Osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint is accompanied by swelling, severe pain in the shoulder, limited range of motion. The causes and symptoms of the disease, existing treatment methods and ways to help at home will be discussed later in the article.
What is arthritis of the shoulder
The shoulder joint has a fairly complex structure and the most mobile of all, providing the human body with the fullest range of motion. The shoulder joint capsule is able to stretch very strongly, so a person can lift his arm vertically and perform rotational movements with it. This activity weakens the ligaments, and due to the strong bending of the tendons, there is often a slight ischemia in them.
It is the lack of nutrition of the joint tissue that bears the main threat of its destruction and gives impetus to the development of pathology.
The disease, which is expressed mainly in the degeneration of the tissues of the shoulder joint, is called osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint or arthrosis of the shoulder. The biomechanics of the shoulder is based on the flawless work of all the components: normal nerve conduction, good blood supply, flawless anatomical structure. Violation of any of these conditions invariably leads to the fact that the internal tissues begin to deform, causing discomfort, restriction of movement, pain.
Osteoarthritis (or osteoarthritis) is primarily a disease not of an inflammatory nature, but of a degenerative nature. It is associated with ischemic processes in the surrounding tissues caused by various reasons.
As a result, the nutrition of the joint is disturbed, which is why the thin, elastic layer of hyaline cartilage covering the head of the bone becomes thinner. Becoming less elastic and thinner, the hyaline cartilage makes normal movement difficult, causing the joint space to narrow.
This phenomenon causes the body to act and bony growths called osteophytes form on the edges of the joint. It is osteophytes that injure muscles and ligaments with their sharp edges, causing slow chronic inflammation.
The main danger of osteoarthritis is that a slight restriction in the mobility of the hand invariably leads to a decrease in the range of motion.
Without moving, the shoulder begins to suffer from the accumulation of salts in the tissues surrounding the joint and the deterioration of the nutrition of the joint tissues. Over time, this leads to the formation of joint contractures - limiting the possibility of movement, or complete loss of shoulder mobility and disability of the patient.
Causes of shoulder osteoarthritis
The only cause of shoulder osteoarthritis is deep ischemia, ie a sudden or progressive deterioration of the blood supply to certain areas of the tissues and a depletion of joint nutrition. But this reason is caused by factors that may be present in the anamnesis alone or simultaneously:
- Shoulder injury. These can be both obvious injuries resulting from a car accident or a fall, as well as hidden tears of muscles and ligaments received during sports training or hard work. Any joint injury always has the ability to remember, since the affected areas are not restored to their maximum size, and their conduction is invariably disturbed. For several years or decades, the body can successfully cope with it until aging occurs.
- Age-related changes in the body.
- Infectious attacks causing arthritis.
- Metabolic and hormonal disorders, also often associated with age.
- Hereditary or genetic predisposition.
Stages and symptoms of osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint
The disease in its development passes through several stages. Since arthrosis is a chronic disease that progresses quite slowly, the first stage, during which it is possible to treat joint deformity as effectively as possible, is ignored by most patients.
- Stage One Symptoms. For the first time, the patient may experience some discomfort when moving the hand already with thinning of the hyaline cartilage. A sudden swing or jerk is not accompanied by pain, this is due to the fact that there are no nerve endings in the cartilage, and its destruction does not lead to pain. But sometimes, in the evening or at the end of training, pain in the shoulder begins to bother. Often they do not pay attention to it, attributing it to muscle pain or neuralgia. And the disease began, and almost asymptomatically, and if immediate measures are not taken, then it goes to the second stage.
- Second Stage Symptoms. If the patient feels pain when moving his hand, accompanied by a clearly audible click, it means that osteophytes have formed in the joint. From this moment, the shoulder is constantly injured by the sharp edges of the bone growths, which causes inflammation of the surrounding tissues. This manifests itself in morning stiffness, which disappears only after the development of the joint, or in pain with usual physical exertion or fatigue in the evening.
A person's well-being deteriorates, as a chronic focus of inflammation in the body affects the general condition. At night, in wet weather, out of season, the joint can hurt more.
The patient severely limits the volume and range of motion of the arm, can not raise it more than ninety degrees, both in the frontal and lateral planes. This leads to muscle atrophy and a significant deterioration in the nutrition of joint tissue.
- Stage Three Symptoms. Usually, if a patient comes to the doctor in the third stage of the disease, he is practically unable to move his hand. The hand does not rise, is not retracted to the side, the joint swells and expands. The muscles atrophy, and the pain syndrome is so severe that when you try to raise your hand, tremors appear in your fingers. In most cases, the presence of contractures in the shoulder joint, the "frozen shoulder" syndrome, is noted.
Ways to treat shoulder osteoarthritis
In fact, it is impossible to cure osteoarthritis, and even more so, it is impossible to do it at home. This disease is so dependent on many internal and external factors that it is almost never the root cause.
But the good news for patients in the first and second stages of the disease is that the development of osteoarthritis can be stopped. That is why doctors insist on early diagnosis of the disease and the start of treatment of arthrosis of the shoulder, when the joint tissue is only partially destroyed, there are no osteophytesand that you can try to restore normal nutrition to the joint.
Conservative therapy
The treatment of arthrosis always has two goals: the elimination of pain and, if possible, the restoration of the supply of the joint with substances necessary for normal functioning.
