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Chondrosis: Signs and Symptoms, Home Remedies

Chondrosis is the cartilage breakdown of the soft connective tissues in your joints. It happens due to excessive use, damage, and age factor. Commonly regarded as osteoarthritis, it usually attacks the knees, hands, hips, neck, and lower backbone. If you suffer from this condition, you will experience constant pain and stiffness in your joints. It is a fact that this condition is incurable, but the ideal treatment will help slow the development of the illness, provide comfort, and re-establish mobility.

What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of Chondrosis?

When your connective tissue gets damaged, your knee joins, palms, hip joints, and lower spine may experience issues. While general signs and symptoms include:

  • Severe pain

  • Restricted mobility

  • Unpleasant feeling

  • Stiffness In your lumbar region and cervical spinal column

What Are The Types Of Chondrosis?

This condition can develop in any joint, but some common targets are as follows:

1- Knees

If you are an athlete or obese, you are more likely to experience wear and tear on your knees. Hence, you may suffer from tricompartmental osteoarthritis. The cartilage encapsulates your bones and cushions the sliding movements, but with constant use, it gradually wears away leading to chondromalacia patella. However, suppose you have chondromalacia patellar knee discomfort.

2- Pain Behind The Knee

A handful of people may also experience knee stiffness, swollen knee, or joint deformity. Sometimes, if you ignore the symptoms, it can lead to loss of muscle strength or quadriceps tendon pain. Also, this condition also impacts the knee’s range of motion that includes:

So, if you have Chondrosis, you may suffer from limited knee ROM.

3- Hands

Bone spurs may form in your finger joints, making them inflamed and sensitive. A majority of the patients suffer from intense pain at the thumb base. The cartilage collapse in the hands damages fine motor skills for everyday activities including writing, binding shoelaces, grabbing items, buttoning shirts, and typing.

4- Hips

Your hips are a weight-holding ball and hollow joint with cartilage that shapes the internal surface and allows perfect and easy movements. However, if the cartilage begins to break down, the friction among bones causes bone spurs. At the same time, Hip Rheumatoid Arthritis can affect your joint and lead to difficulty walking, intense pain, stiffness, and inflammation.

5- Neck

Osteoarthritis that develops in your spine and neck is referred to as cervical spondylosis. Among every vertebra of your backbone, the cartilage cushion shields the bones from forces against each other. When this collapses, the swelling and pain can make it challenging for you to enjoy a comfortable sleep or perform routine activities.

6- Lower Backbone

A significant part of the spinal pain is short-term and settles within. However, Chondroitin in the spine is one of the many probable reasons for chronic backbone pain that does not vanish with time. As the cartilage deteriorates, bone spurs form and can “pinch” the nerves in the lower backbone. This leads to numbness, compromised sensation, tingling, shooting ache or burning feeling, or needle sensation that radiates all over.

7- Cervical Spine

Having synchondrosis in the cervical spine can lead to the following:

  • visual damage

  • tinnitus

  • pains

  • faintness

What Are The Associated Risks?

Osteoarthritis of the knee is usually linked to particular types of exercises or being overweight. Every pound of weight in the upper body sets four-pound pressure on the knee joint. 

An endurance athlete who covers long distances is likely to get joint pain. Fast-paced athletics that demand fast and dynamic movements are also challenging for the knees.

Though high-impact exertions enhance the risk of Chondrosis, an inactive lifestyle can be an equal risk. If you have a low muscle tone, you won’t be able to support joints so you will have to bear more stress when you do daily life activities.

Osteoarthritis is common in individuals when they cross the age of 50 years. As you age, your cartilage tends to break down. Also, your genetics also play a significant role, mainly when triggered by soreness. 

However, your bone structure can impact the probability of Chondrosis. For instance, it is likely to occur in people with trivial hip sockets, suffering from a condition known as hip dysplasia.

When you perform the repetitive motion, it leads to joint overuse with time and can damage the cartilage. At the same time, this damage can also occur during an injury or surgery.

What Are The Stages Of Chondrosis?

Stage 0 – Normal: It is when your knee or other joint has no sign, and you enjoy a normal length.

Stage 1 – Trivial: You may experience minor wear and tear, and the bone spur grows at the knee end. you may feel slight pain or discomfort.

Stage 2 – Mild: The bone spur growth will be more than the trivial stage. Although, the bone spaces seem to be normal. However, you may experience joint pain and stiffness.

Stage 3 – Modest: In this stage, you may experience significant cartilage deterioration among bones. While fibrillation tightens the gap between the bones.

Stage 4 – Severe: In the severe stage, the joint space among the bones is notably reduced, making the cartilage wear off, and making the joint stiff. You may also experience a severe inflammatory response that adds to pain and discomfort.

What Are Some Helpful Home Remedies & Lifestyle Changes?

When osteoarthritis is diagnosed in the early stages (before it aggravates), managing the symptoms with home remedies and lifestyle changes is possible. If you suffer from hand, knee, or hip osteoarthritis, you can follow this to improve your condition:

1- Exercising

The best solution is regular exercise. You may follow tai chi, yoga, and balance exercise. A physical therapist can teach you safe exercises to fortify muscles encircling the affected joint to enjoy support and strength better to prevent more damage. This helps ease pain, and support functions, movements, and recovery.

2- Orthotics and Supports

It would be ideal if you used the supportive brace on your damaged joint or use a cane. You can also try acupuncture, heat, and therapeutic cooling. By providing support to your joints, you prevent further wear and tear.

3- Occupational Therapy

An occupational therapist can provide a guideline to shield your joints. It is imperative if your job is contributing to the issue. Making your workspace ergonomically safe can help regulate pain, particularly in the neck, backbone, and wrists.

4- Weight Loss

High blood sugar thickens and deteriorates cartilage, making it more susceptible to damage or arthritis. If you undergo this condition, it is highly recommended that you work on reducing weight. Your doctor may recommend it as an osteoarthritis treatment plan. Less weight reduces extra stress on your joints and joint inflammation that contributes to arthritis.

If you have diabetes, regulating blood sugar levels through food and lifestyle choices can reduce the development of osteoarthritis. Also, you may suffer from inflammation and joint pain in fort worth.

What To Expect From The Doctor?

1- Non-Surgical Methods

If you suffer from this condition, your doctor may recommend over-the-counter medicines and non-surgical methods to help reduce joint pain and inflammation. Other treatments your doctor may suggest include injections injected directly into affected joints.

Apart from this, the doctor may recommend creams for temporary pain liberation along with supplements to strengthen your bones and joints. Supplements do take a few months to show results.

2- Surgical Methods

When this condition leads to severe pain or restricted mobility, a surgical procedure can provide the permanent and best treatment. High pain medication might not be best for your health, and neither will you be able to exercise or enjoy a good night’s sleep.

If your current risks and treatment plan become highly ineffective, your doctor may recommend surgery. Hence, you must consult a specialist to know the ins and outs of the procedure that best suits your condition.

Surgery comprises many steps like arthroscopic surgery that help eliminate swollen tissues, followed by equilibrium or replacement of damaged cartilage.

If you have undergone joint surgery, you will have a long road to surgery that requires a commitment to therapy. So, you should take excellent care of your health and ensure you are in your best condition before the surgery, so it will provide you the maximum chance of successful recovery.

As you know, prevention is always better than cure. So, you should try to shield your joints from damage in the early years of life, as this will ease things as you age.

Sometimes, the factors that support the development of osteoarthritis are not in your control. In this case, lifestyle changes help slow it down. However, if things still escalate, the doctor recommends surgery. It will undoubtedly enhance your quality of life.

So, when it comes to your health, you should always consult the best pain specialists in Dallas. Premier Pain Centers is a leading institution that offers multidisciplinary pain management. Our qualified doctors use cutting-edge pain relief methods to ensure your health and safety.

Dr. Rao K. Ali M.D.

Dr. Rao Ali, a board-certified pain management physician, leads the clinic, which specializes in nonsurgical treatment. The physician has experience in the emergency room as well as training in pain management and rehabilitation. As a personal physician, he works with each patient to develop a treatment plan that will minimize or eliminate their pain. Providing expert diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of conditions, Pain Management In Dallas, PA provides a comprehensive range of services. These services include neck pain, back pain, hip and knee pain, fibromyalgia, neuropathy, complex regional pain syndrome, headaches, migraines, and many others.