Page 28 - Waterfall_Issue 6_2022

Waterfall News

DOC, I CAN’T WALK!

By Dr Frank Peters, Orthopaedic Surgeon, Netcare Waterfall City Hospital

‘‘D oc, I am struggling to the healthy tissue and cartilage

of the joints. This then leads to
walk” is one of the most
common complaints
the degeneration of the cartilage
that patients describe
when I see them. There are a lot of and subsequent joint pain.
different illnesses and diseases that can Post-traumatic arthritis
lead to this complaint and explaining Post-traumatic arthritis occurs after
all of them will most probably take up an injury to the knee joint. The most
all the pages of this magazine. Hence, common causes are fractures that
I’ve focused this article on a common form due to ligament injuries to the
disease: Osteoarthritis of the knee. knee, or where the cartilage cap
gets damaged. The ligaments act
WHAT IS ARTHRITIS? as stabilisers to the knee joint, and
Arthritis is a disease that affects the when they get injured, there is a
cartilage of joints. The cartilage is disruption of the normal biomechanics,
the shiny, slippery coating that sits Dr Frank Peters which could cause inflammation
at the end of all bones and forms a and thinning of the cartilage.
smooth surface between two adjacent
bones. This gives us the ability to Arthritis is a progressive disease, and SYMPTOMS OF KNEE
walk smoothly without pain. there is currently no cure to stop its OSTEOARTHRITIS
progression. There are, however, some Pain
In the knee joint, the cartilage sits at things that one can do to slow down By far, the most common symptom of
the bottom end of the thighbone or the progression, but more of this later. osteoarthritis of the knee is a painful
femur. The femur articulates with the joint. The pain varies from mildly
top of the shinbone or tibia and the DIFFERENT TYPES OF uncomfortable to the stage where
bottom of the kneecap or patella. The ARTHRITIS the pain can wake you up at night.
knee joint is thus a three-in-one joint Osteoarthritis In addition, the pain can worsen due
with articulation surfaces on the inside Osteoarthritis, also referred to as to certain movements and during
of the knee, the outside of the knee, degenerative arthritis, is by far the prolonged standing or walking.
and the top front end of the knee. most common form of arthritis, and it
is postulated that around 250 million Stiffness of the knee joint
When a patient has arthritis, people worldwide suffer from this This is most evident in the
the cartilage gets inflamed and condition. About 60% of people mornings when you wake up and
deteriorates and this leads to above the age of 60 have some form can lead to difficulty bending
discomfort and pain. The cartilage then of osteoarthritis of the knee. The wear or straightening the knee.
slowly starts to wear away, causing and tear progresses gradually over the
the joint surface to become smaller years, so there is a higher presence in Locking of the knee
until, eventually, there is no cartilage the ageing population. With advances This occurs when the cartilage
left. The result is that you end up in medical science, people tend to live gets disrupted, and the smooth
with bone-on-bone articulation. This longer, and this is one reason that more articulation surfaces catch.
exposes the nerve endings of the bone, people will end up with osteoarthritis
which leads to more severe pain in the in one or more of their joints. Crepitus
knee. It could also result in deformities This happens when the cartilage is
within the knee joint, especially when Rheumatoid arthritis destroyed, and the bony surfaces
one side of the joint wears more Rheumatoid arthritis, on the other rub against each other. Most
than the other, giving rise to knock hand, is an autoimmune disease patients describe this condition
knees or the bowing of the knees. where the immune system attacks as a feeling of sand in the knee.

26 Waterfall Issue 6 2022