With osteoarthritis of the ankle joint, symptoms and treatment will largely depend on the type of damage and the degree of neglect of the patient's condition. Do not neglect the diagnosis, so you should consult a specialist. Only the attending physician will tell you in detail how to cure arthrosis of the ankle joint, what is so dangerous in itself and whether it is possible to get rid of this problem forever.
Causes of the disease
During the development of arthrosis of the ankle, 2 groups are distinguished: primary (occur without special reasons) and secondary (appear due to external adverse factors). Other names for this disease: crusarthrosis (right or left ankle suffers) or osteoarthritis. With osteoarthritis of the lower leg, degenerative processes occur in the cartilage tissues, which subsequently cause a series of deviations.
In most cases, the disease is found in older men and women. Over time, the organs of the internal system do not function as actively and correctly and, in some cases, failures result in thinning of the bone and cartilage tissues. In a 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 another joint. This causes an additional load, which then goes to the bones, which leads to their deformation. When the joint is injured again, the surrounding tissues are further affected. The legs lose their mobility and do not tolerate a large load (with paresis).
Other reasons
A common cause of ankle hemarthrosis is active physical activity, which has a direct effect on the musculoskeletal system. People whose work is associated with carrying heavy loads or any other active work are at risk. A similar cause causes an ailment in professional athletes or those who have been actively involved in sports for a long time. Due to incorrect loads, considerable pressure is exerted on the limbs, which subsequently causes damage.
Acute osteoarthritis is a common problem for overweight people, because during movement a mass presses on the lower limbs, which the legs cannot bear. With obesity, the disease can develop even in young people (around 20 years old), if a person has been diagnosed with this from childhood. Other diseases involving the deformation of arthrosis of the ankle joint (the reasons were discussed above):
- gout;
- diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis (metabolic diseases);
- congenital deformities of the legs, ankles (clubfoot);
- any condition in which a nerve is pinched.
This disrupts the functioning of the muscular system (for example, osteochondrosis). Due to the flat foot or clubfoot, in addition to the deformed condition, subtalar arthrosis occurs (it is so called due to the alterations of 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 osteoarthritis of the ankle joint. Women are particularly at risk. They have negative symptoms that lead to wearing high-heeled shoes.
Symptoms and stages
Years can pass from the initial manifestation of the disease to the final stage of the disease. The development time will depend on the initial state of the human body, the treatment and the adequacy of the applicable therapy. The signs of osteoarthritis will differ in a number of symptoms characteristic of it.
First of all, with any, even slightly increased, load on the joints, a person begins to feel a strong tingling in the legs. The same thing happens if the patient walks long distances at a slow pace. Joints often crackle and creak.
The patient begins to twist the legs, which sometimes ends with ankle dislocations. This happens due to violations of the functionality of muscles and tendons, up to the atrophy of muscle tissue (a decrease or change in muscle tissue, followed by its replacement with a connective tissue that is unable to perform basic motor functions ). It is for the same reason that stiffness and swelling in the legs often occur.
Doctors distinguish 3 stages of the development of the disease. The first two are perfectly treatable, after which the person completely returns to his previous life. At grade 3, patients are often assigned an osteoarthritis disability.
During the development of 1st degree disease, the symptoms of arthrosis appear slightly. A person can go to a medical institution with a complaint of rapid limb fatigue and slight pain in the legs, which disappear after rest. Diagnosis of arthrosis of the extremities is rarely established, since no pathologies are found in the patient during the studies.
In the second stage, the pain does not go away after rest. Swelling and redness appear on the legs, which will lead to a rise in temperature. Pain intensifies during an active change in weather conditions, swelling occurs.
In the last stage, the cartilage tissue ossifies, causing the patient considerable discomfort, from which the person suffers severe pain. The legs lose their mobility and a creak is heard with each step. If the disease has started, this can lead to another diagnosis - foot deformity. This pathology gives the right to receive a disability, so treatment should be started immediately.
At this stage, osteoarthritis is dangerous. Some distinguish another 4th degree, in which the pain disappears completely, but the person loses the ability to walk, because the cartilage at this stage is completely destroyed and paralysis occurs. At the same time, the 4th degree is characterized by the frequent development of ankylosis (when the joints are fused together) and neoarthrosis (when an unnecessary or false joint is formed between the displaced ends of the bones).
