Steemit Learning Challenge-S21W2; Knee Osteoarthritis"

Welcome friends.
It is another interesting topic for the well under review knee Osteoarthritis has been a age related disease that has continued to affect our parents. However, this has found its way into the presence of our young becuase of sedentary lifestyles. Lets get started.

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What's knee OA? Write in your own words after getting knowledge from the lesson post.

Knee Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease that affects the knee joint. An ailment mostly common with age but this has deferred this age pattern due to the sedentary life pattern of humans. It is a gradual wear and tear that occur in the knew cartilage.

The affected knew is observed to pass through pains, stiffness during movement, and swelling sometimes. This is sometimes called old people sickness because of the age pattern but of recent, there are other causes like obsesity, injuries, and genetic factors.

When we observed the degenerative nature of the bones, the rub off on each other and hence the knee disease that comes with largely discomfort. Symptoms tend to increase as this wear and tear continues with activity. However, we can reduce this with change of lifestyle, physical therapy and medication as well as sugery.

To degress alittle further, knee OA is classified based on location, severity caused, and underlying illness. Theare the main three focal point they could be observed for possible diagnosis.

Classification by Location:

1. We have the Patellofemoral Osteoarthritis which is a situation whereby the cartilage under the patella (knee cap) is affected. When we see such effect under the knew cap, it could be linkened to be the Patella OA.

2. We have a situation where the cartilage between the femur and tibia are affected. That is between the thigh and shin bone. This dieases is called "Tibiofemoral Osteoarthritis".

3. Lastly we have a situatiin where the cartilage under thr knee cap, thigh, and shin bones are all affected. Very complicated situation called Bicompartmental Osteoarthritis.

Classification by Severity:

As the name severity, this determines the pain level of discomfort therein. We have the following;

1. The Mild Osteoarthritis stage which occurs with a very minimal cartilage loss as well as joint space narrowing without a noticeable occurrence of ailment.
2. The Moderate Osteoarthritis stage comes with and obvious and noticeable cartilage loss as well as joint space narrowing. The pain level at this stage is a little higher than what is observed in the mild stage.
3. The Severe Osteoarthritis stage which is a stage with more significant of those symptoms. Both the cartilage loss and joint space narrowing are obviously present during assessment.

Classification by Underlying Causes:

This classification is based on the mode in which this disease occurs. We have primary and secondary modes which include;

1. Primary Osteoarthritis Mode - Mainly age related.
2. Secondary Osteoarthritis Mode: mainly from trauma, obesity, and genetic dispositions. -

How would you diagnose a knee OA? Any clinical investigation or assessment tests?

We can diagnose knee Osteoarthritis through;

• Medical History assessment:

This is done through taking the medical history of patient which may invlude previous knee trauma and injuries of any kind, sugeries if any, as well as prevailing symptoms present at the time of examination.

• Physical Assessment

This is observed by noting range of motion of knee when in use, the swelling andntenderness of affected knee, as well as pain level while in use.

• Imaging & Laboratory Assessment

This may be done to get observations a step further from the two above. MRI and X-ray procedures are vital to give clearer damage and situation at hand. Laboratory test is also another way of ascertain situation with a more precision of disease type.

Try to practice at least 4 exercises that you have learned from the lesson. Share images, gifs or videos while practising.

Heel Slides exercise

This is done to help resuce the friction observed in the knee for mobility. It helps strengthen the muscle area around knee. One of the best exercises to resuce stiffness of knees.