A lifetime of walking, exercising, and moving can take a toll on your cartilage — the smooth, shiny, white connective tissue that covers the ends of bones.
这种软骨的变性可能导致关节炎并导致关节的慢性炎症。
Osteoarthritis (OA)是最常见的关节炎形式。OA也通常被称为退行性关节疾病。
根据the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
Cartilage靠垫骨骼的末端，并允许它们平滑，互相互相移动。
A membrane called the synovium surrounds your joints and produces a thick fluid that helps keep your cartilage healthy.
Your synovium can become inflamed and thickened as wear and tear on your cartilage occurs. This may lead toinflammationand cause extra fluid to build up within your joints, resulting inswelling。
The joints most commonly affected by OA are your:
当软骨进一步恶化时，底层骨骼可能没有足够的缓冲来自你的软骨。
Once your bone surfaces come in direct contact with each other, there’s usually additional pain and inflammation that occurs in your joints and surrounding tissues.
As your bones continue to grind and rub against one another, they begin to growosteophytes, or bone spurs, one of the most common findings in joints with OA.
你得到的老年人, the more common it is to experience mild soreness or aching when you:
- stand
- climb stairs
- exercise
Naturally, your body doesn’t recover as quickly as it did.
此外，软骨自然地随着年龄而劣化，刚度，特别是在坐下或躺下长时间后，是与OA生活中最常见的症状之一。
As your body’s natural shock absorbers wear out, your joints are less able to absorb the demands that our lives place on them.
肌肉and bone strength also diminish with age, further making physically demanding tasks more difficult and taxing on your body.
普通的risk factor of developing OAis age. According to the CDC, by 2040 it’s estimated that
然而，超过65岁以上的人民据报道，他们有关节炎的医生被告知。
Other factors that increase a person’s chances of developing the condition include:
重量
超重可能会给您带来额外的压力：
- 关节
- cartilage
- bones
This stress may especially affect your knees and hips, and it means you may be less likely to be physically active.Regular physical activity， 比如一个daily walk, can greatly reduce the likelihood of developing OA.
家史
Genetics may make a person more likely to develop OA. If you have family members living with the condition, you may be at an increased risk for developing OA.
性别
根据the CDC, most types of arthritis are more common in women, including osteoarthritis.
职业
某些职业增加开发OA的风险，例如：
- construction
- 农业
- cleaning
- retail
这些职业中的人们将自己的身体更加蓬勃地，作为其工作的一部分，导致他们的关节更加磨损和撕裂。
年轻，更活跃的人也可以开发OA。然而，它通常是创伤的结果，例如asports injuryor accident. A history of an injury or accident can increase the chance of developing OA later.
OA doesn’t have a cure. Instead, the goal of treatment is to manage pain and reduce any contributing factors that may make the symptoms of OA worse.
The first step in treating OA is to decrease pain. This is often done with a combination of:
- 药物
- exercise
- 物理疗法
治疗OAis often tailored to a person’s lifestyle and the triggers that causepainand soreness. A range of treatment options are available. These include:
Medication
Over-the-counter (OTC) medicationsmay be what some people living with OA need to treat pain.
Examples include acetaminophen (Tylenol) andnonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)如阿司匹林and布洛芬(Advil, Motrin).
Injections
Steroid injections can help reduce pain in affected joints. However, they shouldn’t be used repetitively because they can cause additional joint damage over time.
Glucocorticoid injections
为了生活的人knee或髋关节OA, the美国风湿病学院（ACR）和关节炎基础（AF）strongly recommend glucocorticoid injections in their joints. Aglucocorticoidis a type of corticosteroid.
由于缺乏有关他们手中的效果的证据，只有在携带手OA的人的人们，只有有条件地有条件地有条件地有条件地推荐。
FDA-approved glucocorticoids include:
- 乙腈酮酮(Zilretta)
- methylprednisolone（depo-medrol）
- betamethasone(Celestone Soluspan)
Other types of injections
Studies once touted the benefits of hyaluronic acid (gel) injections in the knee joint and these injections are still used very routinely for OA of the knee. However, a2019年研究评论questioned their effectiveness.
Hyaluronic acid injections are only FDA approved for use in your knee joint and aren’t typically used for other arthritic joints.
Receiving hyaluronic acid injections for joints in other places, like your hand or hip, would be an example ofoff-label drug usage。
非标签药物use偏离标签药物使用是当FDA批准的一个目的批准的药物用于尚未获得批准的不同目的。
However, a doctor can still use the drug for that purpose. This is because the FDA regulates the testing and approval of drugs, but not how doctors use drugs to treat their patients.
所以你的医生可以开枪，但他们认为最好的照顾。
The ACR and AF now conditionally recommend against hyaluronic acid injections for people living with knee OA or OA in your first carpometacarpal (CMC) joint.
Your first CMC joint is located near your thumb.
The ACR and AF strongly recommend against these injections for people living with hip OA.
其他注射如platelet-rich plasma (PRP)和干细胞注射用于实验基础。
Surgery
手术通常是为具有严重和衰弱的人的人保留。
An osteotomy is an operation that realigns a bone by cutting and then repositioning it. This type of operation is sometimes performed around your knee joint to help manage the symptoms of OA pain.
Sometimes a bone fusion (arthrodesis) is done to treat severely deteriorated joints. Arthrodesis of your hip or knee is rarely performed, but a fusion can be done on other joints, such as those in your:
- fingers
- wrists
- 脚踝
对于严重关节炎髋关节和膝关节，总关节置换（关节置换术）可以提供持久的疼痛缓解和生活方式的显着改善。
有助于管理疼痛，减少症状，有些简单生活方式调整可以让您的骨骼和关节更容易。这些调整可以改善功能以及生活质量。
选项包括：
Exercise
Low-impact exercise can help strengthen muscles and keep bones strong. Exercise also improves joint mobility.
饲养高影响力，如：
- tennis
- running
- jumping
考虑低冲击练习，例如：
这些练习在您的关节方面都更容易。
Heat or cold therapy
申请warm compresses or cold packsto joints when they’re sore or painful. This can help relieve pain and reduce inflammation.
Assistive devices
使用辅助设备可以帮助卸载并提供对关节炎关节的支持。例子包括：
- braces
- 夹板
- canes
Rest
Giving painful, sore joints adequate rest can help relieve pain and reduce swelling.
减肥
根据Tufts University，减掉5磅的失去可以帮助降低OA的症状，特别是在像膝盖和臀部一样的大关节中。
在我们的年龄时，在我们的关节中体验一些疼痛和疼痛是很常见的 - 特别是在：
- 常设
- 爬楼梯
- 锻炼
It’s also possible that degeneration of cartilage can lead to inflammation and OA over time.
However, there are both medical treatments and lifestyle changes that you can adopt to help reduce your pain and manage other symptoms.
If you have OA, it’s always a good idea to speak with a doctor to explore your treatment options.