The human musculoskeletal system is often affected by diseases such as arthritis and arthrosis. Due to the similar names, patients confuse these diagnoses, although in fact there is little in common between them.
Despite all the differences, only a specialist can accurately determine the disease after a series of examinations and tests, so do not delay a visit to the clinic at the first signs of joint pathology. Let's consider in more detail the symptoms, specific development and methods of treatment of arthrosis and arthritis.
Features of the mechanism of disease development
Development of arthrosis
Arthrosis (or osteoarthritis) is a chronic degenerative disease of the joints, which most often occurs due to age-related changes in the body. Wear and tear of the joint includes degenerative processes: bone growths ("salt deposits"), friction and cartilage trauma, replacement of joint tissue by connective or ossified. The disease develops slowly, gradually, at first only slight discomfort and creaking in the joint is felt.
Osteoarthritis is most common in older people, but professional athletes and people who have suffered injuries are also at risk. The disease usually affects one or more large joints.
Development of arthritis
Arthritis, unlike arthrosis, is inflammatory in nature and can occur in people of any age. This disease is systemic and can affect joints and other human organs: heart, kidneys, nervous system. Arthritis manifests itself very clearly - even a non-specialist will notice it.
Arthritis most often occurs against the background of an infectious or bacterial disease, but it can also be a sign of autoimmune pathologies.
If inflammation in the joints is caused by the action of pathogenic bacteria or an infection, then the disease usually begins suddenly, it can affect a large number of joints at the same time, and the process includes both large and small joints.
Both diseases can lead to acquired chronic pain, which is now considered an independent clinical syndrome.
Comparison of arthrosis and arthritis
| Comparative characteristics | Arthrosis | Arthritis |
|---|---|---|
| Age of cases | In most cases - 65-75 years | Any |
| The cause | Degenerative-dystrophic changes due to metabolic disorders, deterioration of joint blood supply | Inflammatory process caused by an infectious, bacterial or autoimmune disease |
| Affected joints | One or more large joints | A large number of joints, large and small, are often symmetrically affected |
| Blood test results | Average statistical indicators have not changed | An inflammatory process is revealed, sometimes an increased value of the rheumatoid factor |
| Painful sensations | The pain intensifies, appears after exercise, at the beginning of the disease only discomfort and grinding occurs | The pain can appear immediately after sleep, it is often of a migrating nature, and from the very beginning of the disease, the sensations are intense |
| External changes | In the early stages - no, in post-traumatic cases swelling is possible | Sometimes there is redness of the skin over the joint, swelling may occur |
| Picture of the wrist | Deformations, narrowing of the joint space, bone spines, growths can be observed; most often, x-ray diagnostics gives a clear picture of the changes that have occurred | In the initial stages, no changes are visible, in advanced cases bone erosion and ankylosis are possible |
| Drug treatment | Preparations with chondroitin and glucosamine, symptomatic - NSAIDs, with rapid progression - corticosteroids. | Symptomatic - NSAIDs, sometimes - antibiotics, for autoimmune diseases - corticosteroids |
Causes of disease development
Causes of arthrosis
Arthrosis is a chronic process and always develops slowly. The blood supply in the joint gradually deteriorates, as a result of which the tissues do not receive the necessary nutrition. Cartilage changes its structure, becomes rough and friction occurs. The main carriers of this disease are elderly people, whose metabolism in the body slows down with age, and overloads, excess weight and injuries also take their toll.
The disease that occurs due to metabolic disorders is called primary arthrosis.
According to statistics, degenerative changes in the joints in most cases affect older women who are overweight. Most often, such patients have a genetic predisposition to diseases of this type.
In addition to old age, in rare cases, arthrosis can also occur in middle-aged and even young people. The most common reasons include:
- professional sports with a high load on the joints;
- hard physical work;
- advanced arthritis;
- previous injuries or operations.
In the above cases, arthrosis will be secondary. A predisposing factor in the development of the disease is obesity. Sometimes this type of disease can be the result of damage to the nervous system, which leads to insufficient sensitivity of the joint. In addition, the disease can be caused by systemic damage to the connective tissue.
Causes of arthritis
Arthritis, unlike arthrosis, has many different forms and manifestations that only an experienced specialist can distinguish. Each type has its own cause:
- Reactive- occurs as a complication of infectious and bacterial infections, most often intestinal and genitourinary.
- Rheumatoidis a separate autoimmune disease that affects the joints symmetrically.
- Contagious- characterized by joint inflammation due to the activity of pathogenic bacteria and infections. Also among the adult population you can find arthritis that occurs on the background of viral hepatitis.
- Gout- manifests itself as a consequence of gout due to the accumulation of uric acid salts in joint tissues.
- Psoriatic- a consequence of the manifestations of psoriasis, which is observed in approximately 10-15% of people with this diagnosis.
- Traumatic- can occur due to an injury to the joint or periarticular tissue.
- Rheumatic- it is a consequence of rheumatism, most often caused by streptococcal infection.
In addition, there are types of diseases that are characteristic only for children, for example, juvenile arthritis, which often occurs against the background of an infection, fungal or bacterial disease.
Symptoms
Symptoms of arthrosis
Joint pain, which directly depends on the intensity of movement and physical activity, is the main symptom of arthrosis. The disease often manifests itself in the knee, hip and ankle joints. Small joints are rarely affected.
Discomfort and pain in this disease pass at rest and gradually increase when trying to move. Apart from pain in the joint area, the patient is not worried about anything else, there is no elevated body temperature, elevated temperature or swelling of the joints. Over time, in arthrosis, the creaking and clicking in the joints becomes more and more clear, and movement is gradually limited.
