<< Back to: Pain in the hip | < Diagnostic imaging

What is Hip Arthritis / Hip Wear?

Osteoarthritis / joint wear in the hip is called coxarthrosis in the technical language. The hip joint consists of the hip socket, which is part of the pelvis, and the femur of the femur. Both the hip socket and the hip ball are "clad" with smooth cartilage which ensures that movements take place with the least possible resistance.

Osteoarthritis (osteoarthritis) of the hip is, as the name suggests, wear and tear changes in the hip joint, usually caused by old age. Clinicians sometimes use the term coxarthrosis. Medical history and findings at the medical examination will give strong suspicion of the diagnosis, and it can be confirmed by an X-ray examination.
The hip joint is the joint in the body where osteoarthritis occurs most frequently. Elderly patients often see x-ray wear, but only a small proportion of these patients have symptoms. So osteoarthritis detected on X-ray does not mean major ailments. 90% of patients over the age of 65 who complain of hip pain have osteoarthritis of the hip joint. Each year, approx. 6.500 hip prostheses in Norway, of which 15% are reoperations.

X-ray of the hip - normal versus significant cox arthrosis - Photo Wikimedia

X-ray of the hip - normal versus significant cox osteoarthritis - Photo Wikimedia

What can I do even for muscle and joint pain due to hip osteoarthritis?

1. General exercise, specific exercise, stretching and activity are recommended, but stay within the pain limit. Two walks a day of 20-40 minutes make good for the whole body and sore muscles.

2. Trigger point / massage balls we strongly recommend - they come in different sizes so you can hit well even on all parts of the body. There is no better self help than this! We recommend the following (click the image below) - which is a complete set of 5 trigger point / massage balls in different sizes:

3. Training: Specific training with training tricks of various opponents (such as this complete set of 6 knits of different resistance) can help you train strength and function. Knit training often involves more specific training, which in turn can lead to more effective injury prevention and pain reduction.

4. Pain Relief - Cooling: Biofreeze is a natural product that can relieve pain by cooling the area gently. Cooling is especially recommended when the pain is very severe. When they have calmed down then heat treatment is recommended - it is therefore advisable to have both cooling and heating available.

5. Pain Relief - Heating: Warming up tight muscles can increase blood circulation and reduce pain. We recommend the following reusable hot / cold gasket (click here to read more about it) - which can be used both for cooling (can be frozen) and for heating (can be heated in the microwave).

Recommended products for pain relief in hip osteoarthritis

Biofreeze (Cold / cryotherapy)

Causes

Osteoarthritis is a debilitating condition that destroys and breaks down the joint. Initially, the articular cartilage is destroyed. The smooth surface between the hip bowl and the femur of the femur will gradually become uneven. When walking, "joints" occur in the joint, causing pain. Eventually there will be calcification, movement becomes worse and the joint becomes stiffer.
There is a distinction between primary (age-related) and secondary hip joints. The following conditions increase the chance of having secondary osteoarthritis of the hip: obesity, previous hip or femur fractures, congenital malformations of the hip and inflammation of the hip joint.

Symptoms

Pain gradually develops in the groin and front and side of the thigh. The pain often radiates down to the knee.The pain often comes when you start to walk. They become less intense after walking for a few seconds or minutes, but then get worse after a while. A lot of stress on the legs increases the pain. Gradually, pain develops at rest and at night. By night pain the condition has come a long way. Walking distance becomes shorter, patient slips and must use cane.

Joint wear can cause symptoms in the joints in the form of joint stiffness og joint pain. One also experience soreness around the affected joint and sometimes also 'muscular guarding' in the form of tight muscles / trigger points as a result. Reduced joint movement is also common. Sometimes with significant osteoarthritis it can also be experienced as if the legs rub against each other due to lack of cartilage, so-called 'bone grinding'. Another thing that can occur in moderate to significant osteoarthritis is that the body puts down extra legs, so-called 'bone spurs'.

Osteoarthritis findings on x-ray

According to “Compendium on Rheumatology”From 1998, half of those over 65 have osteoarthritis on X-ray examination. When the age rises above 75 years, 80% have osteoarthritis findings on X-rays.

What are the risk factors for osteoarthritis?

Increased load can increase the chance of osteoarthritis / joint wear. High body weight increases the risk of osteoarthritis in weight-bearing joints such as the hip, neck and knees. Generally high load or injury from sports and work can also speed up any osteoarthritis, and for example, handball players tend to develop osteoarthritis of the knees due to injuries and repetitive strain on hard surfaces.

Prevention and treatment of osteoarthritis.

When it comes to osteoarthritis, it is best to notwidow preventive. It is difficult to do anything especially when the osteoarthritis is there first. If you are overweight you should try to lose weight as this will reduce the load on weight bearing joints. Specific training can also help delay any osteoarthritis. Joint mobilization performed by a chiropractor or manual therapist also has a proven clinical effect:

«A meta-study (French et al, 2011) showed that manual treatment of hip osteoarthritis had a positive effect in the form of pain relief and functional improvement. The study concluded that manual treatment is more effective than training in the treatment of osteoarthritis. "

Glucosamine sulfate in combination with chondroitin sulfate (Read: 'Glucosamine sulfate against wear?') have also shown effect on moderate osteoarthritis of the knees in a larger collection study (Clegg et al., 2006).

The conclusion was:

“Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate alone or in combination did not reduce pain effectively in the overall group of patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. Exploratory analyzes suggest that the combination of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate may be effective in the subgroup of patients with moderate-to-severe knee pain. "

A statistically significant improvement of 79% (in other words, 8 out of 10 improved) was seen in the group of moderate to severe (moderate-to-severe) knee pain due to osteoarthritis, but unfortunately this was of little importance when the results of this study were published. in the media. Among other things, the study was mentioned in the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association 9/06 under the heading "Glucosamine has no effect on osteoarthritis", although it had a statistically significant effect on a subgroup in the study.

One can question whether the author of the article had only relied on the articles in the daily press or read only half the study conclusion. Here is the evidence that glucosamine in combination with chondroitin sulfate has a statistically significant effect compared to placebo:

Glucosamine study

Explanation: In the third column we see the effect of glucosamine + chondroitin in combination versus the effect of placebo (sugar pills). The effect is significant as the dash (bottom of the third column) does not cross 1.0 - if it had crossed 1 this indicates zero statistical significance and the result is thus invalid.

We see that this is not the case with the combination glucosamine + chondroitin in the treatment of knee pain within the subgroup with moderate to severe pain, and questions why this has not been given more focus in relevant journals and daily press.

Also read: - Glucosamine sulfate in the treatment of osteoarthritis? Is it effective?