What contribution does inflammation make to the occurrence of pain in osteoarthritis?

When there is pain in osteoarthritis, then in these cases non-specific anti-inflammatory drugs (hereinafter NSAIDs) are often used. But it is well known that NSAIDs relieve pain better if the pain is of an inflammatory nature. In this article, we will try to understand to what extent inflammation contributes to the occurrence of pain, as well as how justified the use of NSAIDs for treatment is.

In general, osteoarthritis is considered as a degenerative disease when the articular cartilage is mainly affected in the affected joint. Let’s consider the word “osteoarthritis”. It consists of two parts: “osteo” is from Latin “bone” and “-itis” is from Latin “inflammation”. That is, based on this, we can say that osteoarthritis is an inflammation of the bone. And now I wonder if the name “osteoarthritis” itself reflects the very essence of the disease. In some cases, when cartilage is affected, and there is also pain in the joints, then additional research methods do not find symptoms of inflammation. Also, during a clinical (simply put, during a physical) examination of the affected joint, it happens that classic signs of inflammation (redness, warmth, swelling) are not found. This suggests that inflammation in osteoarthritis is not always the cause of inflammation. Also in favor of the fact that the cause of pain in osteoarthritis is not inflammation is the fact that the use of NSAIDs does not always relieve pain. And yet, inflammation in this disease makes its contribution. With degenerative damage to cartilage, very small fragments of cartilage appear, which in turn are perceived by immune cells as “foreigners”, that is, so-called aseptic inflammation occurs. More often, the cause of pain in osteoarthritis can be considered to be damage to the soft tissues surrounding the joint, in particular, muscles, fascia, ligaments.

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *