Every day, our knees have to withstand body weight and physical activity.Over the years, the cartilage wears out and changes occur in the joint.It is for this reason that elderly people experience arthrosis of the knee joint.
Osteoarthritis of the knee joint (gonarthrosis) is a degenerative pathology of the joint in which cartilage is destroyed, muscles and ligaments are damaged, and bones are deformed.
Treatment of arthrosis of the knee joint at home is a set of certain actions that alleviate the patient's condition.
If the therapy is completed with authorized medical prescriptions, the course of the disease can be slowed down and sometimes completely stopped.
Symptoms and causes of joint arthrosis
The first signs of gonarthrosis of the knee joint are stiffness in the knee and the appearance of pain after slight exertion, sleep and prolonged sitting.If the patient is slightly warm, the pain will decrease.A crunching sound is often heard when the knee is bent, and the pain worsens after hypothermia.
Such symptoms of the disease appear for several years and are sometimes disturbing.If the problem is not treated, over time it becomes difficult to walk, the knee joint is deformed, it becomes impossible to move without crutches.
The following can help accelerate the development of pathology:
- Being overweight triples the rate of progression.
- Regular exercise.
- Meniscus injuries, fractures and knee injuries.
- Bone placement defects (X and O shaped).They deform the cartilage tissue and the joint as a whole.
Stages of development of arthrosis of the knee joint
Stage 1
Legs get very tired, mobility begins to be limited and a feeling of creaking occurs.Joint pain occurs at rest and during prolonged exercise.At this stage of the disease, there is no deformation of the knee, and the joint space only narrows.
Stage 2
Deformative arthrosis of the knee joint, grade 2, requires immediate treatment, as the pain worsens and restricts movement.A person cannot move long distances and needs a lot of rest.Lameness appears with a strong crisis and deformation.Bone grows and osteophytes are formed, fluid accumulates during synovitis.
Stage 3
The most difficult stage of the disease.The pain appears even at rest and the leg is almost immobile.The joint cavity may disappear completely.
Who is at risk?
- people with extra pounds;
- anyone who leads a sedentary lifestyle;
- patients with knee injuries;
- professional and amateur athletes who put a lot of load on their knees;
- people who have a profession that puts a lot of strain on their knees;
- patients with pathology of cartilage and bone tissue;
- people with infectious diseases and parasitic diseases.
All these reasons accelerate the development of the disease at an early age and lead to a complex course of the disease.
Treatment of arthrosis of the knee joint
Currently, doctors do not choose a single treatment regimen, because there is no specific drug that helps patients in the same way.When planning home treatment, doctors take into account the degree of the problem, the age of the patient, the severity of the pain and the degree of joint deformation.
Therefore, it will take a long time and effort to treat such a disease using various methods that affect the painful knee.
Principles of nutrition
Everyone should understand that treatment of arthrosis at home should begin with dietary correction.In this case, an increase in the amount of calcium, "B" and "E" vitamins is considered a prerequisite.The body can get these elements from sprouted wheat, dairy products, almonds, whole grains, bread and pasta.
Salt should be limited and increased in vegetarian salads and vegetables after rapid heat treatment.
Anyone who plans to treat osteoarthritis to any degree should eliminate acidic fruits such as grapefruit, lemons, oranges, as well as alcohol and coffee from their diet.The amount of meat consumed should be minimized, as should dry fruits and cereals.
Jellied meat made from bone broth is considered a healthy food because it is rich in collagen, which is necessary for building cartilage and bone tissue.It is equally important to use gelatin, which contains the main chondroprotectors.
Gymnastics
In the most advanced degree of arthrosis, such treatment involves performing three exercises:
- You need to sit on a high chair or table so that your legs can be lowered freely.Then they start talking with an amplitude of up to 10 cm.Severe patients are allowed to exercise for 5 minutes every hour, and for other patients 10 minutes twice a day.
- Sitting in a chair, put your feet on the floor.Resting on the toe, the heel rises 12 cm above the ground and then falls freely.After 3 seconds, the exercise is repeated.Exercise for both painful legs is performed alternately.
- Sit in a chair and put your feet on the floor.Then, resting on your heels, relax and slowly hit the ground, lifting your toes no more than 12 cm.Take a 3-second break between exercises.
Knee joint massage
At home, you can work independently on the knee joint with arthrosis, using blows through fingers, palms and fists.
Under the influence of whimsy, the skin activates nerve pathways and stimulates blood flow.Through clenched fingers, shocks spread to muscles, ligaments, tendons and joint capsule.Thus, the blood is squeezed more easily from the capillaries without damage.
The treatment should begin by tapping the painful areas with pinched fingers.The kneecap is shot from the side.Hitting a very painful joint should be done as carefully as possible, and as it recovers, they should be slightly strengthened.
It is necessary to carefully tap the damaged tendons, then hit the right, left, front, straightened leg, below the knee and bent leg with a clenched palm.The session ends with a slap.
Number of required procedures:
- moderate arthrosis - once a week;
- mild stage of arthrosis - once every 23 days;
- severe arthrosis with inflammation and swelling - once every six months.