- The supply of nutrients to the tissues depends on what the patient eats. The diet for arthrosis should exclude salt and alcohol. Meat products and vegetables containing purine bases, which increase the content of uric acid in the body, are also undesirable. Steamed dairy and vegetable dishes are recommended.
- The connection of medical preparations containing glucosamine and chondroitin, as well as collagen, which nourish joint tissues. And the daily use of ordinary gelatin in the form of jelly helps to enrich the menu with animal collagen.
- Local application of various warming, anti-inflammatory and chondroitin-containing ointments and balms activates the blood circulation of the tissues surrounding the joint.
- If the pain syndrome is mild, the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is not recommended. If hand movements are accompanied by severe pain, NSAIDs can anesthetize and reduce inflammation. These medications can help relieve pain.
- If the shoulder swells and an inflammatory process begins there, a compress from the ointment, laid at night or rubbing with gels has an excellent effect.
- Therapeutic gymnastics is an indispensable part of the successful treatment of shoulder arthrosis. But it is not recommended to overload the joint, since poorly distributed efforts can lead to the rapid destruction of hyaline cartilage.
Therapeutic exercises for arthrosis of the shoulder and the rules for its implementation
Special exercises will help develop the joint, give it mobility. Gymnastics can be done independently at home. The main rules for doing exercises should be:
- regularity, that is, it is necessary to perform exercises every day for at least 15 minutes;
- perform exercises smoothly and without much effort. This is necessary so as not to further damage the articular structures;
- obtaining moral pleasure from physical activity, which will contribute to the normalization of the emotional state of the patient.
Exercise therapy exercises are recommended, in which hand movements do not cause pain. They are performed slowly, forcing the ligaments and muscles to warm up and gradually stretch.
- We offer the simplest and most useful exercises for arthrosis of the shoulder joint:
- Sitting on a chair, place your hands on your knees. Perform circular movements with your shoulders: 5 times forwards, then 5 times backwards.
- Raise your straight arms, pull your shoulders and shoulder blades behind them as high as possible. Hold the position for a few seconds, then lower. Repeat 5-7 times.
- Arms straight with palms down apart. Bend your wrists at the wrists, fingers should look up. Perform circular movements with your shoulders: 5 times forwards, then 5 times backwards.
- Raise your bent arms above your head, while the fingers of one should be on the elbows of the opposite hand. Slowly draw your arms back until you feel a stretch in the shoulder joint. Perform the exercise 5-7 times.
- Place the palms of both hands together behind the head with the backs of the hands pointing down. Move your arms so that the palms fall along the back to the area between the shoulder blades. Repeat the exercise 5-7 times.
- Place the left hand on the right elbow, move the right hand as far as possible over the left shoulder until you feel a stretch in the shoulder joint. Do the exercise 5-7 times. Switch hands and repeat the exercise for the other hand.
In the treatment of osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint, the following are recognized as effective: manual therapy, physiotherapy and spa treatment. The use of traditional medicine methods is also considered justified.
Folk remedies and home help
The main folk remedy for the treatment of arthrosis of the shoulder joint is herbal medicine, which allows the use of dry herbs and herbal decoctions for compresses, preparation of ointments and rubbingat home to normalize metabolism and restore joint nutrition to reduce pain. .
- Ointment. Take 10 grams of dry hop leaves, sweet clover, St. John's wort. Carefully chop the herbs and grind them together, add petroleum jelly and mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Apply the finished ointment to the shoulder area. This will help reduce pain and inflammation in the joint.
- Friction. Pour five parts of vodka or alcohol with one part of crushed marsh rosemary flowers. Then you need to insist on the drug in a dark warm place for 24 hours. The tincture is used externally to rub the affected joints.
- Decoction. Corn stigmas (2 tablespoons) pour two glasses of water, boil for 10 minutes, strain and drink a tablespoon four times a day.
- Compress. For a compress, you need to brew 30 grams of dry oatmeal in two glasses of water. Apply the prepared mass to the sore shoulder for 30 minutes.
Alternative treatment for shoulder osteoarthritis
- Manual techniques - massages, manual therapy sessions, osteopathy - help eliminate muscle blockages, tensions and spasms, freeing the blood vessels and nerves leading to the joint.
- Physiotherapy, in particular shock wave therapy, balneotherapy, mud therapy and other methods are not recommended during an exacerbation, that is, when an active inflammatory process is taking place in thejoint.
- Remission is an excellent reason for undergoing a spa treatment, after which there is a lasting improvement.
Surgical treatment for osteoarthritis of the shoulder
With a pronounced pain syndrome that prevents the patient from leading a normal life, the doctor may recommend surgery.
Most often, prostheses are made, that is, the destroyed joint is replaced with an endoprosthesis. If possible, partial arthroplasty is performed, changing only part of the shoulder joint.
Surgery is used in rare cases, since any surgical intervention, especially associated with the placement of an intra-articular prosthesis, can lead to complications and a long recovery period.
Arthrosis of the shoulder joint is an insidious and dangerous disease in which the motor activity of a person is disturbed and a rather strong pain syndrome is noted.
It is important to treat this disease in a timely manner at the first minor symptoms, avoiding further destruction of the joint.
The patient should remember that the success of the treatment of osteoarthritis depends more on his efforts, activity, and not on drugs.