PHYSIOTHERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH KNEE OSTEOARTHROSIS

Osteoartroza koljena je degenerativna bolest koja je lokalizirana na zglobu koljena. Zahvaća velik dio starije populacije i jedan je od glavnih uzroka mišićno koštane boli starijih osoba. Točan uzrok bolesti je nepoznat, a neki od faktora koji uzrokuju degenerativne promjene su ozlijede zgloba, metabolički procesi u organizmu, pretilost i opterećenje zgloba uzrokovano raznim čimbenicima. Liječenje se sastoji od primjene farmakološke terapije, fizikalne terapije, a u težim oblicima bolesti provodi se kirurški zahvat. Cilj istraživačkog rada je bio utvrditi utjecaj fizioterapijskih postupaka na bol i ostale simptome osteoartroze koljena, a u istraživanju je sudjelovalo 30 pacijenata. Terapija je kod većine pacijenata rezultirala smanjenjem boli, a samim time im je olakšano obavljanje svakodnevnih životnih aktivnosti.Knee osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease which is localized on the knee joint. It affects a large part of the older population and it's one of the major causes of musculoskeletal pain in the elderly. The exact cause is unknown, and some of the factors that cause degeneration of the knee joint are joint injuries, metabolic processes within our organism, obesity and joint overload due to various factors. Treatment comprises out of pharmacological therapy, physical therapy, and in more severe forms surgery is carried out. The purpose of this research was to determine the effect of physical therapy procedures on pain and other symptoms of knee osteoarthritis, and the study included 30 patients. In the most patients, therapy resulted with reduction of pain, and therefore, performance of their everyday activities is made easier