With ankylosing spondylitis, the symptoms and treatment will depend largely on the type of injury and the degree of neglect of the patient's condition. Do not neglect the diagnosis, should consult a specialist. Only the attending physician will tell you in detail how to cure the ankle joint, what it is dangerous and whether it is possible to get rid of this problem forever.
Cause of disease
In the development of ankle osteoarthritis, two groups are distinguished: primary (occurs without a particular reason) and secondary (appears due to adverse external factors). Other names for this disease: fibromyalgia (right or left ankle) or osteoarthritis. With osteoarthritis of the lower leg, a degenerative process occurs in the cartilaginous tissues, which then causes some misalignment.
In most cases, the disease occurs in older men and women. Over time, the organs in the internal system don't work as actively and correctly, and in some cases, the breakdown leads to thinning of bone and cartilage tissues. In the normal state, the joints slide freely during movement without touching each other.
If they are negatively affected during osteoarthritis, the joint becomes deformed and begins to rub against another joint. This causes an additional load, which then travels to the bone, resulting in its deformation. When a joint is injured again, the surrounding tissue is also further affected. Legs lose mobility and cannot withstand heavy loads (leg paralysis).
Other reasons
The common cause of ankle sequelae is due to a lot of physical activity, which has a direct effect on the musculoskeletal system. At risk are people whose jobs involve heavy lifting or any other active work. A similar cause of illness in professional athletes or in people who have been actively participating in sports for a long time. Due to the incorrect load, significant pressure is created on the limbs, which subsequently causes damage.
Acute joints are a common problem for overweight people, because during movement, a large weight will press on the lower extremities, making the legs unbearable. With obesity, the disease can also develop in young people (about 20 years old), if a person has been diagnosed with this disease since childhood. Other diseases that lead to ankle deformity (reasons discussed above):
- Gout;
- diabetes and atherosclerosis (metabolic diseases);
- birth defects of the foot, ankle (club foot);
- any condition in which a nerve is compressed.
This disrupts the functioning of the muscular apparatus (eg, osteonecrosis). Due to flat feet or clubfoot, in addition to the deformity, subarticular disease also occurs (it is so called due to changes in the fingernails).
Various types of injuries to the knee or foot (improper squatting), as well as wearing uncomfortable, small or poor-quality shoes, are also causes of dry rotator cuff disease of the ankle joint. Women are especially at risk. They have negative symptoms that lead to wearing high heels.
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 condition of the human body, the method of treatment and the appropriateness of the applied therapy. Signs of joint disease will differ in some of its characteristic symptoms.
First of all, with any, even slight increase, load on the joints, a person begins to feel sharp pain in the legs. The same thing happens if the patient travels long distances at a slow pace. Joints often crack and creak.
The patient begins with a dislocation of the leg, sometimes ending with a dislocation of the ankle. This occurs due to a violation of the function of muscles and tendons, leading to atrophy of muscle tissue (reduction or change in muscle tissue, followed by its replacement by connective tissue that cannot perform basic motor functions). It is for the same reason that it is common to feel stiffness and swelling in the legs.
Doctors distinguish 3 stages of the development of the disease. The first two cases are completely treatable, then the person goes back to his old life completely. In grade 3, the patient is often said to be disabled because of joint disease.
During the development of grade 1 disease, the symptoms of arthropathy appear to be very mild. A person may go to a medical facility complaining of rapid fatigue in the limbs and mild pain in the legs, which disappear after rest. The diagnosis of quadriplegia is rarely established, since during the study no pathology was found in the patient.
In the second stage, the pain does not go away after rest. Swelling and redness appear on the legs, which will lead to an increase in temperature. Pain increases when weather conditions change positively, swelling.
In the final stage, the cartilage tissue is shed, causing significant discomfort to the patient, from which the patient experiences severe pain. Legs lose mobility and a crunch can be heard with every step. If the disease begins, this can lead to another diagnosis - deformity of the foot. This pathology gives the right to receive disability, so treatment should be started immediately.
At this stage, joint disease is very dangerous. Some other grade 4 distinctions, at which time the pain completely disappears, but the patient loses the ability to walk, because the cartilage at this stage is completely destroyed and paralysis occurs. At the same time, grade 4 is characterized by frequent development of ankylosing spondylitis (when joints are fused together) and neoplasia (when an unnecessary or misaligned joint is formed between displaced bone ends). transfer).
