Risk of osteoarthritis gets increased due to certain risk factors. Joint injuries are among the modifiable risk factors that can be a cause for the development of osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis due to joint injuries is known as Post-traumatic osteoarthritis. It is caused due to the wear out of a joint which had any physical injury. The injury can be due to sports, road accident, a fall or any other physical trauma. Such injuries may damage the cartilage and bone thus, it changes the mechanism of the joint. Therefore wearing-out is accelerated due to continued injury and overweight.
Vigorous physical activity elevates the risk of joint injuries which may damage the articular cartilage which creates the bearing surfaces of synovial joints. Mostly the degeneration of a synovial joint after injury causes joint dysfunction and pain which is the clinical syndrome of post-traumatic osteoarthritis. In many people, post-traumatic osteoarthritis takes years to destroy the articular cartilage. The symptoms of post-traumatic osteoarthritis can be joint pain, swelling and difficulty in walking, sports, climbing stairs and other activities which stress on the affected joint.
The maximum joint injuries occur in sportspersons. Sports participation may injure joints by destroying the articular surface by single or repeated impact. Such injuries may result in post-traumatic osteoarthritis. Joint injuries can be due to impact loads which arise as a result of blows applied directly to the joint or due to twisting or turning of the joint surfaces. Loading can also damage articular cartilage and the calcified cartilage.
The risk of post-traumatic osteoarthritis can be decreased by appropriate diagnosis and treatment of the injury. Selection of sports, exercises and training which avoids high-intensity impact loading and injury can help to preserve normal joint function and structure. Maintenance and improvement of muscle strength and tone can be helpful in preventing joint injury.
Post-traumatic osteoarthritis can be prevented by taking precautions for joint injuries. If you cannot prevent them then surgical treatment of the injuries can be done to restore the injured joint. However, we cannot eliminate the post-traumatic osteoarthritis, but we can prevent them by keeping few things in mind such as, learning proper techniques of sports to prevent joint injuries and maintaining normal body weight to prevent joint damage due to accidental falls. Many joint injuries occur when an obese person falls and hurts a joint due to the excess body weight of a person. Also, a sportsperson is much more liable to have joint injuries that can be due to the wrong usage of the joint or wrong movement of joint.
