Often people suffer from joint pain. They reduce motor activity and the quality of human life. Thus, enthesopathy is a chronic condition that combines inflammation at the site of attachment of tendons and ligaments. Mostly, large joints suffer, which experience a lot of stress.
Enthesopathy is a disease that occurs in almost 75% of people. As a rule, it develops in the hip, knee and shoulder joint.
Joint Enthesopathy - what is it?
The disease is booming. It should be taken seriously. If you do not start treating enthesopathy on time, then, as a result, performance can be greatly reduced, and in other cases, some become disabled.
With an exacerbation of the disease, inflammation begins with severe pain, which is referred to as periarthritis.
Enthesopathy is a disease that begins to affect the tendons at the point of attachment to the bone. If no measures are taken, then it begins to spread to cartilage and periarticular tissue. In turn, coarse connective tissue forms due to chronic inflammation. On the last there are sites of ossification in the ligaments and tendons. As a result, they become very vulnerable. And the pain becomes chronic.
Causes of the disease
As a rule, the disease begins to develop due to:
- congenital malformations of the skeleton;
- cervical osteochondrosis with radicular syndromes ;
- microtrauma in ligaments and tendons;
- metabolic disorders, with gout and osteoporosis;
- prolonged physical overload;
- endocrine and infectious diseases;
- autoimmune and inflammatory joint diseases such as psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Most often this diagnosis is given to people whose profession is a painter, dancer, plasterer and athlete.
Symptoms of Enthesopathy
The disease is divided into two types:
- on mechanical development: primary inflammatory and primary degenerative;
- on anatomical basis: knee, humeral, calcaneal, hip.
The main symptoms of this ailment include:
- poor health, decreased emotional tone, weakness. Disability is observed only in cases that have not been subjected to timely proper treatment;
- limited range of motion and tight joint mobility;
- joint pain. They have a aching character and intensify with movements.
As a rule, the disease is one-sided. But, if you turn to a specialist with a big delay, then the other limb begins to bother the patient. This is explained by the fact that a decrease in muscle activity of the diseased side leads to chronic overload.
Disease complications
The consequences of enthesopathy may be as follows:
- deformation of the affected area;
- amyotrophy;
- ruptures of ligaments and tendons;
- periostitis;
- contracture;
- chronic pain syndrome.
What are the features of knee enthesopathy?
Basically, this disease affects the fair sex in old age with increased body weight. In addition, the disease can develop due to long jumps and weightlifting.
The knee joint of any person is constantly experiencing stress, is exposed to hypothermia and injuries. He is also a developed tendon-ligamentous apparatus. Due to atherosclerosis and varicose veins, the lower extremities often suffer.
Synovial fluid is a substance that fills the cavity of the joint bag of the knee. Thanks to her, there is an easy glide of the surfaces of the joints relative to each other. In order for the amount of fluid produced to be sufficient, motor activity on the lower extremities and also physical activity are needed.
Basically, tendons of muscles that converge in the popliteal fossa area are affected. Unpleasant sensations become stronger when lowering or climbing stairs. It also hurts when bending and turning. On palpation of the popliteal fossa, discomfort is noted.
Features of the disease of other species
If the biceps tendon is affected, then enthesopathy of the shoulder joint may develop . When a person rotates his hand, pain appears that spread along the upper surface of the shoulder. The patient can not take his hand to the side or raise it above his head. On the side where there is a damaged shoulder, a person cannot sleep. He is also tormented by severe pain.
Hip joint enthesopathy is also referred to as trocharteritis. This disease affects people who have a damaged tendon of the outer thigh muscle group. Also, as in the previous form, the patient can not sleep on the sick side. He suffers from severe discomfort on his hip. A person cannot sit on a chair with his legs crossed. In addition, it is even difficult for him to just sit.
Enthesopathy of the sciatic tubercle is a disease in which inflammation of the tendons is observed at the attachment site. The disease is most often found in people who spend a lot of time sitting work. Therefore, to suddenly this does not happen, they should take breaks and perform a series of physical exercises.
With enthesopathy of the foot, pain occurs in the heel and goes up the leg. This type of disease complicates the patient's performance.
How is the disease diagnosed?
In order to make an accurate diagnosis to the patient, a specialist first examines him. After directs to the necessary examination.
During the examination, the doctor may reveal that there is swelling of the skin. He will also pay attention if a person has an inflamed muscle tendon, tightened or touch skin in the joint area is hot. The patient himself may complain about the limitation of the number of movements. Usually, upon palpation of the affected area, where the affected muscles are attached, a person experiences strong pain. After completing the examination, to clarify and in order to verify the correct diagnosis, the specialist sends for examination.
So the patient can be sent to:
- Ultrasound
- Osteoscintigraphy.
- MRI
- Roentgenography.
When conducting the last examination, calcifications in synovial bags or an erosive bone process can be detected, for example.
What are the methods of treating the disease?
Therapy of the disease can be both long-term and individual. Also, with enthesopathy, treatment can be complex. Whatever type of disease a person has, an immediate appeal to a specialist is necessary.
First of all, the patient should avoid hypothermia and overload.
As a rule, during treatment, the doctor prescribes medications. The main ones are anti-inflammatory drugs. These include ointments and gels. Also, in order to relieve discomfort during tendon enthesopathy, the doctor prescribes analgesics. In addition to all other drugs, to raise immunity it will be necessary to take immunomodulators and B vitamins. Even with this ailment, vasodilator drugs and chondroprotectors are prescribed.
Together with taking medications, physiotherapy is also used. As a rule, shock wave therapy is prescribed to relieve severe pain and inflammation. Depending on the type of disease, the patient can undergo such procedures as ultrasound, magnetotherapy, electrophoresis, laser therapy.
Exercise exercises are also very good. It is possible to get rid of this ailment in complex treatment with the use of medicines, doing massage with elements of manual therapy.
When is surgery necessary?
If the above treatment methods are ineffective, and the person’s condition does not improve, then an arthroscopic operation will be required. She is gentle. If a person suffers from a limited range of motion, then in this case, surgeons tear apart the joint bag. Thanks to this, the patient will subsequently be active and efficient.
Disease prevention
Enthesopathy is a disease that causes a lot of discomfort to the patient both in movement and in general in life. In order not to fight this ailment later, a number of preventive measures should be observed. So a person’s nutrition should be balanced. It should have a sufficient amount of carbohydrates, proteins, fats and vitamins. You should limit yourself to the use of fast foods. Joint diseases should also be treated promptly. Then, because of them, enthesopathy cannot develop. You need to properly schedule your schedule. Namely, to devote a sufficient amount of time not only for work, but also for relaxation.
It will be very good to make a massage that will work out problem areas. It is recommended to do it twice a year. In addition, a special therapeutic gymnastics will be required, which pays more attention to loaded articular structures. This method of prevention will avoid the risk of getting enthesopathy.
Another important point is a good emotional attitude.
People who have undergone complex therapy, in the future should be more attentive and careful about the legs. Contact a specialist in time if you have any of the symptoms described in this article, and then there will be no serious complications.