Post-traumatic arthritis
Posttraumatic ankle arthritis requires prompt treatment, because, unlike deformity and acuteness, it is characteristic of young people, since it occurs after an injury. For example, with dislocations, fractures and sprains.
Any tissue damage after trauma does not pass without leaving a trace, directly touching blood vessels and nerves.
At first, the patient did not feel any discomfort, only over time began to notice that during walking, the foot was twisted, because the ligaments had weakened and could no longer support the whole leg.
Over time, with ankle joint degeneration, physical activities (especially athletes) are more difficult, and the legs get tired quickly when moving. Girls in such cases often complain that they cannot sit on the parachute with daily stretches and properly performed. Continuous improvement followed by remission, where the legs are swollen, painful, and do not calm down even after rest.
Usually, post-traumatic osteoarthritis causes osteogenesis imperfecta, a bone defect that causes severe joint mobility. For example, it is possible to bend the arm at the elbow not only backward but also forward. Pseudarthrosis occurs during bone healing, when tissues grow together incorrectly.
Often, posttraumatic ankle arthritis is the result of surgical intervention in other operations. Scars form in the tissue area, impairing blood circulation. The risk increases when part of the affected joint is removed as needed during surgery. Treatment of post-traumatic ankle arthritis occurs in the same way as for other types of disease.
Do's and Don'ts for Arthritis
Is it possible to exercise with this disease? It is important to reduce the load on the affected joint as much as possible, therefore, after the diagnosis, try not to lift weights, forbid running, not to jump, squat, push and press with heavy weight while standing. , engage in shock aerobics, perform asymmetrical exercises, and engage in static loads (eg, squatting). You can use a cane to relieve arthritis pain while walking.
However, physical activity should not be denied at all. In contrast, the normal blood circulation of the ankle with joint disease is achieved more quickly during sports. Should be used when sick (especially post-traumatic ankle osteoarthritis) walking or swimming.
Every extra kilogram of weight puts extra stress on your legs and causes swelling in your ankles, so even slight weight loss will dramatically speed up your recovery time. Losing weight too quickly is not advisable, moderate exercise and a suitable (but not debilitating) diet will gradually bring the body back to normal. For joint disease, single diets will not help, nor will diets significantly and completely change the usual diet. If you are going to switch to a vegetarian diet, it is better to wait until you have fully recovered.
Choose shoes with low and wide soles. For ankle joints, you can and should wear loose heels, but not ballet flats or sneakers. These shoes are the most comfortable and safest to wear and greatly increase the stability of the foot while walking. The soft sole takes some extra load off the joint.
The upper should be soft and spacious, without compressing the foot, but the wrong size shoe will only increase the risk of injury. If you have flatfoot, this only adds to the problem. When a person steps on the ground, the impact on it, along with the twisted foot, must be extinguished by the joint. In this case, special orthopedic pads or instep supports will be helpful.
While sitting, try to keep your knees slightly lower than your hips. Furniture with high legs will help in this, preferably with armrests. Chairs with such handles will be especially suitable for existing pains, as this will reduce the load on the knee joint when lifting. When working in the office, you should put up a chair so that your legs do not get tired. If the furniture is of poor quality, do not sit still, but get up from time to time to warm up.
If you are massaging your feet on your own or seeking help from a therapist, remember that knee massage is strictly prohibited. Gonarthrosis is also inflamed within the joint pocket itself, and aggressive blood circulation inside will only increase the pain. Is it possible to warm the joints in the bath or use a variety of warming compresses in therapy? Yes, but only if the person is certain of his or her diagnosis and the attending physician has no objection to such procedures. Do not use heat if an injectable arthritis medication in the form of corticosteroids is prescribed.
Medical treatment
How to treat ankle osteoarthritis? Therapy must be comprehensive and combined with several techniques. First of all, it is important to reduce the load on the ankle as much as possible, especially during periods of acute pain. Bandages or a walking stick with an emphasis on healthy legs will help with this. Do not let it overload, give up jogging and other physical activities for a while (running is very dangerous).
The drugs themselves will not increase a person's motor activity, but they can ease movement and reduce pain. A good pain reliever that helps relieve pain is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID for short).
