exercises as recommended by a specialist.
Types of exercises for the knuckles:
- circular movements in the hands, elbows, shoulders;
- swinging back and forth, up and down;
- shrug;
- connection-disconnection of the propeller;
- turn the palm towards the foot and away from it;
- bending extension at the elbow;
- Grip the hand with the maximum straightness of the brush afterwards.
Cases of pathological lesions of the spine (osteonecrosis), osteoarthritis of the upper extremities - gymnastics in the "sitting", "standing" position.
Types of exercises for the leg joints:
- flexion-extension, circular motion at the hips, knees, ankles;
- swinging forward-backward, right-left;
- raise the knee;
- "bicycle";
- "Butterfly";
- rolling with feet of small objects;
- grip the ball with your toes;
- raise the toe "on itself".
With the development of coxarthrosis, gonarthrosis, ankle joints, exercise therapy is carried out while lying down, standing, and with damage to the small joints of the legs - sitting.
Exercise should not cause pain to the injured joint. If it appears, you need to reduce the load, the speed of execution. After each exercise, you also need to rest for up to 3 minutes.
Manual therapy for dry joints
It is recommended to use the method of restoring mobility of the joints with the help of a chiropractor's hand in cases of grade I-II osteoarthritis. 
Chiropractors perform 2 types of manipulation of a deformed joint: manipulation (strong movement) and movement (extension of the damaged joint). The more complex the clinical cases, the more sessions are required.
Manual treatment of dry joints is supplemented with massage. It is performed every other day for all stages of the disease every 2-3 months with a course of up to 25 courses, but only during remission and in the subacute period.
The operation is performed by sliding movements with light pressure (saw, knead, rub, etc. ). They massage not only the affected joint but also the spine and adjacent joints.
Physiotherapy at home for dry joints
Now, people diagnosed with joint disease have the opportunity to do physical therapy at home. Compact household appliances for medical purposes are sold on the Internet and in medical device stores.
The following devices are very popular for the treatment of joint diseases:
- acupuncture therapy;
- magnetic laser therapy;
- low-frequency pulsed magnetic therapy;
- laser therapy;
- reflex physiotherapy.
Before placing a joint treatment device, your doctor should definitely clarify if there are any contraindications to the effects of pulses, lasers, electric currents, or magnetic fields on your body.
Non-drug method
Treatment of osteoarthritis requires the use of orthopedic regimens. The purpose of the method is to remove the diseased joint, stabilize it in the correct anatomical and physiological position. With osteoarthritis, canes, crutches, as well as corsets, special pads with arch support and spacers and shoes, splints, splints, splints, immobilizers, splints are used. They should be ordered at a local orthopedic salon for each embryo individually.
In online stores you can buy cheaper products that have a design that allows you to independently adjust the tension. Typically these are elastic bandages, cuffs, calipers, harnesses, knee pads, elbow pads, and similar orthopedic devices. However, before ordering a specific product for joint disease, it is necessary to clarify with the attending physician all the necessary characteristics: the degree of tension, the presence and type of stiffener, whether it is necessary toit is necessary to correct the angle of extension of the limb in the diseased joint, additional conditions.
Climate therapy also belongs to non-drug methods. During use, a person is given special climatic conditions by prescribing sea water therapeutic procedures, or they are offered to visit a resort, undergo preventive convalescent treatment athealth resorts.
diet therapy
With secondary joint disease, doctors recommend one of the following treatment tables for the patient. For example, to correct for body weight, excess weight is eliminated using the #8 diet. In most cases, patients follow the #15 and ATS (generic version of the diet) regimen. diet).
With arthrosis, products made from gelatin (jelly, jellies, etc. ), butter (1 piece per week), vegetable oil, freshly squeezed berry juice, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and flax seedswill help a lot. It is recommended to exclude fatty, smoked, salty foods from the diet.
Homeopathic Medicines and Herbal Treatments for Osteoarthritis
Doctors supplement conservative methods with homeopathy and herbal medicine. Preparations based on natural ingredients improve the functioning of all body systems.
List of commonly used homeopathic remedies for joint disease:
- hydrofluoric acid;
- calcium fluoride;
- Phosphorus;
- calcium phosphate;
- Potassium carbonate.
