Treatment of osteoarthritis is a lengthy process. It is mainly conducted in the outpatient setting. It includes a number of measures aimed at slowing down the progression of osteoarthritis and improving the joint function.
Maintaining the joint function is based on chondromodulation. Chondroprotective agents administered orally, intramuscularly and intra-articularly are applied as a course therapy. As it is the pain that makes the patient consult the physician, analgesics-antipyretics, or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs prescribed to relieve pain and inflammation are a priority in the therapy. During the phase of acute pain, when osteoarthritis can be aggravated by synovitis, doctors traditionally use intra-articular administration of hormone injections - corticosteroids.
For intra-articular administration, hyaluronic acid preparations are applied that maintain the medium of the joint and compensate for the lack of natural synovial fluid, or hydrogels-based medications, which have a longer term of effectiveness and a powerful indirect anti-inflammatory effect.
Hydrogels-based drugs super-long term of effectiveness, compared with preparations of hyaluronic acid, as well as the minimum level of complications lie at the core of their efficacy.
Total joint replacement. Knee, hip and other large joints implants have been developed and are currently used successfully. Further conservative treatment helps to reduce the period of recovery in the post-surgery patients and enhance the effectiveness of the treatment.
Attention! Self-medication or ignoring the symptoms can entail irreversible effects! Any treatment of the musculoskeletal system diseases should be carried out by qualified medical personnel on the basis of modern efficient techniques with the use of certified drugs.
An important stage in the treatment of osteoarthritis is sanatorium-and-spa treatment and physical therapy. Their main healing effect consists in the activation of the body’s natural recovery potential by stimulating metabolic processes both in the affected joint, and in the entire organism. The main objectives set for the patients with osteoarthritis are restoring mobility and the required range of motion in joints, increasing muscle strength and endurance.
The opinion that physical activity can lead to early “wear and tear of the joint” is wrong. On the contrary, any motor activity aimed at preserving joint mobility and muscle strengthening enables to maintain good joint function and resist diseases for a long time. However, according to the latest data obtained by the scientists, a connection between jogging and the incidence of osteoarthritis has been established. Therefore, it is walking rather than jogging that is recommended as a method to prevent lower limb osteoarthritis.