Osteoarthritis is the mechanical degradation of a joint cartilage.
Risk factors
- Primary osteoarthritis risk factors
- Increasing age
- Obesity
- Family history
- Female gender
- Sports activities
- Secondary osteoarthritis causes
- Pre-existing joint damage: trauma, RA, gout, spondyloarthropathy, septic arthritis, Pagetβs disease, avascular necrosis
- Metabolic disease: chondrocalcinosis, haemochromatosis, acromegaly
- Systemic disease: haemophilia (haemarthrosis), neuropathy, haemoglobinopathy
Clinical features
Symptoms
- Joint pain: worse on exercise and relieved by rest, morning pain <30 minutes
- Commonly affected joints: knees, hips, interphalangeal joints of fingers, carpometacarpal joint of thumb
Signs
- Crepitus
- Pain on movement
- Reduced range of movement
- May be bony swellings (osteophytes), joint instability, joint effusions
- Characteristic hand deformities: Heberdenβs nodes, Bouchardβs nodes, squaring of carpometacarpal joint of thumb
Investigations
- X-Rays
- Bloods: FBC, CRP/ESR
- Only useful for ruling out inflammatory and infectious causes (inflammatory markers not raised in osteoarthritis)
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Management
- Conservative: exercise, physiotherapy, weight loss, mobility aids, supportive footwear
- Analgesia: topical NSAID, then oral NSAID if required
- Intra-articular corticosteroid injections
- Joint replacement aims to reduce pain and improve mobility
Reference: NICE βNG226 Osteoarthritis in over 16s: diagnosis and managementβ 2022
Questions for you
What are the classical features of osteoarthritis on an X-ray?
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