Post traumatic osteoarthritis
Post-traumatic arthrosis of the ankle joint requires timely treatment, because, unlike deformation and acute, it is characteristic of young people, as it occurs after an injury. For example, with dislocations, fractures and sprains.
Any tissue damage after an injury does not pass without a trace, directly touching the blood vessels and nerves.
At first the patient does not feel any discomfort, only with time he begins to notice that during walking the foot is twisted, because the ligaments have weakened and can no longer support the entire leg.
Over time, with osteoarthritis of the ankle joint, physical activity (especially among athletes) is more difficult, the legs get tired quickly during exercise. Girls often complain in such cases that they cannot sit on the wire even with long and correctly performed daily stretches. Improvement is constantly followed by remission, during which the leg swells, hurts and does not calm down even after rest.
It is often post-traumatic osteoarthritis that causes pseudarthrosis, 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 forward. Pseudarthrosis appears during bone healing, when tissues grow together incorrectly.
Often, post-traumatic osteoarthritis of the ankle is a consequence of surgery during other operations. Scars form in the tissue area, impairing blood circulation. The risk increases when part of the affected joint is removed, if necessary, during surgery. The treatment of post-traumatic arthrosis of the ankle joint takes place according to the same methodology as the other types.
Dos and don'ts for osteoarthritis
Is it possible to do physical exercises with this disease? It is important to reduce the load on the diseased joint as much as possible, therefore, after establishing the diagnosis, try not to lift weights, it is forbidden to run, you cannot jump, squat, push and press with heavy weights while standing, engaging in shock aerobics, performing asymmetrical exercises and engaging in static loads (for example, sitting squatting). You can use a walking stick to relieve arthritis pain while walking.
However, it is not recommended to refuse physical activity at all. Conversely, normal blood circulation in the ankle with osteoarthritis is achieved more quickly by playing sports. Recommended for the disease (especially post-traumatic osteoarthritis of the ankle) fast walking or swimming.
Each extra kilogram of weight will add stress to the legs and cause swelling of the ankle, so even a slight weight loss will greatly speed up recovery time. Losing weight too fast is not recommended, moderate exercise and a proper (but not debilitating) diet will gradually bring the body back to normal. From arthrosis, mono diets will not help, as well as those that will drastically and radically change the usual diet. If you are planning to switch to a vegetarian diet, it is best to wait until you have fully recovered.
Choose shoes with low, wide soles. For the ankle joint, you can and should wear a small, wide heel, but not ballet flats or sneakers. These shoes are the most comfortable and safest to wear and greatly increase the stability of the foot when walking. The soft sole will further reduce some of the load on the joint.
The upper should be soft and spacious, not compress the foot, but the wrong size of the boots will only increase the risk of injury. If you suffer from flat feet, this only adds to the problem. When a person steps on the ground, the impact on him, along with the twisted foot, must be extinguished by the joint. In this case, special orthopedic insoles or instep supports will be useful.
While sitting, try to keep your knees slightly lower than your hips. Furniture with high legs will help in this, preferably with armrests. Such seats with handles will be especially relevant for existing pains, as this will reduce the load on the knee joint when lifting. When you're working in the office, arrange the desk chair so your legs don't get numb. If the furniture is of poor quality, don't sit still and occasionally stand up to warm up.
If you are doing the foot massage on your own or seek help from a specialist, remember that it is strictly forbidden to massage the knee itself. Gonarthrosis also inflames in the joint bag itself, and the active blood circulation inside will only increase the pain. Is it possible to warm the joints in the bathtub or use a variety of heating compresses in therapy? Yes, but only if the person is sure of his diagnosis and the attending physician does not object to such procedures. Do not use heat if you are prescribed osteoarthritis injections in the form of corticosteroids.
Medical treatment
How to treat osteoarthritis of the ankle joint? Therapy must be comprehensive and work with different techniques. First, it is necessary to reduce the load on the ankle as much as possible, especially during the period of exacerbation of pain. A bandage or walking with a cane with an emphasis on a healthy leg will help with this. Do not overload it, give up jogging and other physical activities for a while (running is dangerous).
By themselves, medications will not increase a person's motor activity, but they can facilitate movement and relieve pain. The good pain relievers are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs for short).
