In general: prophylactic countermeasures and an early initiation of the therapy against the early manifestation of (gon-) arthrosis, should be taken into consideration as very beneficial.. Ideally, the progression of the condition can be strongly reduced to provide more ‘joie-de-vivre’ through painless mobility.
Therapy options for gonarthrosis
Currently it appears, there is no healing for osteoarthritis (of the knee joint). The treatment is therefore aimed at pain-relief countermeasures, an enhancement of the quality of life for the affected patient and the mobility of the affected joint. Taken overall, the progression of the condition should be reduced. This is particularly of benefit when the patient is young and threatened joint replacement surgery should be delayed.
Therapy options for osteoarthritis are targeted at the stage of the condition already reached. There are four recognized degrees of osteoarthritis.
Therapy options at the early stages of gonarthrosis
A first degree condition of gonosteoarthritis is treated on an ambulant basis. A patient is usually provided with information about the condition and of possible treatment options. The best options put together for a patient would inevitably be physiotherapy, muscle development and changes of behavior. To enable any form of painless mobility at the early stages of the condition, an injection therapy is to be considered as the most interesting option, because movement tends to lead to the nourishment of the cartilage and physical rest considered as damaging.
In the 2nd stage of gonarthrosis, an arthroscopic medical examination is often recommended, which originally served as a diagnosis but then turned out, in some cases to be a beneficial therapy. Degenerated or injured tissue is removed and the synovial cavity of the knee joint is rinsed. The application of hyaluronic acid can provide extra pain relief (and as required, administered at alternative intervals to arthroscopic medical examinations), or employed as an entire alternative to arthroscopy. Treatments with Crespine Gel are in particular beneficially suitable, especially for the therapy of early stages of the gonarthrosis.
Hyaluronic acid as an option for the early stage conditions of gonarthrosis
The purpose of the hyaluronic acid injection with Crespine Gel at an early stage (1st and 2nd degree) of osteoarthritis, is primarily to counteract the progression of knee joint-pain early on and to protect the still existent but partly degenerated cartilage and thus avoid further degeneration. The patient is thus provided with pain relief to encourage him or her to keep mobile. In individual cases, and dependent on the cause of the osteoarthritis, it has to be decided in coordination with the attending medical practitioner, as to whether mobility as such is the right way forward for the patient.
Diagnosis of early stages of the gonarthrosis condition
An excellent method for the early recognition of the gonarthrosis, is the ‘NIR’ – Near Infra-Red – spectroscopic examination. Osteoarthritis at an early stage can be detected by this procedure. At the early stages, no degeneration in the joint cartilage can be complained,, and the initial change process occurs at the molecular level. At such an early stage, the osteoarthritis can be well counteracted. Crespine Gel is also particularly suitable for an early gonarhrosis therapy.
Therapy options at late and later stages of the gonarthrosis
In cases of an advanced degree of gonarthrosis, at stage 3 the question arises of a possible periarticular osteotomy intervention for some selected patients (the surgical treatment of the joint-vicinity bone). Other patients would see themselves confronted with an approaching form of surgery treatment in the future. At earlier stages however, therapy with stabilized hyaluronic acid such as Crespine Gel, would be particularly meaningful. As a result of the networking of the molecules among themselves, a gel implant such as Crespine Gel would be introduced to cover the cartilage protectively. An injection in time of acute inflammation should however be avoided at any time. It should, of course be emphasized, that an efficient medical clarification should be a prerequisite of any therapy option. Each individual is special, and a wise medical practitioner will use his or her specialists knowledge and experience in the assessment of any particular individual case in order to ensure a satisfactory treatment result for the patient as well as for him- or herself.
A 4th stage condition of gonarthrosis would necessitate an endoprosthetic replacement of the knee joint. This becomes necessary when no further pain relief is possible by injections, lubrication or arthroscopic intervention.
Hyaluronic acid treatment as a therapy option for late stage gonarthrosis
The hyaluronic acid in Crespine Gel can, potentially also assist in delaying the necessity of an operation for advanced stages. In coordination with an experienced specialist, such an option can be clarified and taken into consideration under existent prerequisites. The joint should, of course be free of any inflammation at the point in time of the injection and the joint-line should be able to allow such an intervention. Feedback from some patients indicate that passive resting pain was able to be relieved in some cases, and those patients who sought to avoid operative joint replacement, were able to experience satisfactory and sufficient pain relief.