Therapeutic exercise (physical therapy): diseases — симптомы, диагностика и лечение

Osteoarthritis of the knee joint is the gradual destruction of articular cartilage, due to which the bones begin to rub against each other. This is the most common cause of knee pain in people over 45 years of age. Modern medicine cannot restore already lost cartilage, and this should be understood immediately - so as not to spend years on products that promise to “grow cartilage.” But it is quite possible to slow down the destruction, remove pain and maintain mobility, and in severe cases, endoprosthetics returns a person to normal life.

A herniated disc is the release of the internal contents of the disc beyond its outer ring. The diagnosis sounds alarming, and most patients immediately think about surgery. In reality, the picture is different: a significant proportion of hernias exist asymptomatically, and of those that cause pain, the majority resolve conservatively within 6-12 weeks. Moreover, large hernias and sequesters often decrease or completely resolve on their own - the body “digests” them. Surgery is necessary for a minority, but there are a few situations where delay is unacceptable.

Scoliosis is a three-dimensional deformation of the spine with lateral curvature and rotation of the vertebrae. Most often it is idiopathic, that is, it develops without an established cause, and appears during a period of rapid growth, much more often in girls. The main feature of scoliosis is that it progresses during the child’s growth and stops after its completion. Therefore, timing is everything: scoliosis detected in time can be supported with a corset, but if missed, it will require surgery. Posture and “correct sitting” have almost no effect on true scoliosis, and it’s worth knowing this so as not to waste months.

Osteoporosis is a disease in which bone density decreases and bones become brittle. It is called a “silent epidemic”: it does not hurt and does not give any symptoms for years, and the first manifestation is often a fracture with minimal trauma - a fall from one’s own height or even an awkward movement. A hip fracture is especially dangerous in the elderly: it dramatically changes the quality of life and is associated with high mortality during the first year. In this case, osteoporosis is detected by a simple test and is well treated.

Flat feet is a flattening of the longitudinal or transverse arch of the foot, in which it partially loses the ability to spring and absorb shock with each step. More misconceptions have accumulated around this diagnosis than around any other orthopedic topic. The main one concerns children: until about five or six years of age, a child’s flat foot is not a disease, but a normal stage of development, because the arch at this age is covered with a fat pad, and the ligaments are physiologically elastic. The second misconception concerns adults: it is believed that any flat feet need to be treated with insoles. In fact, painless flat feet that do not interfere with walking and working most often do not require any treatment at all. But the arch, which began to fall after forty years on one leg and is accompanied by pain on the inside of the ankle, is a completely different situation, and it needs to be taken seriously.

Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammation of the joints of the spine and sacroiliac joints, which, without treatment, gradually limits the mobility of the back. It begins early, more often in men between the ages of twenty and forty, and almost always with the same complaint - lower back pain. This is why it is not recognized for so long: back pain is usually explained by osteochondrosis, sedentary work or lifting heavy objects. Meanwhile, this pain can be distinguished from ordinary pain already at the first appointment, because it behaves in the opposite way: it intensifies at rest and in the second half of the night, wakes a person up in the morning, is accompanied by many hours of stiffness and decreases not with rest, but with movement. From the first symptoms to diagnosis, on average, it takes from five to seven years - and this, in fact, is the main problem of the disease, because it is during these years that treatment would be most effective.

Cerebral palsy is a group of permanent movement and posture disorders caused by damage to the immature brain before birth, during childbirth, or in the first months of life. The key thing that parents need to understand is that brain damage itself does not progress - it happened once and does not increase. Something else changes: the child grows, and without work, secondary problems form - contractures, dislocations, deformities. That is why early and regular rehabilitation treatment determines the result more than any drugs.