|
Traumatic Arthritis
Arthritis is a very painful disease and one that can only be
controlled and managed, but not cured. On the other hand,
traumatic arthritis is a totally curable ailment. Here, the
important thing is the correct diagnosis. There are many ways
by which the post-traumatic osteoarthritis can be diagnosed.
There is a very fine line between the actual full-blown
arthritis and traumatic arthritis – and only careful
observation and investigations would lead to the correct
diagnosis.
The Factors That Lead To The Correct Diagnosis Of Traumatic
Arthritis
The first thing that one should keep in mind is the basic
difference between the regular arthritis and traumatic
arthritis, i.e. the latter develops as a result of a trauma
while the former develops gradually without any apparent
outside reason. The trauma or damage could have been caused as
long ago as 2-5 years after the joint is injured.
Hence, it is very important to remember if in the past
(consider the period of past five years) there had been any
major injury to the particular joint, bone, cartilage or tendon
that needed medical intervention. Sometimes, such an injury
causes fast bone degeneration and blossoms into the symptoms of
arthritis; sometimes the deterioration is very slow and hence
surfaces years after the injury.
Sometimes pain comes and goes over along period of time, but it
does not bother you enough to consult a doctor. The pain may or
may not be accompanied by inflammation of the joint or
surrounding area. Often the symptoms would disappear without
any major medical intervention, only to re-appear after a
while.
Any injury to any bone can lead to traumatic arthritis. If you
have a history of this disease in your family, it would be very
wise to keep a note on when and how such injury took place, so
the record can be brought out and shown to the doctor when any
inflammation of joint occurs and it is suspected to be
arthritis.
The doctor should be informed if there has been such injury so
the correct investigative measures are employed to identify the
disease. You should also observe whether similar symptoms are
manifested with other parts of the body. If yes, then it might
not be traumatic arthritis.
If not, then further investigation can be done to rule out any
possibility of mistaken diagnosis. Normally, an MRI would be a
good test to pinpoint the exact condition of the
joint.
|