Arthrosis of the legs: symptoms, causes, methods of treatment

Arthrosis of the legs is a chronic joint pathology in which degenerative-dystrophic changes in the articular cartilage occur. Cartilage is gradually destroyed and does not fulfill its functions. The joints are deformed (deforming osteoarthritis, or DOA), and a person often becomes disabled. The disease can affect any joints, but arthrosis of the legs develops most often.

This is due to the fact that the greatest load always goes to the lower limbs. Pathology significantly reduces the quality of life and can lead to disability. The disease is common, it affects a third of the population over the age of 50. After 55 years, 90% of people have arthrosis of the foot. Among the joints of the legs, the largest percentage of lesions falls on the knee.

Interesting! Most often, foot arthrosis is diagnosed in menopausal women.

Etiology of the phenomenon

The cause of arthrosis of the joints of the legs often becomes:

• monotonous repeatability of movements;
• long standing, sitting still;
• genetic predisposition;
• obesity;
• hypothermia of the legs;
• deformation of the arch of the foot or thumb;
• calcium deficiency;
• active sport;
• spasms of blood vessels;
• congenital anomalies of the joints;
• high heel and narrow toe;
• scoliosis
• malnutrition.

Interesting! For the reason to be realized, a provoking factor is needed. Arthritis and injuries can occur without treatment, endocrinopathy, chronic infections such as syphilis, gonorrhea, and TB.

Pathology classification

Pathology is classified according to the causes and localization of the lesion. The following types of foot arthrosis are distinguished at the site of the destructive effect:

1. Coxarthrosis, in which the hip joint is affected. The defeat can be single or double-sided.
2. Gonarthrosis, in which the knee joint is affected . With arthrosis of the knee joints of the legs, the entire knee is involved in the inflammation. Each 5 has a disease, women prevail.
3. Osteoarthrosis, in which the ankle is affected. The reason is a violation of the mutual sliding of the intraarticular surfaces. The foot is roughly deformed, marginal osteophytes appear.
4. Osteoarthritis of the toes - most often the thumb and little finger suffer. Often, Kellgren's disease develops - generalized osteoarthrosis, which affects the cartilage of several joints, most often parallel.

Depending on the cause of arthrosis, there are:

• post-traumatic;
• postoperative;
• osteoarthrosis;
• rheumatoid.

Interesting! Symptoms of arthrosis of the legs are very dependent on the type of pathology. Large joints are more prone to post-traumatic arthrosis and osteoarthritis, lesions of the toes more often appear after rheumatism.

The mechanism of arthrosis of the joints of the foot

The process begins with a change in cartilage. The essence of their work is in depreciation for the articular surfaces of bones. The elasticity of the cartilaginous tissue is lost, the bones become thinner, become covered with cracks and begin to collapse. There is no more depreciation, the synovial fluid is not produced, and the bone is under constant strong mechanical stress, and tendons and ligaments are damaged. Overloaded areas suffer from circulatory disorders, bone growths (osteophytes) occur. The motor activity of the joints is disturbed, muscles begin to atrophy. Irreversible changes occur in the periarticular tissues.

Symptomatic manifestations

The most common arthritis and arthrosis of the legs. Arthritis has the following symptoms:

• local temperature of the affected joint;
• swelling and swelling;
• soreness at rest and when walking;
• morning stiffness of the joints;
• redness.

Arthrosis of the legs is manifested in pain of varying intensity. It extends to the entire leg. With the progression of the process, the pain becomes constant and at rest. Discomfort when walking, standing, climbing stairs, physical activity and running. Joint mobility is limited. In parallel with pain, a crack in the joints occurs. Swelling of the tissues around the joint.

Next is the curvature of the fingers, the appearance of corns in places of greatest load. The gait changes, a person tries not to step on a sore joint. The load is redistributed to the outer edge of the foot - this is noticeable in the shoes. The patient experiences rapid fatigue, the impossibility of prolonged standing on his feet. At first the pain disappears at rest, then it becomes constant. Sometimes the patient becomes disabled.

Important! With arthrosis of the legs, the symptoms gradually increase over a number of years, so early diagnosis is delayed.

