In ankle osteoarthritis, the symptoms and treatment will largely depend on the type of damage and the degree of neglect of the patient’s condition. Do not ignore the diagnosis, so you should consult a specialist. Only a doctor will tell you in detail how to cure ankle osteoarthritis, what is so dangerous in itself and whether it is possible to get rid of this problem forever.
Causes of disease
During the development of osteoarthritis of the ankle, there are 2 groups: primary (occurring for no particular reason) and secondary (occurring due to external adverse factors). Other names for this disease: crusarthrosis (pain in the right or left ankle) or osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis of the lower leg causes degenerative processes in the cartilage tissue, which subsequently cause a number of deviations.
In most cases, the disease is found in older men and women. Over time, the organs in the internal system do not work so actively and properly, and in some cases, malfunctions lead to thinning of bone and cartilage tissue. In the normal state, the joints slide freely during movement without touching each other.
If they are negatively affected by osteoarthritis, the joint deforms and begins to rub against the other joint. This causes an additional load, which then goes to the bone, which leads to its deformation. When the joint is injured again, the surrounding tissues are further affected. The legs lose mobility and cannot withstand a large load (with paresis).
Other reasons
A common cause of ankle hemarthrosis is active physical activity, which directly affects the musculoskeletal system. At risk are people whose work is associated with carrying heavy loads or any other active work. A similar cause is caused by the disease in professional athletes or in those who have been actively involved in sports for a long time. Due to incorrect loads, significant pressure is put on the limbs, which subsequently causes damage.
Acute arthrosis is a common problem of obese people, because during movement there is pressure on the lower limbs that the legs cannot withstand. In addition to obesity, the disease can also develop in young people (around the age of 20), if the person has been diagnosed with it since childhood. Other diseases that cause deforming arthrosis of the ankle (the reasons are discussed above):
- gout;
- diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis (metabolic diseases);
- congenital deformities of the legs, ankles (club foot);
- any condition in which the nerve is pinched.
This disrupts the work of the muscular apparatus (for example, osteochondrosis). Due to flat feet or wedge feet, in addition to the deforming condition, subtalar arthrosis also occurs (so called due to changes in the talus).
Various types of knee or leg injuries (improper squatting), as well as wearing uncomfortable, small or poorly made shoes, are also causes of ankle osteoarthritis. Women are especially at risk. Having negative symptoms leads to wearing shoes with high heels.
Symptoms and stages
It can take years from the initial manifestation of the disease to the final stage of the disease. The time of development will depend on the initial state of the human body, treatment and the appropriateness of the applied therapy. The signs of arthrosis will differ in the numerous symptoms characteristic of it.
First of all, with any, even slightly increased, load on the joints, a person begins to feel sharp tingling in the legs. The same thing happens if the patient moves long distances at a slow pace. Joints often crack and creak.
The patient begins to twist his legs, which sometimes ends in a sprain in the ankle. This occurs due to dysfunction of muscles and tendons, all the way to atrophy of muscle tissue (reduction or change of muscle tissue, followed by its replacement by connective tissue that is unable to perform basic motor functions). Stiffness and swelling in the legs are often felt for the same reason.
Doctors distinguish 3 stages of disease development. The first two are perfectly curable, after which the person returns completely to his previous life. In the third degree, patients are often given disability due to osteoarthritis.
During the development of the 1st degree disease, the symptoms of arthrosis appear very mildly. A person can go to a medical institution with a complaint of rapid limb fatigue and mild leg pain, which disappears after rest. The diagnosis of osteoarthritis of the extremities is rarely made, because no pathologies were found in the patient during the studies.
In the second phase, the pain does not disappear after rest. Swelling and redness appear on the legs, which will lead to an increase in temperature. The pain intensifies during the active change of weather conditions, swelling occurs.
In the last stage, the cartilage tissue ossifies, which causes the patient considerable discomfort, from which the person suffers from severe pain. The legs lose mobility, and squeaks are heard at every step. If the disease starts, it can lead to another diagnosis - foot deformity. This pathology entitles to disability, so treatment should be started immediately.
At this stage, osteoarthritis is dangerous. Some distinguish the 4th degree, in which the pain completely disappears, but the person loses the ability to walk, because the cartilage is completely destroyed at this stage and paralysis occurs. At the same time, grade 4 is characterized by the frequent development of ankylosis (when the joints are joined) and neoarthrosis (when an unnecessary or false joint is formed between the displaced ends of the bones).
