Women suffer from osteoarthritis from knee joints more frequently than men. Arthosis is generally developed after forty years, although sometimes there are cases of "young" gonarrosis, after injuries or between professional athletes.
The heaviest osteoarthritis of the knee joints is the most difficult of full women, as well as in those who have strong varicose veins in the legs.
The disease begins gradually, with a minor pain in the knee when walking. The most difficult thing for patients is given to the descent or climbs the stairs. Even pain often occurs when a person needs to get out of a sitting position (from a chair or from a bed); The first steps are usually the most painful. Then, if diverged, the pains on the knees are reduced slightly. But with a long way and then, the pains return again.
At rest, sitting and lying, the pain usually passes. The initial pain for the osteoarthritis of the knee joints does not happen "in a second", that is, they do not appear immediately, in one day. The period of intense pain in gonarrosis is almost necessarily preceded by a period of multiple or even perennial pain that occurs exclusively with long walks, loading, climbing the stairs or getting up from the chair.
If the pain arose abruptly, in a day or, in addition, in a second, but before there was no knee pain, then this usually indicates some other disease or damage. For example, to pinch the meniscus, the infringement of the synovial cover of the joint or the blow between the cartilage of the cartilage piece (body cartilage excutit).
However, with gonarrosis, such problems can also occur, and then they will complicate the course of osteoarthritis, they will add acute pain. And then the osteoarthritis of the knee will have to be treated, taking into account the above complications. But initially the diagnosis of "osteoarthritis of the knee joint" is confirmed precisely by the gradual development of pain symptoms.
The first stage of the osteoarthritis of the knee joint
In spite of sometimes, intensive pain, at first, in the first stage of gonarrosis, the bones of the knees retain their original shape and are almost not deformed. But the articulation itself can be a little fans.
Such change in the form of the joint at the beginning can be associated with a synovitis (synovitis is an accumulation in the knee of a pathological liquid).
If the fluids in the joint "win" too much, it extends even to the back of the knee, to the popliteal pit area. Such fluid accumulation is called Baker's cyst. The term "baker's cyst" often scares patients, since the name leads many people to the idea that we are talking about the oncological process. However, this state has nothing to do with oncology and tumors. Baker's cyst is just a term that means accumulation of fluid in the knee. Sometimes, by accumulating too much of this liquid, it breaks under the knee and below, in the back of the bottom of the leg. But even in this case, nothing terrible happens: Baker's cyst is usually reduced easily under the influence of anti -inflammatory medications or the introduction of hormonal drugs in the knee. Consequently, Baker's cyst needs to be treated. But in no case do you need to operate it!
The second stage of the osteoarthritis of the knee joint
In the second stage of gonarrosis, a few months later, from the beginning of the disease, knee pain becomes clearly stronger. The pain already occurs by the load minimally or immediately after.
That is, the pain is now caused by almost any movement in the affected knee. But especially the knee hurts after a long load, a long walk, with small pesos.
After a fairly long break, the pain usually goes completely, but during the next movement it occurs immediately again.
Almost at the same time, a crunch is added in the knee joint during pain movements. It differs significantly in the volume of barely audible clicks, occasionally accompanying individual movements of healthy joints.
As the disease progresses, such a crunch, first expressed weakly, becomes more audible and different.
I want to emphasize once more: there is no need to confuse a rough arthritic crunch in the joint, almost always accompanied by pain, with a harmless crunch of joints that occur in some healthy people and not accompanied by pain.
The soft painless breeding of the joints can only be a consequence of the weak ligament, or a consequence of the excessive mobility of the joints or some other individual characteristics in the structure of the joints in a given person. Usually, such soft crunch does not threaten anything, it has no negative consequences and does not increase the risk of joint diseases in the future. Osteoarthritis of the knee joint, arthritis, meniscus damage, etc.
Parallel to the strengthening of pain and the appearance of Cryst, in the second stage of gonarrosis, the ability to normally double the knee decreases. When trying to bend the knee "to the stop", there is acute pain in the joint, and more often the complete flexion of the knee becomes simply impossible. Sometimes, the knee bends only to a corner of 90 degrees, and then it goes with difficulty and pain.
In the same stage of the disease, it is notable that the joint is deformed; In the first place, this applies to bone deformations, changes in the shape of the bones of the joint (feeling the knee, can notice that their bones have changed its shape, it became wider and "rude").
In addition, the change in the form of the joint is aggravated by the accumulation in the articulation of the pathological fluid (synovitis). The synovitis at this stage of gonarrosis occurs much more frequently and, sometimes, expresses much more than at the beginning of the disease, in its first stage.
The third stage of the osteoarthritis of the knee joint
In the third stage of gonarrosis, knee pain intensifies even more. Now the knee hurts not only when it moves and walks. The pain begins to bother a person even at rest. It is difficult for the patient to find a convenient position in bed, organize an affected knee so that it does not hurt. And yet, finding the correct position, a person can generally fall asleep. Although, if the destruction of the joint is combined with circulatory disorders, the joints begin to "twist" in the middle of the night, usually when changing the climate or, as patients themselves, "for raining. "
The mobility of the knee joint at this time is minimized. The knee is already completely impossible to bend more than 90 degrees. And sometimes the knee almost does not bend at all. In addition, the opportunity often disappears until the end, that is, straightening the leg. In this case, a sick person walks on slightly folded legs all the time.
Compared to the second stage, in the third stage of joint gonarrosis, the joint is even more deformed and, in some cases, the deformation of the "Valgus" legs is developed: the legs acquire a form in the form of or or in the form of X. As a result, people with similar legs of the legs often become unstable.