How is arthritis treated? 10 treatments

8 November 2020

Arthropathy means changes in joint damage and degenerative dystrophy. This requires competent and timely treatment. It may include complex conservative methods or suggest the need for surgical intervention.

Arthritis is a chronic disease of degenerative malnutrition. It involves the destruction of cartilage, the pathological changes of the capsule, synovium, ligaments and adjacent bone structures. Pathology requires comprehensive treatment methods.

Drugs

One of the main areas of conservative treatment of arthritis is the use of drugs. The following medicines are usually prescribed:

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. They relieve inflammation, pain and fever.
Glucocorticoids. These drugs can also reduce inflammation and pain, but are more effective.
Painkiller. These drugs include analgesics and certain NSAIDs.
Cartilage protector. These drugs are used for long-term courses. They are necessary to restore the affected cartilage structure.
Muscle relaxants and antispasmodics. These drugs also relieve pain by eliminating muscle spasms.
If arthritis is the result of gout, anti-gout medications are needed.
Vasodilators. These drugs have vasodilator effects.
Compression can effectively treat joint disease, for which medical bile and other methods are used.
Vitamin and mineral complex. They are necessary to activate immunity, normalize material metabolism and metabolic processes, supplement missing elements and absorb them. Usually calcium supplements are needed.

The individual choice of drugs is usually wrong. The attending physician should prescribe the medicine and determine its usage characteristics.

Physical Therapy

The treatment of arthritis usually includes various physical therapies. They are used as part of conservative treatments and are prescribed after surgery to speed up recovery and reduce the risk of complications.

The following process can effectively treat arthritis:

Laser therapy-Exposure to thermal stimulation to regenerate;
Magnetic therapy-Strengthen blood vessel tension, activate metabolic process, accelerate recovery, and relieve inflammation;
Urogenital therapy-Preheat to improve microcirculation and relieve pain;
Electrophoresis-Drug delivery via electric current
Cryotherapy-Exposure to low temperature to relieve swelling, pain, and reduce muscle tone;
Ultrasound-Exposure to high frequency sounds to improve material metabolism;
UHF treatment-calcium deposits are softened, material metabolism is normalized, and edema is reduced;
Homeopathy-Introduce homeopathic medicine to the biologically active site.

There are contraindications to physical therapy procedures. These include increased inflammation, pregnancy, and active tuberculosis. Individual programs also have many restrictions.

Massage

Massage is used to relieve arthritis or subacute phase. In acute diseases, this type of treatment is not included because the affected joint requires complete rest.

Joint massage has the following effects:

relieve pain;
Restore mobility and eliminate stiffness;
Activate blood circulation and lymph flow;
Prevent muscle atrophy, strengthen muscle corset;
Improve metabolic processes and tissue nutrition.

The function of massage depends on the affected joint. In any case, such treatment should only be performed by qualified experts. Before the massage, he must assess mobility, muscle condition, identify contractures, rigidity, and pain points.

The effectiveness of the massage is provided by its course app. The number of sessions is determined individually. Massage sessions need to be repeated regularly-their frequency can also be chosen according to personal circumstances.

Exercise therapy

Physiotherapy is actively used for arthritis. It needs to activate blood circulation and metabolic processes, restore joint mobility, and strengthen muscle corsets. In the initial stage, exercise therapy should be carried out under the guidance of the coach.

In the future, you can do home gymnastics:

Lie on your back on a firm surface and stretch your legs. Bend one leg to the knee and keep your foot 5-10 cm above the ground. Fix in this position for 5 seconds and return to the starting position. Repeat 5 times alternately on each leg.
The starting position is the same. Bend one leg and press your hand onto your body. Repair in a few seconds. Then, put your feet on the floor and slowly straighten your limbs. Do 10-15 repetitions for each leg.
The starting position is the same. Raise the straight leg to 25-30 cm above the floor and fix it for a few seconds. Return to the starting position. Do 20-30 repetitions on each leg in turn.
Lie on his stomach. Bend your knees alternately and try to lift your hips with your heels, but don't lift your hips off the floor. Do 20 to 50 times on each leg.
The starting position is the same. Bend your knees alternately and immobilize yourself for a few seconds at extremes. Do each leg 10 times.
Sit down and straighten your back. Alternately bend and bend your legs, maintaining a moderate speed. In the future, you can lose weight.
The starting position is the same. Raise your legs to form a right angle. Fix for 3 seconds, then return to the starting position. Do each leg 10 times.

Osteoarthritis affects different joints, so exercise methods should be special in each case. It should be developed by experts, taking into account the patient's personal characteristics and their diseases.

All exercises should be done smoothly, excluding strenuous exercise. When doing gymnastics, it is necessary to monitor your breathing-it should be calm and measured.

Lifestyle

The treatment of arthritis involves some lifestyle changes:

If you are overweight, you need to normalize it. In the case of lower limb damage, this moment is particularly important.
Moderate physical exercise. High loads should be excluded, so you should not engage in professional sports. The best options are physical therapy exercises and regular walks.
Take care of your health. To treat chronic diseases, regular intake of vitamin-mineral complexes and preventive examination by a doctor is necessary.
Choose clothing and footwear correctly. One should not feel shy. Tight clothes are full of blood stagnation, which is very dangerous for joint disease. Women should avoid high heels and shoes should be stable.
Properly arrange sleeping and working places. All furniture should be comfortable. It should provide a body position that does not slow blood circulation and does not cause the limbs to flow. If you have problems with mobility, you should equip your house with special handles and handrails.