Stages

There are 4 stages:

1. At the initial stage, the damage is minimal. There are no complaints, pain occurs only after overloads, for example, long walking. The joints are not visually changed. The images show the beginning of a narrowing of the joint space.
2. The pain becomes stronger, and the mobility of the feet is limited, movements are possible in only one direction. Muscles are moderately atrophied, large bone spurs. A crunch in the distance. This suggests that the destruction of cartilage tissue has begun, so pain is felt even with minimal movements. The joints are swollen, palpation painful. The disease can be completely cured by the conservative method only in the initial stage.
3. Joint fluid is practically absent. Joint movements are only rocking, up to 5-7. Pain at rest and during movement. The joints of the legs are deformed.
4. There is a complete destruction of the cartilage, joint fusion may occur - ankylosis. Complete stillness.

With arthrosis of the legs, the symptoms and treatment are completely dependent on the stage. It should be remembered that in the advanced stages, monotherapy is not successful, therefore, radical methods are used.

Different etiology of arthrosis has its own clinical features:

• Post-traumatic arthrosis. There are signs of injury. Symptoms develop gradually, more often damage is observed on the one hand, on one joint. Almost always there is weather sensitivity. The pain intensifies in the cold and during rain, when the humidity rises.

• Osteoarthrosis. On the face, deformation of the limb. TBS and knee joints are more often affected. The disease develops more often in women, with increased weight, aged 40-50 years. Pain is felt when walking and even at rest. After some time without treatment, the joint will completely immobilize.
• Rheumatoid. The joints of the toes are usually affected. In this case, inflammatory processes occur in conjunction with degenerative changes. Fingers swollen and hot to the touch. Patients suffer from pain and stiffness of movement.
• Different types of arthrosis of the joints of the foot. Metatarsal bones can be affected (it is painful to rely on the arch of the foot), the heel. Phalangeal arthrosis of the toes is also possible (the thumb and little finger often suffer). With arthrosis of the heel, each step is accompanied by pain. The disease develops due to improper shoes, bad habits and neglect of your body.
• Arthrosis of the talar-navicular joint of the foot in parallel with the defeat of the ankle. The disease can occur in young people, from 20 years old. An ailment develops due to the fact that the process of leg growth is not yet finished, and the load on the legs is given a lot. The disease occurs after sprains, strokes.

Chronic arthrosis of the talar navicular joint often occurs in women 40-50 years old. The disease has 3 phases of development:

1. First, there are periodic pains in the back of the foot during exercise, the appearance of increased fatigue.
2. Stage 2 - increased pain. The heads of the metatarsal bones are compressed and osteophytes develop.
3. Stage 3 - the joint is roughly deformed, the thumb is motionless. Movements to them are possible in the form of small bends.

Stages of coxarthrosis:

1. Pain of low intensity after loading on TBS. After resting, the pain quickly passes. There may be difficulties when climbing stairs.
2. The pain syndrome is moderate, often along the front of the thigh, to the knee. Sudden movements and lifting intensify unpleasant sensations.
3. The pains are unbearable, arise at the slightest movement. The patient moves only on crutches. Disability of 1 or 2 groups is often given.

Stages of gonarthrosis development:

1. There is slight pain when moving on a flat surface, descending, ascending. Pain after rest disappears. Movement in the knee is not limited.
2. The pain is moderate, stiffness appears in the knee. Muscles may begin to atrophy, the appearance of a slight limp.
3. The pain is sharp, valgus deformity of the knee joints (strong X-shaped curvature) with outgrowth, varus deformity (O-shaped curvature).

Osteoarthrosis (damage to the phalangeal joint, ankle, polyarthrosis) is divided into several stages:

1. After minor physical exertion, the ankle swells and hurts. Pain can pass along the lower leg, surface of the foot.
2. Constant crunch and pain, impaired mobility are characteristic. There are edge growths of the surface of the joints.
3. The motor functions of all joints of the leg are lost. Very sharp pains occur even with small loads, extensive overgrowth of bone tissue is characteristic. The patient can only shake his foot slightly.

Diagnostic measures

Diagnostic measures may include several methods, but X-ray is considered the most informative. It shows the degree of joint damage and the stage at which the disease is located:

• First stage. The joint gap is slightly changed, the cartilage is preserved.
• The second one. The joint gap is halved from the normal state, the cartilage is thinned, osteophytes - bone growths are visible along its edges.
• The third. The disease is already running. The joint gap disappears, there is no cartilage, it is replaced by osteophytes, the development of osteoporosis of bones begins.

An x-ray is taken in 2-3 projections.

For diagnosis, CT, MRI can be prescribed. There is also an invasive method of instrumental research using an LED conductor.

