Osteoarthritis of the knee joint is a widespread condition that may have substantial effects on the individual when it comes to pain and disability. Osteoarthritis of the knee joint also has substantial impacts for the costs to the health care system. The incidence of the condition is increasing with the increased frequency of obesity which is the important risk factor for osteoarthritis of the knee joint. A number of specialists are declaring this a public health catastrophe and similar to the diabetes mellitus pandemic. The most common risk factor is the body mass index, but those that have previous knee trauma, maybe from sport may also be at a higher risk of knee osteoarthritis. There are some hereditary risk factors including bow legs and also cartilage material in the knee joint that simply appears to be more prone to injury that can not really be changed like other risk factors could.
Most likely the two most vital areas of treatment for those who have osteoarthritis is exercise and weight loss. Since a higher body mass is a large risk factor for the development of osteoarthritis in addition to a predictor of the progress, reducing weight will probably be crucial. This really is going to have to be a long term task and should be led by the right specialist guidance and advice. Reducing weight will also help the other therapies that can be used to work better. The other important component is exercise. Motion has been shown to help pain. All the muscles surrounding the painful knee should be strengthened. This is often mild exercises in a pool or perhaps heavier weight loads in a gym. This too should really be with the advice of a healthcare professional to make sure that the exercises are the right types and performed correctly. Rest just isn't a solution and doesn't help slow up the progress of the condition.
Yet another physical exercise strategy can be an unstable shoe condition, Apos therapy, that you have on for about a couple of hours each day. These Apos therapy footwear is adjusted to allow you to walk differently thus making you unstable and this results in a strengthening of the muscles. You can also find lateral wedges that can be used within the shoe and can help osteoarthritis in the medial compartment. There are various splints that might be worn around the knee joint that will help try taking some of the strain away from it. There are a number of drugs and injection therapies which can help with the soreness and are extremely helpful, but they do not change the nature of the problems in the way losing weight and exercise can. You can find medicines and other treatments which are being researched which will help fix the actual damage to the cartilage material, but they are still in the experimental development. Generally if the pain throughout the knee gets worse and becomes really painful then a total knee replacement is being performed more often. The impairment and recovery time after the surgery is getting better with decent rehabilitation and there have already been major advances in the hardware that the joint replacement is manufactured out of.