All about osteoarthritis

Treatments

Why is osteoarthritis painful?

Why is osteoarthritis painful?

Pain is the main symptom of osteoarthritis an d is the main target of current treatments, medicated or not. To feel the sensation of pain, our brain must be informed that "it hurts somewhere". This requires that messages from the ...

Why is osteoarthritis painful? - Continue
Osteoarthritis - All treatments

Treatments

Lifestyle changes

Lifestyle changes

Regular exercise and a healthy lifestyle are the first steps for managing osteoarthritic disease. Exercise is very important for you to avoid losing muscle mass around your joints. Thus, physical activity can help you maintain or even develop ...

Lifestyle changes - Continue
Osteoarthritis - All treatments

Treatments

Orthotics for osteoarthritis

Orthotics for osteoarthritis

Orthotics are aimed at immobilising, supporting or partially correcting the movement of a joint, depending on the model used.
Thus, they can fight against instability and put the joint to rest to reduce the excessive stress which causes ...

Orthotics for osteoarthritis - Continue
Osteoarthritis - All treatments

Knowing the disease

Which joints are affected ?

Which joints are affected ?

Osteoarthritis primarily affects the weight-bearing joints, that is to say, those of the hip, knee and spine. Some non weight-bearing joints, such as those of the fingers and thumb, can also be affected. It is rare for other joints to have lesions due to osteoarthritis, except as ...

Joints affected by osteoarthritis - Continue
Osteoarthritis - Knowing the disease

Knowing the disease

How does osteoarthritis evolve?

How does osteoarthritis evolve?

It is likely that in the early stages, damage to the cartilage might be completely reversible, thanks to the healing capacities of the lesions, especially in the very young. Once these lesions become significantly established and especially after ...

Evolution of osteoarthritis - Continue
Osteoarthritis - Knowing the disease

Knowing the disease

Are there risk factors for osteoarthritis?

Are there risk factors for osteoarthritis?

Certain situations or risk behaviours can precipitate the onset and/or worsening of osteoarthritis. It is important to know them because it is possible to act effectively against some of them. Microscopic lesions, due to too much ...

Risk factors for osteoarthritis - Continue
Osteoarthritis - Knowing the disease

Not to be confused with

Mechanisms are involved in osteoporosis

Mechanisms are involved in osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a disease that affects the bones and not the joints as in osteoarthritis. It consists in an accelerated loss of bone mass and impaired bone architecture. As a result, bones become fragile, brittle and more easily susceptible to fractures. Osteoarthritis, in contrast to osteoporosis, is a disease of the joint, i.e. the contact areas between the bones (hips, knees, knuckles, etc.). The cartilage covering the ends of bones inside the joint wears out, fissures ...

Mechanisms involved in osteoporosis - Continue
Osteoarthritis - Not to be confused with

Not to be confused with

Rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis

This pathology is the most frequent of the chronic inflammatory rheumatisms (0.4% of the population). It belongs to the group of systemic or connective tissue diseases. Women in particular are concerned by it (3 out of 4 patients are women). Generally speaking rheumatoid arthritis can appear at any age but the average age of diagnosis is between 40 and 50 years.
When the patient is aged below 15, it is known as juvenile chronic arthritis. It affects many joints, of which the main ...

Rheumatoid arthritis - Continue
Osteoarthritis - Not to be confused with

Not to be confused with

Ankylosing spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis is an inflammatory joint disease that affects young adults, most often before age 40. Men are more often affected than women. It primarily causes inflammation of the spine and pelvis. AS is due to an inflammation of the entheses, that is to say, a small region of a tendon where it inserts into the bone. As we have a lot of entheses in the spine, this explains why this is the region of the body the most often affected. It seems that the HLA B27 antigen ...

Ankylosing spondylitis - Continue
Osteoarthritis - Not to be confused with

Injections

Viscosupplementation, what is it for?

Viscosupplementation, what is it for?

Injections of hyaluronic acid, also known as viscosupplementation are aimed at reducing joint pain and improving the functional condition of the osteoarthritic joint, in particular, the knee. It is a viscous and elastic substance that is normally produced by the joint and that makes up joint fluid (or "synovial...

Viscosupplementation - Continue
Osteoarthritis - All injections

Injections

Corticosteroid injections

Corticosteroid injections

Corticosteroid injections may be prescribed for osteoarthritis when anti-inflammatory treatments and analgesics have not succeeded in relieving a congestive flare-up. In general, corticosteroid injections give good results bearing in mind that most of the injected product remains in the joint...

Corticosteroid injections - Continue
Osteoarthritis - All injections

Injections

Joint lavage

Joint lavage

Joint lavage (washing) enables ridding the painful joint of the enzymes that are responsible for damage to the cartilage but also micro-crystals or cartilage debris which, imprisoned in the joint, maintains the irritation. It is currently used on the knee joint. Joint lavage involves injecting a large dose...

Joint lavage - Continue
Osteoarthritis - All injections