Diseases of the musculoskeletal system: osteoarthrosis of the shoulder joint

Osteoarthrosis of the shoulder joint is a disease accompanied by a lesion of the connective tissue of the joint. When moving the articular cartilage serves as a shock absorber. This work reduces the pressure on the surface of the articulating bones, which provides them a smooth soft sliding next to each other.

Articular cartilage consists of connective tissue. Throughout life, from constant loads and friction during movement, the muscle fibers are abraded, injured and destroyed. At a young age, they recover well, but over the years this process becomes more and more difficult due to various violations of blood supply. Cartilage tissue is gradually depleted. This leads to the formation of a disease such as osteoarthrosis of the shoulder joint.

Symptoms of this disease are quite clear. There is inflammation, swelling and severe pain. The disease is accompanied by a violation of the movement of the limb, when leaning shoulder to the side there are strong painful sensations. Depending on the severity of the symptoms, osteoarthritis has several degrees, each of which is characterized by the level of depletion of the joint tissue.

Osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint of the 1st degree is the initial stage of the disease. There is a decrease in the elasticity of the cartilage. The connective tissue is loosened and softened. The disease is manifested by the following symptoms: swelling, pain, stiffness of movement. Of course, it is important that the disease is identified at this stage, since the damage is still insignificant, which means that the treatment will be very effective.

Osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint of the 2nd degree is characterized by the formation of cracks and erosions. The cartilage tissue is depleted and softened. The breaking of the surface layer is observed. Damage has not yet touched the deep sections of cartilage and bone. The person has all the signs of the inflammatory process.

In the third stage, cracks and erosions deepen, and sclerosis zones of the subchondral bone are formed. There are abnormal growths of cartilaginous and bone tissue. At the fourth stage, an outcrop of the bone with pronounced presence of deformations is revealed.

Unfortunately, to date, osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint can not be cured completely. But the pathological changes in cartilage can be stopped. Treatment of this disease is primarily aimed at reducing the pain syndrome and removing the inflammatory process. If the disease is not started and is at an early stage - ordinary tablets of paracetamol can help. If the disease progresses, then anti-inflammatory non-steroid agents are prescribed. The most famous of them - drugs "Nimesulide", "Naproxen" and "Diclofenac." They are aimed not only at removing pain, but also significantly relieve inflammation in the joint. If the osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint has already affected the bone tissue, and the cartilage is very thin, the intraarticular blockade is made. In this case, directly into the joint, corticosteroids are administered.