NSAIDs have a bad effect on the gastric mucosa, causing a variety of problems and pain, so it is best to use them in the form of various ointments or injections. These funds are aimed at reducing pain, many of them allow you to remove swelling and inflammation. For the same reasons, corticosteroids, anti-inflammatory drugs, are also injected into the joints. Their use is advisable when the disease is in a critical stage and other drugs no longer give any effect, since corticosteroids are strong and powerful drugs.
In the modern method of treatment, the drug is injected directly into the joint itself with the help of steroid hormones or with the help of hyaluronic acid (the same so popular for cosmetic purposes). Treatment of osteoarthritis of the ankle with this method is expensive, but effective. The injected hyaloron has a similar composition to intra-articular fluid and, entering the inside, regenerates the damaged joint, replacing the fluid that disappeared in the course of the disease.
Edema treatment can be carried out with the help of droppers, various ointments will increase the tone of the veins. Chondoprotectors are drugs that are used last, since their main task is to restore and further protect the joint from negative influences. Treatment of osteoarthritis of the ankle involves the use of condoprotectors. The result of the use of funds occurs after at least 3 months, depending on the severity of the disease. That is why the remedy is usually prescribed for one treatment for a year or even more, but only in the first two stages, because otherwise they are useless.
Operation and its varieties
The operation is prescribed in 3-4 stages of the disease, as well as for those to whom the previous methods of treatment did not give the correct result. Treatment of arthrosis of the ankle joint with surgery has several subspecies:
- Arthroscopy is a well known and often used method.
- Osteotomy of the tibia (also called coxarthrosis).
- Arthroplasty.
- Endoprosthesis.
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 sparing method of treatment, as the person recovers quickly after the operation and the incision made does not heal more than a normal cut.
In some cases, the deformation of this organ causes deforming osteoarthritis of the ankle joint (the treatment will be slightly different from the treatment of other types of ailments), since the load on the entire ankle is incorrectly distributed. The osteotomy aims to correct this curvature (coxarthrosis) and to align the bone. It is usually contraindicated in the elderly and is used to treat young patients. During arthroplasty, some of the material is taken from the femur, which is not subjected to heavy loads, and transferred to the ankle joint. With the endoprosthesis method, the affected area is completely or partially removed and replaced with an artificial device, but similar in structure.
Other treatments and prevention
Methods of treating arthrosis of the ankle joint do not end at all with the use of various drugs. The next step in treatment will be a wide variety of options. Therapeutic exercise (physical therapy) restores muscle tone and returns the ankle to its former range of motion. The scheme of exercises is established by specialists. First, physiotherapy exercises are performed in a prone position, over time, sitting and standing.
Another option is to fix the legs. During such lessons, it would be advisable to fix the leg with a bandage or refer to the principle of duct tape. This is done with the help of special tapes and patches (teips). Thus, the risk of injury is minimized, as comfortable lotions help in this. This principle is widely known among professional athletes.
Another method is kinesiology taping. Here, adhesive cotton tapes made of hypoallergenic material are applied to the leg. The latter dries quickly on the leg, is easily fixed and does not cause any discomfort sensation.
Some doctors are skeptical of the next method of treating deforming osteoarthritis of the ankle joint. However, it has been scientifically proven that magnetotherapy, electrophoresis and Vitafon treatment significantly improve the effect of drugs, thereby perfectly relieving pain.
Each massage session must be performed by a specialist and takes about 15-20 minutes. At the same time, actions are performed not only on the ankle joint, but also move to adjacent areas, as the foot muscles improve the work of the entire leg as a whole. The course usually lasts 2 weeks with 2-day breaks, but the treatment can be adapted on the advice of a specialist.
The diet for osteoarthritis of the ankle joint should be balanced and include the use of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, fibers, minerals. Nutrition for osteoarthritis in no case should be poor. Either way, a variety of dishes are good and healthy. Vitamins for osteoarthritis will also be important. They can be obtained both with the help of tablets, and using vitamins from fruits and vegetables.
To prevent the development of the disease, follow a number of simple rules, and this disease will not manifest itself.
For example, check your diet. Don't give up on your favorite harmful products at all - try to minimize their consumption.
While working or playing sports, try to avoid injuries and heavy loads. Before your favorite workout, be sure to do a warm-up. It is forbidden to squat with arthrosis, but if the patient got rid of the disease and returned to his old activities, this should be done as carefully as possible. Patients should wear comfortable shoes. Give preference to high-quality shoes, which is why heels should be abandoned.