Knee Joint Pain Relief Treatment: Osteoarthritis Of Knee Symptoms

Question: I have space in lower part of my knee joint. Some time it gives me little pain in knee joint. I met an orthopedic surgeon & X-ray report show space in my lower knee joint. He advised to do exercise. Is there any medicine?

Answer: Knee joint is the joint which joins the thigh and the lower leg. It is the largest joint in the body. It bears the whole body weight and therefore becomes more vulnerable for wear and tear and osteoarthritis of the joint.

Most patients of osteoarthritis (OA) are past middle age.

When it occurs in younger patients there is usually a clear predisposing cause such as previous injury or disease of the joint.

The onset is very gradual, with pain that increases almost imperceptibly over months and years. Movements slowly become more and more restricted. In some joints (notably the hip) deformity is a common feature in the later stages.

Causes Of Osteoarthritis Of The Knee

Osteoarthritis is due to the structural change in the articular cartilage of the joint. It occurs more common in elderly persons. It is a degenerative joint disease. The main function of the knee is to allow smooth walking and bending of the legs.

In patients having osteoarthritis of the knee joint, the joint space gets reduced resulting into difficulty in movement of the leg and causing stiffness of the joint, pain and swelling is associated with this complaint.

The exact cause of osteoarthritis is not known, but the predisposing factors leading to this condition are:

• Age, it is more common in elderly person.
• Trauma to the joint.
• Obesity.

Osteoarthritis Of Knee Joint Symptoms

The symptoms develop gradually, but in some cases they can be sudden.

• Stiffness of the joint.
• Swelling of the knee joint.
• Pain increases after walking, climbing stairs or kneeling.
• Weakness in the knee, resulting in locking and buckling of the knee joint.

Treatment For Knee Joint Pain Relief

• Change the routine life style, like reducing obesity, stop rigorous exercise of jumping, running, avoid climbing stairs where ever possible, sit on a chair rather than sitting on the floor and bending the legs.
• Physical exercise: with the help of a physiotherapist, exercise will strengthen the muscles of the knee joint, as well as the flexibility and movement of the joint.
• Supportive devices like walking with the help of a cane stick, or wearing knee braces or elastic bandages.
• Ice water fomentation, applying liniments.
• Some home remedies like eating sesame seeds helps in relief of the pain, food rich in calcium, eating bananas which have rich source vitamin B6 have proved beneficial in osteoarthritis.
• Mustard oil application is a good treatment for joint pain and also gives relief from the knee pain.

In your case it looks to be early osteoarthritis of the knee, if some of these precautionary measures are followed, you can delay the further deterioration of the joint space and joint trouble.

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