Arthritis Treatment Knee Osteoarthritis As Well As The Epidemic Of Knee Replacements

The most common kind of  arthritis, osteoarthritis (OA), impacts more than twenty million Americans. Among the major targets for this disease is the knee.

OA affects articular cartilage, the gristle that caps the ends of long bones. Articular cartilage is a "pudding" that's made up of a matrix of proteoglycans (arrangements of proteins and glycogen molecules.) Furthermore, there's a framework of tough collagen fibers. Within this proteoglycan/collagen structure are cells called chondrocytes.

The preservation of normal cartilage integrity is extremely dependent on the metabolic function of such chondrocytes.

This external link was removed for your protection is a dress in and tear disease of articular cartilage. It arises due to the lack of ability of cartilage to keep up with excessive breakdown.

The first step that comes about in the process of OA is an alteration in the matrix. This causes loss of cartilage resiliency. Furthermore, proteins that promote inflammation (called inflammatory cytokines) are produced by the joint lining. All these cytokines activate destructive enzymes, called proteases which degrade the matrix and result in the chondrocytes to malfunction.

Up to now, the remedy for This external link was removed for your protection is mostly symptomatic. Several medicines, called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), analgesics (pain-killers), exercises, physical therapy, and injections are utilized to present palliative relief. Ultimately, though, patients will go on to get knee replacement surgery.

As this operation has typically been reserved for elderly patients, joint replacement surgery is rising at an alarming rate amongst Middle-agers who want to maintain a particular level of activity.

According to a recent report (Associated Press, Lindsay Tanner), "nearly one in twenty Americans over the age of fifty has an artificial knee- that's 4 million individuals!"

The federal Agency for Healthcare analysis  and  good quality  has issued a recent report showing that knee replacements tripled in people ages 45 to 64 between 1997 and 2009. As it is admirable and speaks to the increased activity level in a group of patients that formerly could be sitting in rocking chairs, in another sense, it raises other issues.

This is mainly  disturbing because revision surgery (replacement of the replacement) will be required in the future and this is a  rather more  difficult and high priced endeavor. Revision surgery takes longer, needs more expertise, is more confusing, and has a greater likelihood of complications.

Certainly, there's a public health trouble if people with knee OA are going on to get an operation that will add great costs to an already overburdened healthcare system. More in a future article.