What is osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is a chronic disease characterized by deterioration of articular cartilage (bone, ligaments).

If not treated in a timely manner, it can cause chronic damage to joint tissues, such as to impede their motor mobility.

How it arises and who it affects

Its nature is mainly genetic and affects in particular subjects of advanced age, between 40-60 years; the subjects involved are mainly males (before 40 years), while for women the incidence is around 70 years. Surely an unhealthy lifestyle, such as obesity or sedentary lifestyle, can lead to the emergence of pathology. The circulatory and cardiovascular system is stressed and stimulated by constant physical activity; it is therefore good in young patients, to diagnose the disease immediately before compromising more systems of our body. A continuous ” rubbing” or load of the joint as a result of surgery or frequently repeated activities, can be the causes of the disease.

Primary and secondary osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is distinguished in primary and secondary. Primary how involved are some joints such as the knee, without having been traced the triggering cause.

Secondary when the disease develops due to a metabolic process or as a result of a pathology, such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Symptoms

The first symptom is pain and the presence of Backer’s cyst, that is, a buildup of fluid that prevents performing simple motor activities. In young patients, clinical signs range from simple limping to a considerable difficulty in performing any physical activity, such as climbing stairs or walking.

As mentioned before, if not treated, the disease can degenerate to lead to ankylosis, that is, the loss of joint movements.

Diagnostics

Diagnosis is provided by anamnestic data, where necessary, by X-rays and ultrasound to assess the soft tissue system bones ligaments and cysts. The orthopedist must not only evaluate the most suitable therapy but trace the origin that is behind the pathology to avoid relapses, and that this is transformed into osteoarthritis.

Applied therapeutic methodologies

Treatments and care vary depending on the patient’s condition. A first step sees the patient follow a healthy diet, the use of anti-inflammatories for pain such as biostimulating magnetotherapy, and tutors during physical activity.

Second step: infiltration therapies (cortisone, hyaluronic acid).

Third step: surgery to replace damaged cartilage or intervene directly on the joint.

Fracture of the wrist.

The Colles fracture (Abraham Colles, the Irish surgeon who first diagnosed it), that is, the fracture of the wrist, is one of the most common fractures. The causes of the Colles fracture can have different nature: traumatic, as a result of accident or fall, pathological, as a result of pathologies such as osteoporosis.

The fracture can also occur as a result of a mild blow or while carrying out habitual activities that do not provide for a huge physical effort.

However, the statistics show that the fracture Colles occurs mainly as a result of trauma and accidents, i.e. following a violent fall on the palm of the hand with the wrist in extension, causing the rupture.

The most exposed subjects are the elderly (in the case of osteoporosis) and sportsmen, skiers, skaters in particular, in the case of trauma and severe accidents.

How does the colles fracture manifest? The fracture presents with an acute pain but the diagnosis is given above all by the shape that characterizes the wrist following the fall, the so-called bayonet deformity or fork back.

How to treat Colles fracture

Colles fractures are treated with the aid of a realignment and immobilization maneuver with gypsum; in more severe cases surgical intervention is necessary.

To regain lost mobility following weeks when arm and wrist are forced into the plaster case, the patient will be able to choose different therapies.

Often the arm, once freed from the plaster, can appear edematous and the elbow instead rigid such as to make dicile even the simplest movements of the arm.

Osteoplus^® Biostimulator with its action of lymph drainage and biostimulating magnetotherapy, completely reduces skin edema and strengthens bone tissue.

Osteoplus^® also acts through a therapeutic process that reactivates calcium and mineral salts.

Osteoporosis is the so-called “disease of the elderly”.

L’osteoporosi è la cosiddetta “malattia degli anziani”.

As mentioned in the World Health Organization, osteoporosis is a disease characterized by reduced density of bone mass (due to the low natural production of osteoblasts), and alteration of the microstructural bone tissue, responsible of an increased fragility and a consequent increase in fracture risk.

What are the causes of osteoporosis?

The causes of the onset of osteoporosis can be closely related to an unhealthy lifestyle, such as a lack of calcium in the diet or the intake of alcohol, smoking and carbonated drinks.

Fractures caused by osteoporosis are called pathological precisely because they are the “natural” consequence of pathology.

Pathological fractures, therefore, do not arise due to traumatic factors (shock impacts, serious accidents), but as a result of small usual and daily movements that we carry out with natural spontaneity.

This is why osteoporosis is called a silent and deceptive disease: it has no obvious symptoms and can occur when bone tissue has already lost much of its fundamental properties (calcium and mineral salts). A patient will be able to realize that he is subject to the pathology only after a “silly” accident or trauma. Pathology is also divided by degrees (primary and secondary) and by causes.

Typical, however, are pains that are found in people of adulthood and in well-localized and precise areas, wrist fractures of colles or at the expense of the hip and femur.

Diagnosis

For the diagnosis of the fracture (both pathological and traumatic) it is necessary to visit a specialist who will recommend an X-ray, in mild cases, or a CT scan for more accurate control and for the detection of any injuries.

In the case of a pathological fracture due to osteoporosis, Osteoplus^® therapy, with modular Pulsed Magnetic Fields at low frequency, non-invasive for bone tissue repair, is an excellent treatment to resume physical exercises quickly and painlessly.

The Osteoplus^® biostimulator in fact reduces the healing time and in particular is a therapy that can be carried out in full freedom of movement. The therapy is given by a device of the latest generation, portable, programmed, personal and precise.

Learn more about how to treat osteoporosis.