Complaints & connections · borters.ch
Wear does not mean standstill: movement feeds the cartilage, sparing it does harm.
Also known as: osteoarthritis · joint wear
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
Cartilage has neither nerves nor blood vessels: it lives on movement, which presses fluid in and out of it. As it thins, the joint surfaces rub more, the bone underneath reacts, and the joint capsule becomes inflamed in phases. That is exactly why the old term “wear” only half fits — osteoarthritis is not mere abrasion but a remodelling that has phases. Typical is start-up pain: the first steps after sitting hurt, after a few minutes it gets better, towards evening and after long loading worse again. Morning stiffness is short, usually under half an hour — which distinguishes it from inflammatory rheumatism. Mainly affected are knee, hip, base of the thumb and the end joints of the fingers. And probably the most important sentence: movement does not harm cartilage, it feeds it. Resting feels right in the short term and worsens things in the medium term, because the muscles that guide the joint waste away. What the X-ray shows, moreover, says surprisingly little about how much it hurts.
Pain in the knuckles of index and middle finger, with tiredness and slightly raised liver values: this combination belongs checked once for iron overload. Two blood values are enough, and treatment is simple if one is early.
Visceral fat usually goes first when overall weight drops.
Promote storage in the abdominal area.
Regularly, joint-friendly, without impact — cycling, water, walking. The most effective measure there is.
They take load off. For the knee it is mainly the front thigh.
A marked image with little pain and the reverse are both common.
At the knee every kilo acts several times over when walking — small steps show a clear effect.
Hot water bottle, cherry stone cushion or a warm bath, 20 to 30 minutes, several times a day — and move afterwards, do not stay lying down.
Roll white cabbage leaves until juice appears, lay them around the joint, fix with a cloth, for one or several hours or overnight.
Painkillers damp the pain, steroid injections the inflammation in the joint. Cartilage does not grow back from either. What shapes the course is the muscle around the joint and body weight — both measurable and both in your own hands.
From sixty-five, about half of all people show signs on the X-ray — and a large share of them have no symptoms at all. Image and pain diverge widely; the person is treated, not the picture.
Apply a hazelnut-sized amount of comfrey ointment thinly to the sore spot three to four times a day and let it soak in.
The first steps are the worst, then it improves.
Longer and in both hands would be a different picture.
Load-dependent — unlike inflammatory rheumatism.
The joint no longer fully straightens or bends.
An activated flare — it passes and does not justify lasting rest.
Clearly worthwhile and well studied when deficient; fewer data for the wider uses. Fat-soluble — check blood levels at high doses.
After menopause knee osteoarthritis increases distinctly faster in women than in men of the same age. Cartilage has receptors for this hormone — the link is described, no treatment is derived from it.
Excess weight does not act only through weight here: fat tissue releases leptin, and it is found in raised amounts in the joint fluid. That explains why hand joints, which carry nothing, also become arthritic.
With type 2 diabetes osteoarthritis appears earlier and more markedly, independent of weight. Sugar attaching to cartilage collagen makes it more brittle — the same reaction as with the long-term sugar value.
Less joint load has the biggest effect.
Cartilage lives on the right amount of load — resting speeds up the breakdown.
Much used for joint pain; absorption stays low without fat and pepper.
Long a component of gels against joint pain. The effect is local and lasts hours; none of it acts on the cartilage.
Expensive and traditionally used for bruises and swelling. With osteoarthritis movement and strength bring more than any oil — inconvenient and true nonetheless.
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