Osteoarthritis is a common joint disease that affects older individuals. It involves the breakdown of cartilage in the joints. Symptoms include joint stiffness, swelling, and pain that worsens with use. X-rays can show cartilage loss and bone changes in the joints. Treatment focuses on education, activity modification, weight loss, medications like acetaminophen and NSAIDs, steroid injections, and sometimes surgery for severe cases. Lifestyle changes and less impactful exercises can help manage symptoms.
5. What is osteoarthritis?
is a disease affecting the joints
which is very treatable.
It is rarely deforming or crippling,
although it can be painful if not
treated. Osteoarthritis is very
common and affects almost
everybody as they get older. The
older you get, the more likely you
are to have it, and around eight out
of ten people over the age of 50
are affected.
6. In the hand, it typically affects the base of the thumb ,then the
finger joints. Women are affected more than men.
Note in the xray at right that the thumb base joint is narrow, with
almost no cartilage left, and the two bones are rubbing against
each other.
7.
8. At the earliest stages of osteoarthritis, your joints
look like this:
11. Patients with this level of osteoarthritis usually have
pain most of the time:
12. This is the end stage of disease. Note that there is no
cartilage left on the end of the bone:
13.
14. What are the symptoms of
osteoarthritis?
• The hallmarks of osteoarthritis are joint stiffness,
swelling, and pain.
•This often improves with
light activity, but is usually
worse again after forceful
gripping or pinching, or
after a period of rest.
15.
16. Who gets osteoarthritis?
• Many people think osteoarthritis should come
from a long history of hard work, but hard labor
does not seem to be very related.
•Osteoarthritis can be due to trauma
such as an old fracture, but it is
usually just due to the effects of
aging coupled with some hereditary
contribution.
17. How is osteoarthritis diagnosed?
• The diagnosis is made by listening to the patient
and by examining the patient. Most patients will
have a history of slowing increasing pain,
stiffness, and swelling over a period of years.
Sometimes there is a farily sudden onset of
symptoms, usually associated with a single
episode of trauma (typically a fall) or a period of
overuse (weeding the garden, say, or packing to
move). An xray examination confirms the
diagnosis. Often there will be no correlation
between the amount of pain and the severity of
the arthritis as shown by the xray.
18.
19. What does the x-ray show?
The xray typically shows some joint space narrowing,
that is, the white shape of the bones are closer
together than they normally are. The bone along the
joint is usually whiter (called "sclerosis") and may
have little points of bone growing out (called
"osteophytes"). There may be holes in the bone (
called "cysts") and the bones may be starting to slide
out of alignment (called "subluxation").
20. How is osteoarthritis treated?
• 1 Diagnosis
• 2 Patient education
• 3 Activity modification
• 4 Anti-inflammatory medication
• 5 Steroid injection
• 6 Surgery
21.
22. Patient Education
• Once the patient understands
what is going on, they can take
charge of managing their
condition. Osteoarthritis cannot be
made to go away; getting younger
is the only thing that will do that
(we are working on it!).
Osteoarthritis is not "cured", but
managed. Patient involvement in
that management is key.
23. Activity Modification and
Conservative care
• No matter the severity or location of OA, conservative measures
such as weight control, appropriate rest and exercise, and the use
of mechanical support devices are usually beneficial. In OA of the
knees, knee braces, a cane, or a walker can be helpful for walking
and support. Regular exercise, if possible, in the form of walking or
swimming,and not giving strong impacts is encouraged. Applying
local heat before, and cold packs after exercise, can help relieve
pain and inflammation, as can relaxation techniques. Heat — often
moist heat — eases inflammation and swelling, and may improve
circulation, which has a healing effect on the local area. Weight
loss can relieve joint stress and may delay progression[citation
needed]. Proper advice and guidance by a health care provider is
important in OA management, enabling people with this condition
to improve their quality of life.
24.
25. Medical treatment
• . start with acetamenophenThe first medication
that you should try is acetamenophen
(parasytamol). The maximum amount you can take
per day according to the FDA is 4000 mg. It will not
upset your stomach the way that voltarin or aspirin
do, and will help to offset the pain of minor
arthritis.
• The next class of medications that should be tried
are called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or
NSAID's
• If you have a history of stomach ulcers, COX-2
inhibitiors such as Celebrex.
26. Steroid injections
• Steroid injections can be very helpful to calm
down a very painful joint. These are not the
systemic steroids that cause road rage,
osteonecrosis, and all the other bad things
you have heard about steroids. These are
highly localized treatments of steroids, which
are a class of substances that your own body
makes to calm down unwanted or excessive
inflammation
27. Surgery
• is reserved for last. It is only for patients
whose osteoarthritis is so bad that they
cannot manage their disease with activity
modification, anti-inflammatory medication,
and steroid injections. Indications for surgery
generally involve patients who are so
miserable with their arthritis that they cannot
do the things in life that they want to do.
• ARTHRODESIS…..JOINT REPLASMENT …..
