Shoulder joint osteoarthritis is accompanied by swelling, severe shoulder pain, 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 shoulder arthritis
The shoulder joint is quite complex in structure and the most mobile of all, providing the human body with the most complete range of motion. The shoulder joint capsule is capable of stretching with great force, so a person can lift the arm vertically and make rotational movements with it. This activity weakens the ligaments and, as a result of the accentuated flexion of the tendons, there is usually mild ischemia in them.
It is the lack of nutrition of the joint tissue that carries the main threat of its destruction and drives the development of pathology.
The disease, which mainly expresses itself in the degeneration of the tissues of the shoulder joint, is called arthrosis of the shoulder joint or arthrosis of the shoulder. The biomechanics of the shoulder is built on the impeccable work of all components: normal nerve conduction, good blood supply, impeccable 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, first of all, 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 that covers the head of the bone becomes thinner. By becoming less elastic and thinner, the hyaline cartilage makes normal movement difficult, causing the joint space to narrow.
This phenomenon causes the body to spring into action, and bony bulges called osteophytes form around the edges of the joint. It is the osteophytes that injure the muscles and ligaments with their sharp edges, causing slow chronic inflammation.
The main danger of osteoarthritis lies in the fact that a slight restriction of hand mobility invariably leads to a decrease in range of motion.
Without moving, the shoulder begins to suffer from the accumulation of salts in the tissues around the joint and the deterioration of the nutrition of the joint tissues. Over time, this is fraught with joint contracture formation - limiting the possibility of movement or complete loss of shoulder mobility and patient disability.
Causes of shoulder osteoarthritis
The sole cause of osteoarthritis of the shoulder is deep ischemia, that is, a marked or gradual deterioration in the blood supply to certain areas of the tissues and 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 obvious injuries resulting from a car accident or fall, as well as hidden injuries to muscles and ligaments received in the process of sports training or hard work. Any joint injury always has the ability to remember itself, since the affected areas are not restored to their full size and conduction in them is invariably disturbed. For several years or decades, the body can successfully deal with this until the onset of aging occurs.
- Age-related changes in the body.
- Infectious attacks that cause 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 goes through several stages. As osteoarthritis is a chronic disease that progresses quite slowly, the first stage, during which the joint deformity can be dealt with more effectively, is ignored by most patients.
- First stage symptoms. For the first time, the patient may feel some discomfort when moving the hand, already with thinning of the hyaline cartilage. A sharp rocking or jerking is not accompanied by pain, this is due to the fact that there are no nerve endings in the cartilage, and their destruction does not lead to pain. But sometimes at night or at the end of training, shoulder pain starts to bother you. Often they don't 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, it will enter the second stage.
- Second stage symptoms. If the patient feels pain when moving the hand, accompanied by a clearly audible click, it means that osteophytes have formed in the joint. From this moment on, the shoulder is constantly injured by the sharp edges of the bony protuberances, which causes inflammation of the surrounding tissues. This is expressed by morning stiffness, which disappears only after joint development, or pain with habitual physical exertion or night fatigue.
A person's well-being worsens as a chronic focus of inflammation in the body affects the overall condition. At night, in wet weather, out of season, the joint may hurt more intensely.
The patient clearly limits the volume and range of arm movements and cannot raise it more than ninety degrees, both in the frontal and lateral planes. This leads to muscle atrophy and a significant deterioration in joint tissue nutrition.
- Symptoms of Stage Three. 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, does not retract to the side, the joint swells and increases. Muscles atrophy and the pain syndrome is so severe that when you try to lift your hand, your fingers tremble. In most cases, the presence of contractures in the shoulder joint, the "frozen shoulder" syndrome, is observed.
Ways to treat osteoarthritis of the shoulder
In fact, it is impossible to cure osteoarthritis, and even more, 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 early treatment of shoulder arthrosis, when the joint tissue is only partially destroyed, there are no osteophytes and you can try to restore normal nutrition to the joint.
Conservative therapy
The treatment of osteoarthritis 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 intake of nutrients in the tissues depends on what the patient eats. The diet for osteoarthritis should exclude salt and alcohol. Meat and vegetable products containing purine bases, which increase the uric acid content 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 regular gelatin in jelly form helps to enrich the menu with animal collagen.
