Osteoarthritis: symptoms and association of the disease with age

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease characterized by the defeat of all joint structures. It is dangerous because in most cases it leads to deformity of the limb and complete loss of its mobility. As noted above, the disease is common among the world's population: it is diagnosed in 15 percent of people. And, despite the fact that in recent years, medicine is rapidly progressing, this number practically does not change.

Possible reasons

Why does osteoarthritis occur at all? Symptoms of it, as we have already said, are mainly due to the cause of the disease. Most often it occurs in elderly patients. According to doctors, the risk group is mainly women over forty, prone to overweight. The more you weigh, the more likely it is that you will develop a pathology. By the way, its course also depends directly on the body weight. Physiologically this is quite understandable: osteoarthritis (whose symptoms, by the way, include severe pain) is usually caused by excessive strain on the joints. The most common form today is the osteoarthrosis of the knee joint of the 1st degree, because with obesity the whole weight falls on your knees. In addition, one should not overlook factors such as abnormal metabolism and hormonal failures.

Relationship disease with age

People who are over 65 years of age are also often diagnosed with osteoarthritis. Symptoms include such manifestations as persistent pain, an unpleasant crunch in the joints and even a complete inability to move. In this case, the cause should be sought in the changes in the joint structure due to age. Over time, the cartilage wears out, and can not recover. Often a normal walking tour entails a pain attack. Nevertheless, among young people, osteoarthritis also occurs. In this case, the fault is a hereditary predisposition or a lack of intra-articular lubrication. Osteoarthrosis, the symptoms and consequences of which are well known to some athletes, becomes a professional pathology for them. By the way, in medicine it is customary to distinguish between its primary and secondary forms. One develops in the absence of other diseases, and the other is provoked by already existing diseases.

Stages of

How to treat osteoarthritis? In order to answer this question, it is necessary to find out at what stage it is at the moment. There are three in total. The first is characterized by a feeling of mild discomfort, occasionally arising in the area of the affected joint, as well as pain that occurs after excessive physical exertion, long walking and standing on the legs. In general, fatigue occurs quite quickly. The second stage occurs when the pain is greatly intensified and does not go away for several days. Especially unbearable it happens immediately after awakening - for this phenomenon there is even a special term - "starting pain". Each movement thus causes serious difficulties in the patient and is accompanied by a characteristic crunch. Finally, the third stage is actually equated by specialists to disability. With it it is impossible to walk, joints are deformed beyond recognition and greatly increase in size. As an adequate treatment in this case, you can only name a replacement joint with a prosthesis.