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Knee osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is a clinical syndrome in which low-grade inflammation results in pain in the joints, caused by abnormal wearing of the cartilage that covers and acts as a cushion inside joints and destruction or decrease of synovial fluid that lubricates those joints. The french clinical name for the knee osteoarthritis is gonarthrose. As the bone surfaces become less well protected by cartilage, the patient experiences pain. As for the knee section osteoarthristis strikes on the femur, the tibia and the patella.
There are many circumstances that can cause osteoarthritis :
- The normal aging of the joint that usually occurs in around the mid 50's and that is becoming more severe as the patient ages. (The main cause)
- Injuries (fractures, sprains, dislocations, menisci lesions)
- Joint infections (arthrititis)
- Inflammatory diseases (Rheumatoid arthritis)
- Knee surgical surgerys
There are other factors that can cause or worsen the cases of knee osteoarthritis :
- Obesity
- People with abnormally-formed joints
- The hereditary factors
The osteoarthritic knee joint may be painful, stiff and prevent or limit daily activities. The typical treatment consists of medication that can reduce the pain of OA and thereby improve the function of the joint. The surgical treatment will be necessary when the medications are no longer working and that the osteoarthritis is worsening.
The surgical surgery can be performed arthroscopically to « clean » a knee that experiences increasing pain but most of the time when the surgery becomes necessary, chances are a joint replacement will be performed. There are differend kinds of joint replacement, partial or total.
Anyway, the surgical surgery will only be considered if the patient judges that the pain is too severe to carry on living his everyday life normally, and that the medication are no longer relieving the patient.
The different steps of the surgery