- Local application of various anti-inflammatory and chondroitin-containing warming ointments and balms activates blood circulation to the tissues around the joint.
- If the pain syndrome is mild, the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is not recommended. If hand movements are accompanied by severe pain, NSAIDs can numb and reduce inflammation. These medications can help relieve pain.
- If the shoulder swells and an inflammatory process begins on it, then a compress from the ointment, placed at night or rubbed with gels, will have an excellent effect.
- Therapeutic gymnastics is an indispensable component for the successful treatment of shoulder arthrosis. But it is not recommended to overload the joint, as poorly distributed efforts can lead to rapid destruction of the hyaline cartilage.
Therapeutic exercises for shoulder arthrosis and the rules for their implementation
Special exercises will help to develop the joint, giving 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;
- performing exercises smoothly and without much effort. This is necessary so as not to further damage the joint structures;
- obtaining moral pleasure during physical activity, which will contribute to the normalization of the patient's emotional state.
Exercise therapy exercises are recommended, in which hand movements do not cause pain. They are performed slowly, forcing the ligaments and muscles to gradually warm up and stretch.
- We offer the simplest and most useful exercises for osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint:
- Sitting in a chair, place your hands on your knees. Make circular movements with your shoulders: 5 times forward and 5 times backwards.
- Raise your straight arms, pull your shoulders and shoulder blades back as high as possible. Hold for a few seconds, then lower. Repeat 5-7 times.
- Straight arms with palms down apart. Bend the wrists at the wrists, the fingers should look up. Make circular movements with your shoulders: 5 times forward and 5 times backwards.
- Raise your bent arms above your head, while the fingers of one should be on the elbows of the opposite hand. Gently move your arms back until you feel a stretch in your shoulder joint. Perform the exercise 5-7 times.
- Place your palms together behind your head with the backs of your hands pointing down. Move your arms so that your palms fall along your back to the area between your shoulder blades. Repeat the exercise 5-7 times.
- Place your left hand on your right elbow, move your right hand as far as possible over your left shoulder until you feel a stretch in your 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, manual therapy, physiotherapy and spa treatment are recognized as effective. The use of traditional medicine methods is also considered justified.
Folk remedies and help at home
The main folk remedy for treating osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint is herbal medicine, which allows the use of dried herbs and herbal decoctions for compresses, preparation of ointments and rubs at home to normalize metabolism and restore joint nutrition, in order to reduce pain.
- Ointment. Take 10 grams of dried hop leaves, sweet clover, St. John's wort. Finely chop the herbs and grind, add Vaseline and mix all the ingredients well. 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 the crushed marsh rosemary flowers. Then you need to insist the medicine in a warm and dark place for 24 hours. The tincture is used externally to rub the affected joints.
- Decoction. Corn sticks (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 prepare 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 - massage, manual therapy sessions, osteopathy - allow you to eliminate muscle blocks, tensions and spasms, freeing the blood vessels and nerves that lead to the joint.
- Physiotherapy, in particular, shock wave therapy, balneotherapy, mud therapy and other methods are not recommended during an exacerbation, i. e. when an active inflammatory process is taking place in the joint.
- Remission is an excellent reason for a spa treatment, after which there is lasting improvement.
Surgical treatment of shoulder osteoarthritis
With a pronounced pain syndrome that prevents the patient from leading a normal life, the doctor may recommend surgery.
Most often, prostheses are performed, that is, the destroyed joint is replaced by an endoprosthesis. If possible, partial arthroplasty is performed, altering only some part of the shoulder joint.
Surgery is resorted to in rare cases, as any surgical intervention, especially associated with the installation of an intra-articular prosthesis, can lead to complications and a long recovery period.
Osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint is an insidious and dangerous disease in which a person's motor activity is disturbed and a rather severe pain syndrome is observed.
It is important to treat this disease in a timely manner at the first minor symptoms, preventing further destruction of the joint.
The patient must remember that the success of osteoarthritis treatment depends more on their efforts, activity and not on drugs.