Shoulder Osteoarthritis

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:43

Shoulder osteoarthritis

Content:

• What is osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint?
• Symptoms of ostearthritis of the shoulder joint
• Causes of osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint
• How is the diagnosis carried out?
• Treatment of osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint

What is osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint?

Ostearthrosis of the shoulder joint is a chronic and progressive disease. It is the neglect of the process and the lack of timely treatment that carry the greatest danger. After all, the deformation of bone tissue causes irreversible processes in the affected joint and surrounding soft tissues.

The statistics are unforgiving: people between the ages of 40 and 50 are extremely susceptible to ostearthritis of the shoulder joint. Old people (over 60 years old) are almost 100% likely to get sick with this ailment.

Physiological essence of the disease

The biological nature of joint ostearthrosis is the depletion (dystrophy) of hyaline cartilage, its premature wear and the inability to perform its functions. Joint dysfunction is caused by insufficient nutrition. This happens when the necessary nutrients do not enter the tissue in their former quantities.

Depending on how depleted the cartilage is, cracks, thinning and other defects appear on its outer shell. This, in turn, leads to the release of the bony edges outward. The bones responsible for the formation of the shoulder cartilage lose their protection and specific growths - osteophytes - form on them. Extraneous outgrowths change the shape of the joint, literally "twisting" it.

Symptoms of ostearthritis of the shoulder joint

The symptomatology of the disease is predominantly painful. It is the unpleasant sensations that make it clear that the structure of the bone tissue is disturbed. It should be noted that the pain increases with movement. Physical activity, even the smallest, is especially difficult to endure.

It is rather difficult to determine the development of ostearthrosis at an early stage. They turn to doctors only when exhausting pain attacks appear, when the process is already at a dangerous stage.

For the onset of ostearthrosis, the following symptoms are characteristic:

• Aching pain in the shoulder towards the end of the working day, the so-called fatigue of the joints.
• Lack of discomfort in the morning, but in the shoulder area you can feel swelling and roughness.
• Difficulty in normal movement after a long sitting position, lying, staying in one position. Feeling of stiffness in the joints.

Manifestation of later stages of the disease:

• With a sharp movement, a shift is felt in the bones, resembling a click.
• Difficulty in flexion-extension of the arm, a characteristic crunch in the bones.
• Periodic inability to make sharp turns of the body, look back.
• Short-term, but regular pain attacks, proceeding with approximately the same intensity.

Causes of osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint

Groups of people most vulnerable to the disease:

• Individuals with impaired metabolism and obesity.
• Suffer from diabetes.
• People whose close relatives suffered from ostearthritis.
• Having injuries of the shoulder joint of various nature and severity.
• Individuals with congenital pathologies of the musculoskeletal system, various kinds of deformities.
• Representatives of professions with a high level of physical activity (athletes, porters, etc.).
• Those who have suffered from bone disease, which has become chronic, for a long time.

There are many factors that increase the likelihood of ostearthritis. Among them: damage to cartilage, physical strain, physical inactivity (lack of physical activity), thinning of the upper layers of bone tissue, and many others. It is worth noting that injuries to the shoulder joint are especially insidious, since the consequences of injury in adolescence can suddenly remind of themselves after decades.

Factors directly provoking the disease include:

• Disorders in the endocrine system.
• Infections in internal tissues.
• Rheumatological pathologies.

Elderly people should take into account that ostearthritis is a permanent companion of old age. But over the past decade, doctors around the world have noted that this disease is "getting younger", affecting the organisms of more and more young groups of the population.

How is the diagnosis carried out?

Diagnostics in a clinical setting takes place in several stages, involving both a direct examination by a doctor and a number of computer studies.

An obligatory component of the diagnostic process is a clear indication by the patient of his complaints. Shoulder pain should be most severe in the evening and after increased activity.

The physician performing the examination checks the deformed joint for the presence of seals, specific growths, changes in the width of the articular space, sclerotic dynamics is traced.

In laboratory conditions, the fluid taken from the patient's joints is examined (analysis of the synovial substance). To study morphological pathologies, brain tomography is used. The degree of joint dystrophy is measured using X-ray images, and the stage of ostearthrosis is also determined from them.

Treatment of osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint

In traditional medicine, there are two ways to deal with a shoulder joint problem: medication or surgery.

Medicines treating ostearthrosis include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory substances (pain relief), chondro-forming (restoration of the protective layer of the bone) and muscle relaxants (improving the motor ability of cartilage). In addition to taking special medications, drug therapy includes physiotherapy, massage, cryotherapy.

Operation as a last resort is necessary when drug treatment does not have the desired effect. The patient receives a prosthesis of a specific affected area or replaces the entire affected area as a whole.

On the subject: List of modern drugs and drugs for joints

Self-relieving inflammation in the joint

It is possible to remove the most noticeable symptom of this disease with drugs that remove excess fluid from the affected joint. With an advanced form of ostearthrosis, it is effective to administer blockade injections directly into the affected area (corticosteroids). These are hormonal substances that should only be applied locally.

An option for local treatment is the use of ointments. The most popular drugs for external use: Fastum-gel, Diclofenac, Butadion, Deep-Relief and others.

Alternative medicine also offers its own methods for self-relieving pain:

• Decoction compresses based on young hay.
• Compress made of warm cabbage leaf covered with woolen cloth on top.
• Lingonberry tincture.

On the subject: Other recipes for traditional medicine

In conclusion, it should be said that even those people who do not belong to the risk group for osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint should pay due attention to its prevention. In addition to moderate physical activity, it is important to eat foods containing calcium and broth-based meals.

Author of the article: Kaplan Alexander Sergeevich | Orthopedist

Education: diploma in the specialty "General Medicine" received in 2009 at the Medical Academy. I. M. Sechenov. In 2012 completed postgraduate studies in Traumatology and Orthopedics at the City Clinical Hospital named after Botkin at the Department of Traumatology, Orthopedics and Disaster Surgery.