Osteoarthritis Definition, Reason, Symptoms, Treatment & Prevention
Understanding
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease associated with joint damage. This disease occurs due to the weakening and disintegration of joint cartilage accompanied by the growth of new bone and cartilage in the joints. Abnormalities in this joint can affect one joint or more joints.
Osteoarthritis usually strikes in the 40s and 50s. This disease can affect both women and men. However, osteoarthritis that strikes at a young age is more common in men than in women. Usually caused by trauma due to injury. Meanwhile, among the elderly, more women are attacked by osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis is a disease that is often associated with pain in the elderly. This disease can attack any joint, but the most common are the joints that bear the weight of the body such as the hips, knees and joints of the spine.
Symptom
The main symptom of osteoarthritis that is most easily recognized is pain. This is the most common complaint of osteoarthritis sufferers. Pain arises due to disorders of the bones, joint lining or synovial membrane, and spasms of the muscles around the joints.
The pain is mild at first and then gets worse. These complaints go on intermittently and are aggravated by joint motion activity.
The pain usually goes away after rest.
Stiffness in the joints can cause joint strain and limited movement. The sufferer will feel a rough joint movement accompanied by a crackling sound.
The joints will look swollen due to the accumulation of fluid in the joints. This swelling looks more prominent because of the wasting of the surrounding muscles due to less and less use.
Reason
There are several risk factors for osteoarthritis, namely:
- Age 60 years
- Menopause (in female sufferers)
- Overweight/obesity
- Heavy workers who use a joint repeatedly
Diagnosis
Determination of the diagnosis of osteoarthritis is done by collecting information about the symptoms felt by the sufferer. It is also necessary to do a clinical and radiographic picture.
In addition, there are several tests that can be performed to support the process of determining the diagnosis of osteoarthritis, including:
- Osteoarthritis laboratory tests
- Plain photo of the joint (X-ray)
- Examination of joint fluid
- Arthroscopic examination
Treatment
Treatment can still be given according to the condition of the sufferer. The goals of treating osteoarthritis are:
- Helping patients to understand their disease
- Provide psychological assistance
- Pain relief
- Suppresses the inflammatory process
- Maintain joint function and prevent joint changes by maintaining physical activity
- Make corrections to abnormalities that have occurred
- Improve joint function
- Strengthens weak muscles
- Rehabilitation of individual sufferers.
Treatment of osteoarthritis in general can be divided into non-surgical and surgical treatment. Non-surgical treatment can be in the form of drugs, dietary changes, physiotherapy, and lifestyle changes.
Drug therapy in the form of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is the main treatment for osteoarthritis. This treatment apart from helping to relieve pain symptoms can also prevent aggravation that can occur.
Corticosteroid injections (injections) into the joints can help reduce pain temporarily. However, this injection should not be done frequently because it can cause bone damage.
Physiotherapy aims to maintain joint mobility and increase muscle strength. Strengthening the muscles around the joints can provide a protective effect against joints affected by osteoarthritis. Exercises that can be done for example aerobic movement. But you still have to avoid activities that are burdensome to the joints.
Patients with osteoarthritis who are overweight (obese) should also lose weight. Regular exercise can promote weight loss and ultimately help joint repair.
Operative therapy in osteoarthritis patients will be carried out if conservative treatment does not provide significant results. Operative measures that can be performed include joint replacement or arthroplasty or prostatic joint replacement and joint fusion or arthrodesis.
Arthroplasty is the act of removing damaged joints and replacing them with prosthetic joints which can be made of plastic or metal. Meanwhile, arthrodesis is an action to permanently eliminate joint pain, which unfortunately can cause loss of movement function.