Posttraumatic osteoarthritis
Post-traumatic osteoarthritis of the ankle requires timely treatment because, unlike deforming and acute, it is characteristic of young people because it occurs after an injury. For example, in sprains, fractures and sprains.
Any tissue damage after an injury does not go unnoticed, directly touching blood vessels and nerves.
At the beginning, the patient does not feel any discomfort, only with time he begins to notice that the foot twists while walking, because the ligaments have weakened and can no longer withstand the whole leg.
Over time, with osteoarthritis of the ankle, physical activity (especially in athletes) is difficult, and the legs get tired quickly during exercise. Girls in such cases often have complaints that they cannot sit on the rope even with daily long and properly performed stretches. Improvement is constantly accompanied by remission, during which the leg swells, hurts and does not calm down even after rest.
Often, post-traumatic osteoarthritis is the one that causes pseudoarthrosis, a bone defect that causes severe joint mobility. For example, it becomes possible to bend the arm at the elbow not only backwards but also forwards. Pseudarthrosis occurs during bone healing, when tissues grow improperly.
Often, post-traumatic osteoarthritis of the ankle is the result of surgery during other surgeries. Scars form in the area of the tissue that interfere with blood circulation. The risk increases when part of the affected joint is removed as needed during surgery. Treatment of post-traumatic osteoarthritis of the ankle is carried out according to the same methodology as in the case of other types.
Which doesn't have to work for osteoarthritis
Is it possible to exercise with this disease? It is important to reduce the load on the affected joint as much as possible, so after diagnosing, try not to lift weights, running is forbidden, you can not jump, do squats, push-ups and push-ups while standing, do shock aerobics, performasymmetric exercises and deal with static load (for example, sitting squat). You can use a walking stick to relieve arthritis pain while walking.
However, refusing physical activity is by no means recommended. On the contrary, normal circulation of the ankle in osteoarthritis is achieved faster by playing sports. It is recommended for diseases (especially post-traumatic osteoarthritis of the ankle joint), brisk walking or swimming.
Each extra kilogram of weight will put additional strain on the legs and cause swelling of the ankle, and even mild weight loss will significantly speed up the recovery time. Losing weight too quickly is not recommended, moderate exercise and a proper (but not exhausting) diet will gradually bring the body back to normal. Osteoarthritis will not help mono-diet, as well as those that will dramatically and radically change the usual diet. If you are going to switch to a vegetarian diet, it is better to wait until you fully recover.
Choose shoes with low and wide soles. For the ankle you can and should wear a small wide heel, but not ballerinas or sneakers. These shoes are the most comfortable and safest to wear and significantly increase the stability of the feet when walking. The soft sole will further reduce some of the load on the ankle.
The upper part should be soft and spacious, so that it does not press on the foot, but the wrong size of the boots will only increase the risk of injuries. If you suffer from flat feet, it only increases the problem. When a person stands on the ground, the impact on him, together with the twisted foot, must be extinguished by the wrist. In this case, special orthopedic insoles or supports will help.
While sitting, try to keep your knees slightly lower than your hips. Furniture with high legs, preferably with armrests, will help. Such seats with handles will be especially relevant for existing pain, as this will reduce the load on the knee joint when lifting. When working in the office, position the chair so that your feet do not numb. If the furniture is of poor quality, do not sit still and occasionally get up to warm up.
If you are doing a foot massage yourself or seek the help of an expert, keep in mind that only knee massage is strictly forbidden. Gonarthrosis is also inflamed in the joint sac itself, and the active blood circulation in it will only intensify the pain. Is it possible to warm the joints in the bath or use various heating pads in therapy? Yes, but only if the person is confident in his diagnosis and the doctor does not object to such procedures. Do not use heat if corticosteroid injections are prescribed for osteoarthritis.
Treatment
How to treat ankle osteoarthritis? Therapy must be comprehensive and work with multiple techniques. First of all, it is necessary to reduce the load on the ankle joint as much as possible, especially in the period of worsening pain. A bandage or walking with a stick with an emphasis on a healthy leg will help. Do not overload him, give up jogging and other physical activities for a short time (running is dangerous).
By themselves, medications will not increase a person’s motor activity, but they can facilitate movement and relieve pain. Good analgesics that relieve pain are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
NSAIDs have a bad effect on the gastric mucosa, causing many ailments and pains, so it is best to use them in the form of various ointments or injections. These remedies are aimed at reducing pain, many of which allow the removal of swelling and inflammation. For the same reasons, corticosteroids and anti-inflammatory drugs are injected into the joints. Their use is recommended when the disease is in a critical stage, and other drugs no longer give any effect, because corticosteroids are strong and powerful drugs.