Their reception is combined with other methods of traditional and formal medicine.
List of commonly used herbal treatments for joint disease:
- cinquefoil;
- unshelled oats;
- yukurba (devil's claw extract);
- medicinal collection (marshmallow and licorice root, chamomile, calendula).
Homeopathic and herbal remedies reduce the need for large doses of NSAIDs, analgesics, corticosteroids, antihistamines.
General activities
Surgical treatment of such a disease as arthritis is applied in cases where the use of conservative methods is not appropriate. Usually, the operation is performed when the patient is late to the doctor, when the disease has developed at 3-4 degrees and threatens to be disabled.
Types of surgery for joint disease:
- arthrodesis;
- arthroscopic sterilization;
- orthopedic joints;
- circumcision surgery;
- endogenous drugs.
After surgery, the patient was transferred to conservative treatment, rehabilitation measures began.
The use of lasers in surgery and physical therapy for joint disease
Laser therapy is prescribed for all degrees and types of osteoarthritis. The rays of the devices used affect damaged tissues at the cellular, molecular and physiological (organic) levels.
In physiotherapy for joint diseases, this property of the laser helps to restore microcirculation, reduce inflammation, pain swelling, improve metabolism, self-regulate regeneration. There are many types of devices and modes of operation. The device's rays act on the surface and intra-articular layers of tissues, biologically active points (with laser acupuncture).
Laser treatment is also performed intraoperatively, using only high-intensity equipment. The use of rays during surgery, in addition to their listed properties, contributes to the rapid recovery of tissues and minimizes the risk of wound infection.
During the joint diagnosis, laser spectroscopy may be ordered and the small joints are examined with an infrared laser scanner. These methods are safer, cheaper than MRI, X-ray.
Folk and traditional medicine for joint disease
Materials of natural origin must be selected individually, since each has its own contraindications. Medicinal preparations for joint diseases include plants with metabolic, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic and analgesic effects. Usually they use willow bark, linden, St. John, burdock, fenugreek.
Cure osteoarthritis with clay at home is very convenient. Good healing effect has blue, kaolin (white), green, yellow and black healing substance. Arthritis healing clay is added to the bath (1 tbsp / 1 liter of water), wrapped on the damaged joint, applied to the painful area, and massaged with a mixture of clay and vegetable oil.
Among the methods of traditional medicine, acupuncture and applied therapy give good results. Some patients feel better after high-intensity, mineralotherapy treatment.
Sanatoriums and resorts
Should strengthen the effectiveness of the main treatment of osteoarthritis by resting at resorts, rehabilitation centers specializing in joint diseases. It is better to give preference to facilities with heat, minerals, mud springs, healing clays, special gases.
Treatment at the resorts is carried out with a focus on physiotherapy. Patients with osteoarthritis should definitely follow a diet, not skip the exercise therapy, massage. Among the methods of physiotherapy, the balneotherapy method is used. These are hydromassage, swimming, bathing (hydrogen sulfide, salt, nitrogen, sulfide and radon). In the case of arthritic joints, therapeutic mud wraps, heat exposure, Bernard currents, lasers and magnetic fields are also prescribed. Each resort has its own treatment program, which must be clarified with a representative of the selected facility prior to ticket purchase.
In each country, there are facilities specializing in the treatment of diseases of the musculoskeletal system. Therefore, with joint disease, it is better to choose a wellness resort with the support of a doctor. He will introduce the type of climate needed, the holiday season, the physiotherapy methods needed for prevention, provide information on resorts and advise the best establishment in his area. or nearby.
Prognosis of joint therapy
It is important not to skip the schedule of physical examinations (1-2 times / year) and to donate blood and urine for testing, as this helps the doctor to detect pathological processes in a timely manner. But the later a person seeks medical help, the worse the prognosis for treatment. With chronic joint disease, doctors can only relieve pain with conservative treatments, preserving part of the function of the joints, or they recommend surgery to prevent disability.
The combination of orthodox methods, traditional medicine and traditional medicine under the regular supervision of a specialist increases the prognosis of the treatment of rheumatic diseases and other pathologies of the musculoskeletal system.