Your joint is sore, swollen, or difficult to move. What to do? Which doctor should I contact with this problem? What is the difference between arthritis and arthrosis? In our body, everything works, works, and, accordingly, wears out. Healthy cells self-repair, but if this does not happen, it is necessary to look for the cause and its treatment.
Attention! Do not self-medicate, you can remove the symptoms, but the cause remains!
In small towns or villages, first of all, they go to a general practitioner, if a child has problems - to a pediatrician, and he already determines which narrow specialist to refer you to.
If you have been diagnosed with arthritis, do not confuse it with arthrosis. What is the difference between arthritis and arthrosis? Now we will understand how these diseases differ.
What is the difference between arthritis and arthrosis?
First difference in etiology:
- Arthritis can occur due to injury or infection, a malfunction in the metabolic system, and is characterized by an inflammatory process.
- Osteoarthritis - is chronic, with it the joints wear out and deform.
The symptoms of diseases are also different - this is the second sign:
- Arthritis - can occur in a latent form (chronic) or make itself felt immediately (acute form). It is manifested by pain, fever, swelling, changes in the color of the skin.
- Arthrosis may not necessarily be accompanied by painful symptoms. Sometimes the pain occurs after a long rest, but disappears after development, there is a crunch or clicking when moving.
Arthrosis affects people over 50 years of age, athletes or the consequence of a severe fracture - after 40.
The third is the nature of the damage to the body:
- Arthritis affects the entire body. The inflammatory process affects the functioning of internal organs: the heart, liver, kidneys.
- Arthrosis - affects only the joint.
Fourth - how exactly the joints are damaged:
- Any joint can get sick with arthritis.
- Arthrosis likes to affect the connective tissues, which are most affected by the load. These are the knee, ankle, hip, and also the joint of the big toe.
Also, scientific studies have shown that patients with arthritis on Earth make up 2% of the population, and arthrosis - 10%.
What is the diagnosis based on?
General blood test - blood from a finger. If arthrosis, as a rule, does not change the composition of the blood, then with arthritis, the content of leukocytes and erythrocytes increases.
Rheumatic tests and biochemical analysis are carried out - it is taken from a vein on an empty stomach.
Arthrosis does not change the structure of the blood, with arthritis, markers of inflammation increase.
Rheumatoid arthritis is manifested by the appearance of rheumatoid factor in the blood, and with gout - increased uric acid.
X-ray - shows at what stage the disease, if there is a change in the structure of the bone - arthrosis. MRI and CT scans may also be ordered.
Which doctor treats arthritis and arthrosis?
As mentioned earlier, first of all we visit a general practitioner. He examines and refers to a rheumatologist, he examines, diagnoses and plans treatment.
What is the difference between arthritis and arthrosis? If the doctor has diagnosed arthrosis, he prescribes additional examinations to establish the stage of the disease.
Treatment occurs only with drugs, with the help of injections, ointments. First of all, the doctor advises to reduce the load and take chondroprotectors. To improve blood circulation, a set of exercises is advised.
The treatment should be complex, so the following doctors of a narrow specialization may be additionally involved: a physiotherapist, a massage therapist, a specialist in physiotherapy exercises, a surgeon.
In case of diseases of the connective tissues, they can be sent to a sanatorium for further treatment and recovery.
An arthrologist is a doctor who works with joint problems. However, these specialists are found only in large clinics, and it is difficult to get to them.
If the disease progresses, and has passed into a difficult stage, then you should contact an orthopedic surgeon. He can perform, depending on the need for treatment, two types of operations: organ-preserving and endoprosthetics.
For the best treatment at each stage, specialists from different fields are involved, but the therapist or rheumatologist oversees the entire treatment.
Which doctor will treat arthritis depends on the cause.
- With an injury that served as an impetus, for development it will be necessary to visit a traumatologist.
- Rheumatoid - specialists in immune diseases.
- Metabolic disorders (gout) - nutritionist, endocrinologist, rheumatologist.
- Problems with the maxillofacial joint: dentist, ENT.
- With purulent - the intervention of a surgeon is necessary for the operation.
The doctor performs treatment in several directions: to stop further destruction and restore the capacity of connective tissues.
Treatment should begin as soon as discomfort is felt. Thus, you will quickly feel relief, and the disease will bring minimal harm to the body.
Treatment regimen
In each case, the doctor performs treatment depending on the cause of arthritis, but there is a standard scheme:
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). First, a course of intramuscular, intravenous or intraarticular injections is made, for subsequent treatment, ointments can be used.
- Antispasmodics (for muscle spasms).
- Antidepressants.
- Anesthetics.
- Gastroprotectors, to protect the stomach.
- A vitamin complex is prescribed.
- Chondroprotectors - they improve the quality of cartilage tissue.
- Therapeutic diet.
- Physiotherapy.
- Massage, acupuncture.
This treatment regimen is supplemented depending on the course of the disease. The recovery process is long and laborious, rehabilitation will also require a lot of work on your part.