Knee osteoarthritis results from a thinning of the articular cartilage, which lubricates adjacent bone surfaces. This leads to pain and difficulty in walking or climbing and descending stairs.
What Is Knee Osteoarthritis?
In knee osteoarthritis (OA knee), the articular cartilage (the smooth, thin lubricating layer covering the ends of the bones that form the knee joint) wears away. In severe cases of OA knee, the bones may rub directly against each other with minimal lubrication, leading to pain and disability.
Diagnosis of OA knee is usually determined with the patient's medical history and X-rays. Sometimes, blood and joint fluid tests are required to exclude systemic diseases.
Common Causes of Knee Osteoarthritis
Several factors are likely to contribute to the development of OA knee:
• Previous knee injury
• Excessive wear and tear of knee joints from high-impact activities
• Increasing age
• Being overweight
• Tight lower limb muscles
• Weak lower limb muscles
• In certain cases, the cause of OA knee could be unknown
Signs and Symptoms of Knee Osteoarthritis
• Knee pain that develops gradually, and worsens with prolonged walking or standing
• Morning stiffness and/or swelling
• Crepitus (cracking or grinding noise) with knee movements
• Apperance of bumps or nodes around the knee
Risk Factors for Knee Osteoarthritis
• Being overweight
• Prolonged involvement in high-impact, weight-bearing activities
Treatment for Knee Osteoarthritis
Medication
• Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs
Physiotherapy
• Reduce pain and swelling
• Improve range of movement through stretching and strengthening exercises
• Stretching exercises: quadriceps stretching, hamstring stretching and calf stretching
• Strengthening exercises: targeting the quadriceps, hip muscles and buttock muscles
• Regain functional movement — movement control training, body weight control, modification of daily activties to allow functional movement as much as possible
Surgical
When conservative management fails to improve the condition, invasive interventions can be explored:
• Injection
• Arthroscopic surgery
• Total knee replacement surgery
Self-care Treatments for Knee Osteoarthritis
• If you are overweight, manage your body weight to reduce the weight borne by your knees
• Strengthen lower limbs to cope with daily activities
• Apply an ice pack whenever you experience swelling after prolonged standing or walking
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