Magnetotherapy
This procedure can be easily performed at home and will not further deform the knee.For many years, magnetic therapy has been tested in practice and has always shown excellent results.
The knee joint affected by arthrosis can be treated at home under the influence of a weak magnetic field.This treatment normalizes blood circulation and metabolism.Thus, the outflow of fluids from the tissues is accelerated.
It is not necessary to perform complex actions to treat a problem with a magnet.The procedure requires only a small magnet.Massage the affected knee area with circular motions for 20 minutes once a day.The duration of such treatment is usually up to three months.There are many reviews about the treatment of arthrosis of the 2nd degree of the knee joint with a magnet, and all of them are positive.
Thermal treatments
The ability to perform heating procedures at home is limited.Instead, you can use wet and dry heat - foot baths and compresses.
Add sea salt (one spoon per liter) to water heated to 45°C and then pour it into a tall tank so that your knees are completely submerged in it.Hot water helps dilate blood vessels, and salt removes excess fluid from the periarticular tissue.
Sand with a mixture of coarse salt or dry herbs is heated in the microwave or in a frying pan, then wrapped in a thick material and cooled to room temperature for application to the knee.After such treatment, the compress is not thrown away - it is used for the entire course.
At the end of the thermal procedure, a gel (ointment) prescribed by the doctor is applied to the knee joint.With expanded pores, the drug penetrates better and has a stronger analgesic effect.
Treatment with drugs
At home, knee joint arthrosis of varying degrees of complexity can be treated with local drugs with anti-edema, anti-inflammatory, warming and analgesic effects.The advantage of these funds is the possibility of long-term use.The active substance of ointments does not penetrate to the extent that will cause side effects.Thus, if the course of injections or tablets with the active substance is prohibited, the circle of people who can be treated is expanded.This applies to NSAIDs, which are prohibited for people with chronic and acute gastrointestinal diseases and other diseases of internal organs.When used locally, they reduce pain and eliminate inflammation in arthrosis.
Traditional recipes for the treatment of knee arthrosis
In nature, amazing medicinal plants are known, which are necessary for the production of collagen and the regeneration of cartilage tissue.
- Gelatin- a popular treatment for joints.To prepare the medicine, you need to take a spoonful of gelatin and pour a quarter of a glass of water into it in the evening, and drink it on an empty stomach in the morning during swelling.For a full therapeutic course, 150 g of gelatin is needed.The drug is contraindicated for those with high blood clotting.
- Dandelions- freshly picked flowers are thoroughly washed under water and then chewed into a pulp.You need to eat up to 5 flowers a day.It is worth preparing the leaves of the plant for treatment in winter.Despite its bitter taste, the leaves should be chewed daily.Dry grass is poured with a glass of boiling water and soaked.Dandelion tincture has an excellent effect.You need to rub it on your knees for a month.The pain will pass quickly, but the procedure must be continued.To make the remedy, gather lots of dandelion heads and fill a bottle with them, then fill with alcohol or triple cologne.The tincture will be ready within a month.
- Honey and bee products– is a unique remedy for arthrosis of the knee joint.Honey is heated with a heating pad and then applied to the affected area, rubbed with light circular movements.The process is carried out once a day for half a month, and after a break, the session is repeated again.
- burdock root– a common herb for treating joints.You need to take 6-7 burdock leaves and bend the woolly side down.Place a pan of boiling water over this pile until it cools.The knee is lubricated with vegetable oil, leaves are placed on it and wrapped with polyethylene and a towel.
- Cinquefoil and cinquefoil (tincture)- grasshopper and strawberry roots (2:1) are poured with vodka and left to brew for 20 days.The finished product is taken orally, one spoonful before meals, for a month, and then take a break.A combination of herbs relieves swelling, increases joint mobility and relieves stiffness.
- Cabbage juice- this product should be soaked in woolen material and applied to the painful area.The procedure is performed before going to bed.The finished juice is stored in a dark place for no more than three days.You can make compresses from cabbage leaves.Honey is rubbed into the leaf and applied to the painful knee.This is then reinforced with polythene and woolen cloth overnight.In the morning, the compress is removed, and the remaining honey is removed with warm water.The course of treatment lasts one month.
- Compress of milk cut with chalk- add fermented milk product to the ground chalk, mix well and apply the mixture to the knee joint.After insulation with film and fabric, the next morning the residue is removed with a napkin.A chalk compress relieves inflammation and relieves pain.
- Therapeutic bath with candles- coniferous plants are always used for the treatment of arthrosis of the joints and most often in the form of baths.To prepare a medicinal mixture, take pine branches with needles, a few chopped Jerusalem artichokes, 1 tsp.turpentine, 1 kg of sea salt, 2 tbsp.l.honey You can stay in such a bathroom for more than 20 minutes, then wipe your skin with a towel.An iodine mesh is placed on the painful joint and rubbed with honey.Mesh steamed from lard is also applied there.The course of therapy for arthrosis is two weeks.
Osteoarthritis of the knee is a disease that most people often face.Home therapy helps to stop the progression of the disease, as well as completely restore joint substances.Moreover, the effectiveness of the methods depends on the patient himself and his desire to recover.