Diet

When suffering from joint disease, you must follow correct eating habits. The characteristics of the diet are individualized and depend on many factors.

The general principles of nutrition are as follows:

Partial nutrition. You need 5 to 6 meals a day, and the serving size should be small.
Sufficient carbohydrates can ensure proper metabolism. Should focus on complex carbohydrates-vegetables, fruits, berries, cereals.
Eliminate simple carbohydrates-sugar, candy.
Need vegetable fat to accelerate the metabolic process. As for butter, only natural products are useful.
To restore the cartilage structure, it is useful to use gelatin-based jelly meat.
For cooking, you need to limit yourself to cooking, stewing and steam cooking.
Exclude spicy, salty, high-fat, and fried foods from your diet. Reject fatty meat, fast food, corn oil.
Nutrition should be rich in milk, cheese, other dairy products and fermented dairy products. They should be fat-free or low-fat.
You need foods rich in zinc and magnesium-liver, fish, nuts, pumpkin, beans.
Oranges and sweet peppers are good sources of antioxidants. To reduce inflammation, you need to use pomegranate and pineapple.

Special orthopedic equipment

In the treatment of joint disease, various devices are often used to make patients' lives easier and reduce the risk of certain complications.

Orthopedics uses the following structure:

Crutches-used to redistribute the load when the lower limbs are damaged. It is usually used in the final stages of the disease and after surgery.
Orthotics-used to fix joints. This allows you to reduce or adjust the range of motion of the joint and then gradually increase it.
Bandage-also used to fix joints, advantages after injury and surgery.
Corset-used to fix and straighten the torso, mainly for the hip joint.
Heel pad-provide cushioning and reduce load.
It is used to correct the foot and relieve the lining of the foot.
Correction for deformed fingers.
The silicone protective film can protect deformed fingers.

If the arthritis is caused by flat feet, orthopedic shoes and special insoles should be used. In the case of damage to the lower limbs, this measure is also necessary to reduce the risk of complications.

Joint extension

This technique is called traction. It can be manual or hardware. Traction is usually used when the hip or knee joint is affected.

Traction force indicates the application of the course. On average, 10 to 12 lessons are required. It can be executed every day or every other day.

Joint extension is a temporary measure and should be repeated regularly. For arthritis, treatment is usually performed twice a year.

Traditional Medicine

It is appropriate to use traditional medicine as an auxiliary direction of treatment.

The following recipe can effectively treat arthritis:

Compress with cabbage or horseradish leaves. The selected paper must be washed or shredded in multiple places, applied to the affected area, fixed with foil and insulated. Pre-dipping the leaves in honey is also effective. Such compresses should be kept for several hours, several times a day.
Mix equal amounts of iodine (5%), ammonia (10%), medical bile, glycerin and honey. Mix the ingredients and place in a dark place for a week and a half. Before use, shake the mixture and heat the required volume in a water bath. Wet a napkin in the composition, apply it to the affected area, fix and insulate it with cellophane. Compress at night until recovery.
Pour 50 grams of dried stephen vine root into half a cup of vodka and leave it in the dark for 2 weeks. Use the resulting product to wipe the sore joints.
Grind the eggshells into powder and mix with kefir to make a thick mixture. Wrap it in linen cloth and attach it to the affected area, fix and reinforce it with polyethylene. Compression is performed once a day and maintained for 2. 5 hours.
Mix equal parts of honey with glycerin, alcohol and iodine. From bottom to top, gently spread the mixture with a cotton pad.
Pour a small amount of oatmeal into half a liter of water and boil for 10 minutes. Heat the affected area, fix and insulate it with foil. Take it for an hour.

Natural treatments also have contraindications and side effects. Starting from the minimum dose and minimum use time, each new product must be used with caution.

Surgical treatment

If serious pathological changes occur, serious complications occur, and conservative methods are ineffective, surgical intervention is necessary.

The surgical treatment of arthritis can be performed in the following ways:

Joint replacement surgery-Repair of joint surfaces. The indications can be rigidity, contracture. Such surgery is only possible if there is no acute inflammatory process.
Arthrotomy-Open joints to remove foreign bodies, prostheses, and purulent contents.
Arthrodesis-Ankylosing joint disease (joint fixation). Surgery can be intra-articular and extra-articular.
Resection-Partial or complete removal of the joint surface and synovium to form a fixed state in the joint.
Arthritis-Create conditions for limiting joint mobility.
Endoprosthetics-Place implants to completely or partially replace the affected joint.
Peri-joint osteotomy-File the bones into fragments and expose them at an angle. This metric allows you to move the center of gravity and redistribute the load.

Arthritis is a serious disease that can cause irreversible changes. It is necessary to start appropriate treatment as early as possible. It can be conservative or it can be surgical, involving many different measures. Determine the characteristics of treatment according to the specific conditions of each patient.