What Is Tricompartmental Osteoarthritis?
Trich compartmental osteoarthritis (TCO) is a type of bone disease that affects the bones of your legs, hips, knees and ankles. These bones are affected because they all have the same problem: too much wear and tear from running or other activities. TCO causes pain in these areas when you run or do other types of activity.
How Does Tricompartmental Osteoarthritis Affect Your Bones?
Your joints are made up of three parts: the cartilage, the bone and the ligaments. When you run or exercise, your body uses energy to move your joints. If it doesn’t use enough energy, then there will be less force applied to your joints. The result is that some of them may become loose or weak. This leads to pain and discomfort in these areas.
The cartilage of the joints may also begin to wear down. This will cause a big problem since it will no longer protect the bones, which leads to pain and discomfort in these areas.
What Other Parts Of Your Body Are Affected?
Your body is more than just your bones and muscles. There are a lot of things inside it that help you run and get through your day. These things can be affected by TCO as well.
When you have TCO, your body releases enzymes that damage tissue inside the body. Most people will only experience one type of damage, but others may experience more than one type.
Pain Enzymes: This type of damage causes pain and discomfort in the body. It also prevents you from healing properly.
Inflammation: When this happens, you will have an increased level of inflammation in your arteries and other parts of your body. This can cause your arteries to harden or become clogged.
Vasoconstrictors: These are chemicals that block blood flow and prevent proper oxygenation of the body. This is very dangerous because it can lead to muscle spasms, cramps and other issues.
Natural Painkillers: Under normal circumstances, your body makes its own natural painkillers that help you with injury and pain relief. When this happens, you don’t have enough natural painkiller being produced.
What Is The Typical Treatment For TCO?
There is a wide variety of treatment available for people with this condition. Unfortunately, not all treatments are created equal or appropriate for everyone. Below, we will examine some of the most common treatments and medications for this condition.
Painkillers: These types of drugs are typically designed to help reduce pain and other discomforts related to TCO. They are very effective at relieving pain, but may have serious side effects if taken over a long period of time.
Rest: It can be tempting to push yourself when you have pain, but rest is really the best option. If you give your body adequate time to heal itself, you will find that most of your pain will start going away.
There are also some activities that you should avoid altogether because they could make your symptoms worse.
Physical Therapy: This is one of the most common treatments available for TCO. Physical therapists can help you strengthen your muscles and improve your flexibility so that you can do more without experiencing pain or discomfort.
Surgery: For some people, surgery can be a viable treatment option. The type of surgery that you may need will vary depending on what is causing your symptoms.
A doctor can help you decide if surgery is right for you.
Exercise: Another common treatment for this condition is exercise. By exercising, you can strengthen the muscles surrounding your joints and bones.
A physical therapist can help you create an effective exercise plan that will benefit you the most.
Diet: What you eat has a direct effect on how your body feels. For some people, certain foods seem to aggravate their symptoms, while others have the opposite effect.
Try keeping a food diary to see if there is a connection. Once you determine your trigger foods, you can easily avoid them or substitute them for something else.
Stress Reduction: Managing stress is extremely important, because stress can make your symptoms worse. Practicing meditation, deep breathing and other relaxation techniques can help your symptoms immensely.
Pain Medications: Over-the-counter pain relievers are typically not strong enough to manage the pain caused by TCO. When painkillers are necessary, it is usually best to ask your doctor about a prescription pain medication.
What Are The Complications Of TCO?
In many cases, people who suffer from TCO can develop serious complications due to the constant strain on their body. The types of complications you experience can depend on what is causing your condition in the first place. It’s important to work with your doctor or therapist to manage your condition and avoid these potential risks.
Arthritis: Arthritis is an inflammation of the joints that causes pain, swelling and loss of movement. It typically occurs when a joint has been damaged, causing a permanent change in the joint.
The most common form of arthritis is osteoarthritis, which affects the elderly population. If you have this condition, it can make living your everyday life a challenge.
Bursitis: Bursitis is another painful condition that involves the swelling of one or more of the fluid-filled sacs within your body. This condition commonly affects your shoulder, hip and elbow joints.
When you suffer from this condition, you experience pain, swelling, decreased range of motion and even difficulty performing daily activities.
Muscle Spasms: Muscle spasms are sudden, involuntary contractions of your muscles. These can be quite painful, causing the affected muscle to stiffen completely.
Muscle spasms are a common symptom of TCO, and if left untreated, you could suffer irreversible damage to your joints and muscles.
If you think you might have TCO or another condition that is causing you joint pain, don’t wait around. Call one of our doctors or schedule an appointment online at Arthritis Care Clinic of Arizona.
We will work with you to create a treatment plan that will help improve your quality of life.
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Sources & references used in this article:
Outcome of unicompartmental knee arthroplasty in octogenarians with tricompartmental osteoarthritis: A longer followup of previously published report by SKS Marya, R Thukral – Indian journal of orthopaedics, 2013 – ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
… of tricompart-mental prostheses for unicompartmental arthrosis in the knee is a cost-effective alternative: 15,437 primary tricompartmental prostheses were compared … by O Robertsson, L Borgquist, K Knutson… – Acta Orthopaedica …, 1999 – Taylor & Francis
Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty for tricompartment osteoarthritis in octogenarians by SKS Marya, R Thukral – Indian journal of orthopaedics, 2009 – ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Tricompartmental Knee Osteoarthritis: Total Knee Arthroplasty by JS Ruiz-Pérez, P Gómez-Cardero… – … of Knee Osteoarthritis, 2020 – Springer
