bone health

Arthrosis

What is Arthrosis

Osteoarthritis - also called osteoarthritis or less correctly osteoarthritis - is a chronic disease that affects the joints ( arthropathy ). It is a degenerative type of disease, as it leads to the progressive loss of the normal anatomical components that form the joints.

Osteoarthritis mainly affects the spine (the vertebrae) and the joints of the limbs, and is characterized by the loss of articular cartilage, which is replaced by new bone tissue; this causes pain and a limitation in movements. It has not yet been clarified whether the primary lesion affects the cartilage or bone just below it.

The prevalence of arthrosis is directly related to age: it is present in the majority of human beings at the age of forty and in almost all of the seventy years, with a peak of maximum incidence between 75 and 79 years. Despite only a minority of affected complaints, osteoarthritis is by far the most important cause of pain and disability due to joint diseases. Before the age of 45 the male sex is most affected, after that age the female sex. The prevalence of lesions increases with increasing age.

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Definition

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative pathology of articular cartilage.

Main features

  • degenerative, chronic and progressive disease.
  • More than 4 million individuals suffer in Italy.
  • It mainly affects older people.
  • The joints most frequently affected by osteoarthritis are: the vertebral column, the hip, the knee, the fingers and toes.

Anatomical Introduction

The human skeleton is made up of numerous bones (about 208) that are classified, depending on the size, into long, short and flat bones. Bones are static organs and must be articulated to make movement possible. This union between the various bone segments is called articulation.

The bones of the human skeleton are connected by means of different types of articulation: immobile (synarthrosis), semi-mobile (amphiarthrosis) and mobile (diarthrosis). The synarthrosis, which unites the bones of the skull, does not allow any movement. The movable or semi-mobile joints differ in the shape and types of movements allowed. Trocleartrosi (the knee or elbow joints) ensure flexion and extension movements on a single plane; the arthrosis (those of the shoulder and of the hip) allow free movements in all directions; the arthrodias, which join the bones of the carpus in the hand and the tarsus in the foot, allow only small movements of flexion extension.

Each mobile "joint" is formed by the peripheral cartilages of the bones; from a space between them filled with liquid (synovial fluid), a joint capsule and tendons.

The articular cartilage is soft, compressible, extensible and deformable.

The synovial fluid has a cushioning and nourishing function, facilitates the sliding between the two articular surfaces and is secreted by the synovial membrane. The joint capsule is made up of connective tissue that completely covers the two outer bone segments.

Muscles and tendons together with the joint capsule increase joint stability.

Articular cartilage

As we said earlier, osteoarthritis mainly affects the articular cartilage.

The articular cartilage is a pearly white elastic tissue, formed by rounded cells, the chondrocytes that secrete a substance made up of elastic fibers and collagen. It consists mainly of water and is free of mineral salts.

Cartilage tissue is poorly vascularized as it lacks blood capillaries. The feeding of chondrocytes takes place through the phenomenon of diffusion, a slow and much less effective process of blood circulation. The regenerative abilities of this fabric are very low.

The synovial fluid is in direct contact with the articular cartilage and in addition to cushioning the movements it ensures its nourishment.

The synovial fluid is in continuous sliding inside the joint: depending on the movements and loads it is absorbed or released by the cartilages and by the membranes present, which function as sponges.

Classification

PRIMITIVE ARTHROSIS

It arises, without apparent cause, in a healthy articulation.

SECONDARY ARTHROSIS

It arises later to:

  • congenital or acquired deformities;
  • trauma outcomes;
  • infectious processes;
  • inflammatory processes (AR);
  • functional overload.

Insights

Causes of osteoarthritisThe arthrosis processSymptoms of arthrosis Cervical arthrosis Arthrosis of the knee Arthrosis of the hip Rhizoarthritis Diagnosis and treatment of arthrosis Arthrosis medications Cartilage and chondrocyte transplantation Knee prosthesis Hip prosthesisCrophotoxins Hyaluronic acid infiltration Diet and osteoarthritis Arthrosis remedies