Tratamiento de Artrosis de Cadera y Rodilla - FisioClinics Palma

Osteoarthritis of the Hip or Knee is a joint disease of degenerative origin that causes progressive damage to the articular cartilage and adjacent structures, due to the constant predisposition to load during movement, the hip and knee joints are the most affected Know what causes lead to the appearance of this disease and what treatment FisioClinics Palma de Mallorca offers you.

What is Osteoarthritis of the Hip or Knee?

The joints that are most frequently affected are those that are subjected to greater stress or overuse, such as the hip and knees. In the affected joint, for whatever reason, swelling, pain and stiffness appear. This disease usually occurs in adults, but it can also affect the very young, which without proper treatment causes a deficit for a long time, sometimes for the rest of life.

On the one hand, we have hip osteoarthritis, which is the most common type of osteoarthritis and one of the main causes of disability in different countries. It is known that the available treatments seek to alleviate the symptoms in some way, but without modifying the course of the disease.

On the other hand, knee osteoarthritis, knowing that these bone structures are covered by articular cartilage, being affected can generate osteoarthritis in the knee, characterized by significant wear on the articular cartilage, appearing pain with physical activity, inability to walking and standing, as well as the presence of progressive deformity, this is typical in older people.

What are the symptoms of Osteoarthritis of the Hip and Knee?

The main symptom in hip or knee osteoarthritis is pain, which may also be accompanied by stiffness and impaired functionality and limitation of movement.

The pain can be localized in different areas such as the groin and knees, and can travel down the thigh to the knees. The joint may be swollen and stiff, and when there is a restriction in movement, it is generally difficult to flex and in more advanced cases can lead to loss of functional gait.

What Causes Osteoarthritis in the Joints?

Osteoarthritis in the joints (hip and knee) can have different causes, being mostly multifactorial, meaning that there are several triggers that must occur simultaneously or not for joint wear to occur. These factors can be:

• Obesity.

• Old age.       

• Sex.       

• Activities with excessive load on the joint.       

• High impact sports.       

• Malformations or anatomical alterations.       

• Menopause.       

• Trauma.       

• Injuries and infections that affect the musculoskeletal system.       

• Family history.       

How is the medical diagnosis of Osteoarthritis of the Hip and Knee made?

Talking with the patient is an important factor to know the patient's symptoms and obtain an accurate diagnosis of Osteoarthritis either of the Knee or Hip, osteoarthritis has typical characteristics that can be identified in a simple way, if it is of a more advanced level Complementary tests such as X-rays will be the most appropriate in these cases. Thus, some of the most used are:

• X-ray, the loss of cartilage in the bone can be seen, but cannot detect the initial symptoms of the disease.       

• CT scans help to see the internal structure and the bone and surrounding structures.       

• MRI is very good at seeing fine details of healthy, affected cartilage tissues.