In the modern method of treatment, the drug is injected directly into the joint with the help of steroid hormones or with the help of hyaluronic acid (the same one that is so popular for cosmetic purposes). Treatment of osteoarthritis of the ankle with this method is expensive, but effective. Injected hyaluronic acid is similar in composition to intra-articular fluid and, once inside, regenerates the damaged joint, replacing the fluid that disappeared during the disease.
Treatment of edema can be carried out with the help of drops, various ointments will increase the tone of the veins. Hondoprotectors are drugs that are used last, because their main task is to restore and further protect the joints from negative influences. Treatment of ankle osteoarthritis involves the use of chondroprotectors. The result of the use of funds occurs after at least 3 months, depending on the severity of the disease. Therefore, the drug is usually prescribed for treatment for a year or even more, but only in the first two stages, because otherwise they are useless.
Operation and its types
Surgery is prescribed in 3-4 stages of the disease, as well as for those for whom previous methods of treatment did not give the appropriate result. Treatment of ankle osteoarthritis with surgery has several subtypes:
- Arthroscopy is a well-known and frequently used method.
- Tibial osteotomy (also called coxarthrosis).
- Arthroplasty.
- Endoprosthetics.
During arthroscopy, the surgeon makes a small incision near the joint and inserts a small camera into it, assessing the general condition of the joints and bones. After that, the necessary surgical instruments are inserted inside and the operation itself is performed. Arthroscopy is considered to be the most economical way of treatment, because the person recovers quickly after the operation, and the incision made does not heal longer than any ordinary incision.
In some cases, deformity of this organ causes deforming osteoarthritis of the ankle joint (treatment will be somewhat different from the treatment of other types of disease), because the load on the entire ankle is incorrectly distributed. Osteotomy aims to correct this curvature (coxarthrosis) and align the bone. It is usually contraindicated in the elderly and is used to treat young patients. During arthroplasty, a part of the material is taken from the femur that is not exposed to a large load and transferred to the ankle joint. The endoprosthetic method completely or partially removes the affected area and replaces it with an artificial, but similar in structure, device.
Other treatment and prevention
Methods of treating ankle osteoarthritis do not end with the use of various medications. The next step in treatment will be a wide variety of options. Therapeutic exercise (exercise therapy) restores muscle tone and restores the ankle joint's former mobility. The scheme of exercises is determined by experts. First, physiotherapy exercises are performed in a supine position, with time - sitting and standing.
Another option is to fix the legs. During such classes, it would be advisable to fix the leg with a bandage or refer to the principle of gluing with tape. This is done with the help of special tapes and patches. This reduces the risk of injury to a minimum, as comfortable lotions help. This principle is widely known among professional athletes.
Another method is kinesiological taping. Here, cotton adhesive tapes made of hypoallergenic material are placed on the foot. The latter dries quickly on the foot, is easy to fix and does not cause any feeling of discomfort.
Some doctors are skeptical about the following method of treating deforming osteoarthritis of the ankle. However, it has been scientifically proven that magnetotherapy, electrophoresis and Vitafon treatment significantly increase the effect of drugs, thus perfectly relieving pain.
Each massage session should be performed by a specialist and last approximately 15-20 minutes. At the same time, the actions are performed not only on the ankle, but also on the adjacent areas, because the foot muscles improve the work of the whole leg as a whole. The course usually lasts 2 weeks with breaks of 2 days, but the treatment can be adjusted on the recommendation of a specialist.
The diet for ankle osteoarthritis should be balanced and include the use of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, fiber, minerals. Diet for osteoarthritis should by no means be scarce. In any case, a variety of dishes are good and healthy. Vitamins for osteoarthritis will also be important. They can be obtained with the help of tablets, as well as with the use of vitamins from fruits and vegetables.
To prevent the development of the disease, follow a series of simple rules, and this disease will not manifest itself.
For example, control your diet. Never give up your favorite harmful products - try to keep their consumption to a minimum.
While working out or playing sports, try to avoid injuries and heavy loads. Be sure to warm up before your favorite workout. Squatting with osteoarthritis is forbidden, but if the patient got rid of the disease and returned to the old activities, it should be done as carefully as possible. Patients should wear comfortable shoes. Give preference to high-quality shoes, which is why you should leave the heel.