Monthly Archives: October 2022

Rheumatic-Disease

How to take care of your joints

The joint is a structure made up of bones, muscles, synovium, cartilage, and ligaments such as the knee, hip, wrist, or shoulder. They are the most important joints between the ends of the bones and allow the mobility of the skeleton.

The structures that allow this union are the joint capsule and the ligaments. Inside the capsule, the synovial membrane secretes a fluid, synovial fluid, which acts as a lubricant, facilitating the friction of the articulating bone ends. It is like oil for a car.

Another important component of the joints is the cartilage, which covers the articular bone surfaces and acts as a shock absorber in the movements of movement between them.

JOINT PAIN

Joint pain is the most common disorder affecting the musculoskeletal system. This type of pain can affect a single joint (monarticular) or several (polyarticular) and originate in the joint itself or outside of it, such as in a ligament, cartilage, tendon, or muscle.

The conditions that cause joint pain are osteoarthritis, arthritis, fibromyalgia, and gout, among others. Two of the best known are:

  • Osteoarthritis: it is the wear of the cartilage of the joint and causes the bones to rub against each other. This causes pain and loss of flexibility. 10% of the Spanish population has osteoarthritis of the knee and 6% of the hand.
  • Rheumatoid arthritis (RA):  a chronic inflammatory joint disease, which causes joint destruction, deformity, and functional limitation.

HOW TO TAKE CARE OF THE JOINTS

According to orthopaedic in Delhi, Joint care is important at all ages since, as time passes, they lose their functionality. Keep these recommendations in mind:

  1. Be active. It is advisable to practice aerobic activities such as walking, swimming, and cycling. Exercises help keep the joint active and prevent muscle atrophy. You should exercise regularly and gently to avoid injury.
  2. Correct posture. Bad posture produces an uneven distribution of weight on the body. When sitting, your back should be straight and supported on a backrest. Avoid sinking chairs, a firm seat is better; feet must be firmly on the ground.  Do not spend a long time standing or sitting, change your position from time to time. To pick up objects from the ground, do not bend your spine, but rather your knees.
  3. Control your weight.  Excess weight will put stress on your joints, especially spine, knees, hips, and feet. Obesity increases the risk of osteoarthritis.
  4. Feeding. Try to maintain a balanced diet, containing fruits and vegetables. Seasonings like turmeric are proven to reduce inflammation, oranges have antioxidant effects and protect joints, the Mediterranean diet reduces pain and stiffness in those with rheumatoid arthritis, broccoli protects against arthritis pain, and ginger is anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.
  5. Avoid overload.  Activities that generate extreme pain or exertion should be stopped or limited.  Wear wide shoes, the insoles can be used to mitigate pain in the joints of the legs. Canes and crutches can also relieve pain, by unloading diseased joints, while preventing falls.
  6. Use assistive devices.  To prevent falls, place handles on the walls, hallways, and bathrooms to facilitate holding. The taps should preferably be single lever. A trolley on wheels can allow the transport of various objects (daily groceries, dishes …) without making great efforts. In the bathroom, install non-slip floors, supports for the entry, and exit of the bathtub and toilet, plastic seats for the shower.
  7. Some compounds such as collagen and hyaluronic acid promote mobility.

calcification

Calcification: Causes, Symptoms, Prevention And Treatment of Calcium Deposits

Calcium is incredibly important for the functioning of the human body. Although 99 percent is found in teeth and bones, blood vessels, nerves, and muscles also need calcium.

They get it through blood vapor, in which that important remaining one percent must reside.

The term “calcification” refers to the accumulation of calcium in parts of the body where it should not accumulate, causing hardening of the tissues in question. This type of calcium build-up can affect many parts of the body, including:

  • The arteries ( atherosclerosis )
  • heart valves (calcification of the aortic valve)
  • other organs, such as the kidneys, bladder, and even (though rare) the liver
  • other soft tissues (muscles, breasts, fatty tissue)
  • joints and tendons.
  • the brain (cranial calcification)

What Causes Calcification?

Some calcification is a normal and expected part of the aging process. Almost all adult humans have some calcification of the pineal gland in the brain, and about half of women over 50 have some calcification within their breast tissues.

