Health Education

With the change of social structure and the progression of technology, the average life span of human is extended, which leads to the increase of aged population. Knee osteoarthritis is very common in aged population. So far more than three hundred thousand people suffer from knee joint pain in Taiwan. Knee joint pain causes inconvenience in daily routines, such as pain from walking, difficulty getting up and down the stairs, and not able to use crouch style restroom. Knee joint pain impacts social functions, interpersonal relationship, and health due to lower mobility, even causes deformation in lower limbs and fractures when falling.

Patients with degenerative joint disease have narrowed gap in knee due to worn cartilage or the gap is closed and lead to joint deformation. When the joint cartilage is worn, the bone underneath is exposed, causing friction and impact that leads to pain. Spur might occur due to the joint’s long-term weight bearing. Cartilage wear sometimes might create corpus liberum. Spur and corpus liberum may cause foreign objection sensation irritation, inflammation pain, or synovitis.

Acute onset of synovitis can cause red swelling and edema in knee and make patients too painful to walk.

We use conservative treatment for early stage of degeneration, such as proper rest, taking NSAID, heat compression, rehab, or weight loss. The other options for patients with mild to medium intensity of joint disease include hyaluronic acid injection in joint and taking glucoseamine. When rest, medication, or other conservative treatments cannot relieve the pain, surgery is recommended.