Laboratory tests can also be assigned to obtain more detailed information about the patient's condition, to find out the etiology of the occurrence of the pathology, to check the effectiveness of the treatment measures, to identify side effects. The final diagnosis is made after studying laboratory tests, studying the clinic of the disease and instrumental diagnostics.

Treatment of foot arthrosis

There is an opinion that arthrosis is incurable. But this is true only for its later stages. Treatment for arthrosis of the legs is characterized by duration and requires a lot of patience. It must be comprehensive, continuous and systematic.

Diet

The therapeutic diet for arthrosis of the legs has the following goals:

• normalization of weight;
• restoration of cartilage nutrition;
• bone strengthening.

Important! When drawing up a therapeutic diet, it is imperative to calculate the energy requirement of a person in order to choose the correct ratio of BJU.

Drug therapy

Its goal is to reduce the manifestations of the disease and slow its progression. The following groups of medicines are used:

1. NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) in the form of tablets and ointments relieve pain and inflammation well. With very severe lesions, narcotic analgesics can be prescribed. The most popular are "Ibuprofen", "Voltaren", "Ketanov", "Diclofenac", "Meloxicam", "Diprospan".
2. Chondroprotectors restore cartilage. They contain its main components - chondroitin, glucosamine. Stopartrosis, Arthra, Teraflex, Alflutop, Structum, Rumalon. They are prescribed a course up to six months.
3. Improvement of microcirculation of blood vessels. The joint has no vessels. Its nutrition occurs due to intraarticular fluid. When it is not, an enzyme is produced that dissolves the cartilage fibers and exacerbates the course of the disease. In order to accelerate the production of intraarticular fluid, Trental, Stugeron, Dimexidum, Bischofite are prescribed.
4. Analgesics. Accepted in the form of tablets or injections.
5. Blocking the production of cartilage solvent-enzymes (proteolysis inhibitors), appoint Piaskledin, Gordoks, Kontrikal.
6. Joint lubrication. For this, hyaluronic acid is needed. It is contained in Ostenil, Sinvisk, Gyalurom, Fermatron.
7. To strengthen bone tissue, vitamin and mineral complexes are prescribed. Particularly important are B vitamins, nicotinic acid.

In the absence of the effect of conservative treatment of arthrosis of the toes, with severe pain and in the late stages, they resort to surgical interventions.

Therapeutic gymnastics of physical therapy should be performed for the prevention of diseases. Basically this is kneading the feet.

For reference! The course of exercise therapy should begin under the supervision of a specialist, after selecting the optimal loads, the exercises continue to be carried out independently at home.

Physiotherapy

From it appoint:

• applications with ozokerite and paraffin;
• magnetotherapy;
• diadynamic currents;
• electrophoresis.

The procedures are carried out 2 times a year, for 10-15 sessions. The cure is accelerated because there is practically no load on the joints, small discharges of current stimulate the nerve endings well, helping the joint to start working.

Foot massage is carried out only outside the stage of exacerbation. It improves blood vessels and metabolism in tissues, relieves pain.

Orthopedic methods are most often used in the treatment of arthrosis of the big toe. A plaster boot and staples for fixing the limb are superimposed in severe neglected cases when complete foot immobility is needed.

Improve the functioning of feet and orthopedic insoles. With them, microcirculation improves and metabolism is restored.

Alternative methods of treatment

In the early stages, phytotherapy in the form of decoctions, rubbing, ointments and compresses can be used as an addition to the main treatment. Used herbs: burdock, aloe, eucalyptus, fern leaves, birch, apitherapy, bone tar, iodine mesh.

Healing mud saturates tissues with essential microelements, regenerating cartilage. In summer, warming up can be done right on the beach, with heated sand. Camphor-salt baths with ammonia are not forbidden. They give an analgesic effect.

Preventative measures

American researchers insist on the benefits of sports training in the treatment of foot arthrosis. They recommend not to work with large weights, to train legs, to create muscles around a sore joint, working with elastic bandages. Useful exercises and aerobic exercise. In addition, 1500 mg of glucosamine, 1200 mg of chondroitin per day should be taken. It is necessary to supplement the diet of PUFA - omega-3. It is advisable to normalize weight, eat right. Hiking is also good.

Running should be ruled out due to a sharp overload of the foot. Only comfortable shoes with a wide toe should be worn, the heel should be no more than 3-4 cm. A spa treatment with bathing in mineral springs and mud baths is indicated. It should be mandatory at least once a year.