However, calcifications can also be pathological, and depending on the type of calcification, the following causes may play a role:

  • Excessive intake of vitamin D (soft tissue calcification, kidney stones)
  • a vitamin K deficiency
  • age in combination with excessive physical activity and / or being overweight (calcification as a complication of osteoarthritis)
  • genetics
  • existing heart or kidney conditions
  • taking certain medications that affect the way your body processes calcium, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol medications.
  • injury
  • of smoking

How do you know if you are experiencing calcification? Can you prevent it?

Due to the various parts of the body that can be affected by calcification, it is impossible to make general statements about the symptoms that people may experience. However, most of the time there will be no obvious symptoms, and it is very likely that you will discover calcifications after undergoing an X-ray for entirely different reasons.

The best thing anyone can do to try to prevent calcification is to live a healthy life and talk to the orthopaedic doctor in Delhi about prevention if they are at higher risk. It is also advisable that you attend preventive medical exams with your doctor, especially once you reach middle age and beyond.

Treatment for calcification

Treatment for calcification depends entirely on the type you are dealing with. Calcium deposits in the joints and tendons can be removed surgically. While people with kidney stones will likely be prescribed diuretics that stimulate calcium build-up in the bones.

Those prone to kidney stones may also be advised to reduce their calcium intake. Surgery may be necessary if you suffer from heart valve calcification, while those with cerebral calcification may be prescribed bisphosphonates, a class of medication that is also used to treat osteoporosis.

In conclusion

While calcification of any kind is unlikely to produce symptoms that easily lead to self-diagnosis, anyone concerned about their health should see a orthopaedic in Delhi. The detailed description of your symptoms will allow your doctor to decide what kinds of tests should be done, leading to a diagnosis.

Tibial-Periostitis

Tibial Periostitis: Causes, Prevention and Treatment

Tibial periostitis is an injury produced by various causes. Adequate lifestyle and training habits are key to preventing it and the recommended treatment focuses on understanding, cold therapy and the biomechanical study of gait that allows correcting alterations that cause its appearance.

Both in athletes and in those people who spend many hours standing, shin splints is a well-known injury. At least it is the feeling of overload in calves and shins and localized discomfort (as if it were a bruise) in the area of ​​the tibia.

What is tibial periostitis and what are its causes?

Tibial periostitis is the inflammation of the periosteum, the membrane that covers the tibia on the external surface and unites it with the calf, tibialis anterior and posterior, and peroneals.

Like many other injuries, there is no single cause. There can be many reasons for this injury and to identify them you have to understand the context of the patient.

At a general level, an unhealthy lifestyle (diet, stress) or certain habits at work, such as driving too many hours or working standing up, are the typical causes of this injury outside the sports environment.

In the case of athletes and people who train regularly, the causes are usually:

  • Train constantly on hard surfaces, especially asphalt
  • Starting to train or practice sports without prior and adequate muscle preparation, as well as excessive training intensity or volume
  • Wearing inappropriate shoes, especially those with poor cushioning
  • Skip muscle treatments, for example not stretching or not going to the masseur
  • Biomechanical defects: from the shape of the foot, excessive pronation to other body load defects

How can we prevent it?

Faced with such a variety of causes, prevention and change of habits (as far as possible) are essential to avoid tibial periostitis.

In the case of athletes, for example,  changing exercise routines, not neglecting stretching before and after exercise and wearing suitable equipment can help save us from suffering such an annoying injury.

What is your treatment?

However, if the damage has already been done, using compression bandages can improve support. Applying cold with the leg elevated (either through ice in the area or through thermotherapy products) will help to lower the inflammation, with which the pain will be considerably alleviated.

Among all these preventive and solution techniques for tibial periostitis, it is highly recommended by orthopaedic in Delhi to perform a footprint study. This study allows to locate and diagnose those biomechanical defects (such as poor posture when walking, running or standing) that are usually the cause of problems in the locomotor system. The biomechanical study allows the patient to correct or minimize said defects or alterations, which results in the prevention of injuries, in this case, tibial periostitis.