Osteoarthritis is also known as arthrosis. It is considered one of the oldest and most common diseases in humans. It is a progressive disease that primarily affects the knee and hip joints, although it can affect any joint.
When a person has osteoarthritis, the cartilage in the joints wears away, causing pain and stiffness.
Different factors can cause these discomforts such as being overweight, injuries, muscle weakness, and even hereditary factors.
To diagnose the disease, a physical examination based on the patient’s medical history is required, but X-rays can also be used to help confirm the diagnosis and determine the extent of damage suffered by the joints.
More and more young people
This disease, in its primary form, usually appears in the fifth and sixth decades of life, says rheumatologist Henry Briones. Sometimes, secondary osteoarthritis occurs due to changes in the cartilage, as in certain sports players, and therefore appears earlier.
Briones says that it is also hereditary, especially from mothers to daughters. At this age, it could appear at an earlier age when, for example, nodules appear on the fingers, approximately at the end of the 40s, although it depends on different factors.
According to the latest reports, this disease is no longer affecting only the elderly, since the incidence in young patients (35-44 years) has increased fourfold since 1990 to date, mainly due to obesity and the practice of high-impact sports (running, extreme sports, and high-impact physical activity such as CrossFit, among others).
This is the case of Mynor López, who is 23 years old and at 16 he had problems with his knee due to a hard blow while playing soccer. Due to a lack of exercise, after a while, he lost a lot of muscle in the area and began to have other problems. A year later he had a meniscus operation and when he did not improve in five years he had another operation and there they identified that the cartilage was very worn out, in addition to reconstruction of the patella, it was a strong operation, he describes.
A year before and after, she has had injections that have helped her in her process. One of the main recommendations from her doctors is to not stop exercising, but without impact, such as cycling or swimming. When she has relapses of pain, she applies ice and tries to exercise to relieve this discomfort.
Diagnosis and treatment
Doctor Rony Calderón, an internist and medical manager for Sanofi’s osteoarticular franchise, explains that cases are quite frequent in doctors’ offices. In adults over 60 years of age, two out of three people have evidence of osteoarthritis and it is more common in women, adds Calderón.
Among the first medications, paracetamol could be recommended, and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs aim to relieve pain and offer relief, but they have their limits in terms of time and quantity. Sometimes, they cannot be taken by certain patients who suffer from other diseases, so different methods must be sought to relieve pain. It is important to clarify that these treat the pain, but not the underlying cause.
It is possible to prevent or help reduce the impact of the disease. For example, Briones says that it is important to stay active at all ages not stop exercising, and watch your weight so that your joints do not suffer from this type of problem earlier.
In general, Briones says that there is still no specific treatment for this disease, but patients are usually helped when they are in pain with certain medications. To control it, they could also take dietary supplements such as glucosamine or collagen.
“There are some treatments that can help each patient, but issues such as stem cells still do not have conclusive scientific support that ensures the success of the same, in addition to the cost that it may entail, that does not prevent us from believing that this option may be useful for some patients,” adds Briones.
Calderón also insists that supplements have not shown all the improvement that might be expected and that a different option would be to replace the synovial fluid that exists in the joints, which lubricates the joint. This is injected into the affected joint and the component is known as hyaluronic acid, says Calderón. It is a process that could be effective for the patient for one year.
In the last resort, when there is no improvement or the damage is too much, an operation is performed to implant artificial cartilage to prevent the bones from touching, adds Calderón.
Most people with osteoarthritis will never need surgery. However, surgery may be helpful if there is extensive joint damage, persistent joint pain, and disability due to limited joint movement.
There are other important non-pharmacological therapies such as exercise that prevent muscles from atrophying. It is important to select those that do not affect the joint.
Marbella Reyes, a graduate in physiotherapy and director of the Ipeth teaching service at Galileo University, says that this degenerative and progressive disease, which regularly affects the articular cartilage, causes pain and inflammation, as well as a decrease in movement. The latter leads to a decrease in muscle strength and joint instability.
In physiotherapy treatment, ultrasound, laser, and electrotherapy, among others, could be used to support the patient. Low-impact exercises and stretching are suggested and it is important to maintain active movement. In general, heat therapies may be more useful for chronic pain and cold for acute pain.
Swimming helps because of its level of relaxation and does not require any strain on the joints. A leisurely walk also helps.
A physical therapist can show you exercises to strengthen the muscles around the joint, increase flexibility, and reduce pain.
Stem cells are taken from the body, from blood, bone marrow, abdominal fat, and skin. González explains that due to the pandemic, they are being taken from blood. The board provides consultations during the week and on Fridays carries out the process to implant these cells.
“Treating this disease requires multidisciplinary support for the patient, including a traumatologist, rheumatologist, physiotherapist, nutritionist, stem cell specialist, and an emotional coach to work on the patient’s quality of life,” explains González.
During the pandemic, they receive about 30 patients a week, but before this time, twice as many people were seeking support for pain.
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