NSAIDs have an adverse effect on the stomach lining, causing some problems and pain, so it's best to take them in a variety of ointments or injections. These funds are aimed at pain relief, many allow you to eliminate swelling and inflammation. For similar reasons, corticosteroids, anti-inflammatory drugs, are also injected into the joint. It should be used when the disease is already in an advanced stage and other drugs are no longer effective, because corticosteroids are strong and potent drugs.
In modern methods of treatment, the drug is injected directly into the joint with the help of steroid hormones or with the help of hyaluronic acid (a very popular drug for cosmetic purposes). Treatment of ankle osteoarthritis by this method is expensive but effective. Injected Hyaloron has a similar composition to the fluid in the joint and goes inside, regenerating the damaged joint, replacing the fluid that has disappeared during the disease process.
Treatment of edema can be carried out with the help of droppers, various ointments that will increase the tone of the veins. Chondoprotectors are drugs of last resort, since their main task is to restore and protect joints from negative influences. Treatment of ankle joint disease involves the use of chondoprotectors. Results from the use of funds occur after at least 3 months, depending on the severity of the disease. That is why the remedy is often prescribed for treatment for a year or even more, but only for the first two stages, because otherwise they will be useless.
Activity and its varieties
Surgery is indicated in 3-4 stages of the disease, as well as for those for whom previous treatments have not given adequate results. Surgical treatment of the ankle joint has several subspecies:
- Arthroscopy is a well-known and frequently applied method.
- Anterior tibial osteotomy (also called coxarthrosis).
- Shape joints.
- Endogenous drugs.
During arthroscopy, the surgeon makes a small incision near the joint and inserts a small camera into it, assessing the general condition of the joint and bones. Then, the necessary surgical instruments are inserted inside and the operation is performed on its own. Arthroscopy is considered the most economical treatment, as the patient recovers quickly from surgery and the incision heals longer than any conventional cut.
In some cases, deformity of this organ causes degenerative deformity of the ankle joint (the treatment of which will be slightly different from the treatment of other diseases), because the load on the entire ankle is increased. Incorrect allocation. An osteotomy is aimed at correcting this curvature (coxarthrosis) and aligning the bones. It is generally contraindicated in the elderly and is used to treat younger patients. During an ankle arthroplasty, a portion of material is taken from the unloaded femur and transferred to the ankle joint. With the endoscopic method, the affected area is completely or partially excised and replaced with an artificial device that is similar in structure.
Other treatment and prevention
Treatments for ankle osteoarthritis are not meant to end with the use of many different medications. The next step in treatment will have many options. Therapeutic exercise (exercise therapy) restores muscle tone and returns the ankle to its former mobility. The scheme of the exercises is set by experts. First, physiotherapeutic exercises are performed in a prone position, from time to time - sitting and standing.
Another option is to immobilize the legs. During such lessons, it is recommended to immobilize the leg with a bandage or refer to the principle of the bandage. This is done with the help of special bandages and plasters (teips). Thus, the risk of injury is kept to a minimum, because a comfortable lotion helps to do this. This principle is widely known among professional athletes.
Another method is kinetic tape recording. Here, cotton tape made of hypoallergenic material is applied to the foot. The latter dries quickly on the feet, is easy to fix and does not cause discomfort.
Some doctors are skeptical about the next treatment for ankle deformity. However, it has been scientifically proven that magnetic therapy, electrophoresis and treatment with Vitafon greatly enhance the effects of the drug, so they provide perfect pain relief.
Each massage should be performed by a professional and last about 15-20 minutes. At the same time, movements are performed not only on the ankle joint, but also move to neighboring areas, since the muscles of the foot improve the work of the whole leg as a whole. The course is usually 2 weeks long with a 2-day break, but the treatment can be adjusted according to the specialist's recommendations.
The diet for people with ankle osteoarthritis should be balanced and include the use of protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, and minerals. Nutrition for joint disease in no case should not be scarce. In any case, many dishes are good and healthy. Vitamins for joint disease will also be important. They can be obtained both with the help of tablets and by taking vitamins from fruits and vegetables.
To prevent the development of the disease, follow a few simple rules, and this disease will not manifest itself.
For example, control your diet. Do not give up your favorite harmful products - try to reduce their consumption to a minimum.
While working or playing sports, try to avoid injury and heavy lifting. Before your favorite workout, remember to warm up. Squatting should not be done when the joint is affected, but if the patient has recovered and is back in his usual activities, this should be done as carefully as possible. Patients should wear comfortable shoes. Prioritize high-quality shoes, that's why high heels should be abandoned.