Symptoms of arthritis
Long-term joint inflammation can cause arthrosis and, conversely, without proper treatment of degenerative-dystrophic changes in the joint cavity, an inflammatory process can occur. The symptoms of arthritis are completely different from the signs of arthrosis. First, these diseases have different types of joint pain. In arthritis, the pain is often independent of physical activity and may occur at rest or at night. Painful sensations can be paroxysmal, "flying", moving from one joint to another. The inflammation in this disease also extends to the periarticular tissues.
Secondly, arthritis can be distinguished from arthrosis by a number of other symptoms: general malaise, weakness, elevated body temperature, involvement of small joints (fingers, wrists) in the process.
Access to treatment
Pain relief
For both arthritis and osteoarthritis, the main goal of drug treatment remains the relief of pain symptoms. According to research, the most effective are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs based on phenylacetic acid, which are successfully used in the treatment of musculoskeletal diseases. In addition, these NSAIDs have fewer side effects and complications compared to other drugs of the same spectrum.
The study of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is based on a drug from the group of phenylacetic acid derivatives, which has become the standard for the treatment of acute and chronic pain. The drug appeared more than 45 years ago, but during that time it has not lost its effectiveness even compared to the latest painkillers.
In addition, a few years ago a study was published in the medical journal Lancet that compared the effects of different non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the treatment of osteoarthritis. The most effective was a drug from the group of phenylacetic acid derivatives, which not only alleviated pain, but also improved joint function.
In addition to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, other drugs are used in the treatment of arthritis and arthrosis.
Treatment of arthritis
Proper treatment of arthritis is always complex, long-term and systematic. It should be aimed at eliminating the cause, relieving pain and inflammation.
Some of its types, including infectious ones, are treated only in a hospital setting. To eliminate the cause and depending on the origin of the disease, broad-spectrum antibiotics, antifungals and analgesics are used.
In the treatment of reactive arthritis, the main task also remains to destroy the infection that caused it. Most often, the cause is an intestinal or urogenital disease: chlamydia, salmonellosis, etc.
Gout, rheumatic and psoriatic arthritis occur against the background of exacerbation of the chronic diseases of the same name, so it is first of all necessary to achieve a stable remission. For this purpose, special drugs are used to treat these diseases, physical therapy and a special diet.
Treatment of rheumatoid diseases includes drugs from the group of sulfonamides and immunosuppressants. In the treatment of this autoimmune disease, it is important to maintain accurate medication doses. In severe cases of the disease, corticosteroids are used - hormonal drugs that can slow the progression of rheumatoid arthritis, but have many side effects.
Treatment of arthrosis
In the case of arthrosis, cartilage needs additional nutrition and renewal, so chondroprotective drugs containing chondroitin and glucosamine are often prescribed for treatment. This is the main drug therapy prescribed to patients with this diagnosis.
In the initial phase, the main role is played by physiotherapeutic procedures: electrophoresis, magnetic therapy, as well as therapeutic exercises, diet and massage.
Which doctor should I contact?
If you have been diagnosed with osteoarthritis
If arthrosis is in the first stage, when the disease has not yet progressed, treatment can be provided by a local therapist or general practitioner.
In the initial stage of this disease, the joint needs to improve its blood supply and increase the production of synovial fluid. In addition, until the disease has progressed, it is necessary to strengthen the surrounding muscles and ligaments in order to stabilize the joint. Drug treatment includes taking chondroprotectors, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and drugs that have a vasodilator effect. Therapeutic gymnastics, physiotherapy and massage have proven to be successful. For overweight patients, a diet is recommended to reduce body weight and ease the load on the joints.
The second and third degree of arthrosis, in which degenerative-dystrophic changes are strongly expressed, are always under the supervision of rheumatologists, arthrologists, orthopedic traumatologists and surgeons. Most often, in these stages, the process begins to progress rapidly, and conservative treatment has only a symptomatic effect.
The last stage of the disease, in which the limb with the diseased joint can be completely immobilized, usually implies the need for surgical intervention and endoprosthetics.
If you have been diagnosed with arthritis
In the case of arthritis, the list of doctors who treat increases noticeably, because there are many more causes for this disease. However, in this case, the first person to be examined should be a local therapist, who, based on the history, will determine which specialist should be consulted next.
Autoimmune pathologies, such as systemic lupus erythematosus or rheumatoid arthritis, are always treated by rheumatologists and immunologists. In the case of psoriasis, a dermatologist is added to these doctors.
A vertebrologist specializes in diseases of the spine and treats patients with spinal arthritis.
Rheumatism requires the consultation and supervision of a cardiologist. If the arthritis is caused by an intestinal or urogenital infection, the main specialist for treatment will be a gastroenterologist, urologist or gynecologist.
Prevention
First of all, women over the age of 45 and men over the age of 55 should think about preventing arthrosis and arthritis - it is at this time that hormonal changes begin in the body, metabolism slows down, and blood flow to the joints deteriorates. Preventive measures are especially relevant for those who have a hereditary predisposition to endocrine and metabolic disorders, autoimmune diseases and diseases of the musculoskeletal system.
Special caution should also be shown to people whose work is closely related to physical activity that negatively affects the joints.
The main primary prevention measures are:
- body weight control: excess weight causes additional stress on the joints and the entire musculoskeletal system as a whole;
- a balanced diet that contains the correct balance of fats, proteins and carbohydrates, as well as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants;
- moderate physical activity: gymnastics, daily exercises, swimming, walking;
- giving up bad habits: alcohol and tobacco products disrupt the body's metabolism and suppress the immune system.
If symptoms of joint disease have already been detected, secondary prevention measures are applied:
- compliance with primary prevention measures;
- therapeutic exercises, which are prescribed by the doctor and are performed outside the period of deterioration;
- use of special orthopedic aids: sticks, insoles, bandages, corsets;
- a course or continuous drug treatment;
- regular preventive examinations by specialists.