What is osteoarthritis?

Osteoarthritis is a very common degenerative joint disease that progressively destroys the articular cartilage of the bones involved. These cartilages together with the synovial fluid have as their main task to absorb the vibrations and to minimize the frictions and stresses that develop inside a joint during movement or exercise. Their wear gradually causes negative symptoms such as pain, stiffness, tingling, swelling and therefore reduced joint function.

What causes osteoarthritis?

The onset of osteoarthritis can be due to many factors. Heredity, age, gender, obesity, lifestyle and intense sports activities are some of the factors that affect the likelihood of its occurrence.

What are the methods to treat osteoarthritis?

As there is still no treatment that can bring the joint back to its healthy state, your doctor will use all the appropriate conservative methods that soothe the symptoms and aim to reduce the chance of its impairment. One of these methods with very good results is the injection of hyaluronic acid into the diseased joint.

Hyaluronic acid is present in normal human synovial fluid but in case of osteoarthritis its amount decreases with the simultaneous appearance of symptoms, prominently pain. The injectable viscoelastic supplements of hyaluronic acid lubricate the joint, help protect the cartilage, increase the range of motion, reduce pain and delay the progression of the disease. The products available in the Greek market are administered in a single injection or three injections (usually one injection per week).

Choosing the best hyaluronic acid product…

There are several products on the market that differ from each other in terms of composition and quality, resulting in poor or zero results for the patient.

The characteristics of a high quality viscoelastic hyaluronic acid supplement are:

• The total amount (concentration) of hyaluronic acid contained in each dose should be at least sufficient for the specific joint to bring positive results.
• The molecular weight of hyaluronic acid must be within optimal limits for the joint to continue its biosynthesis after injection.
• The stability of the product composition must allow a long-time stay inside the joint after its injection. This is achieved by special production methods.
• The purity of the product, e.g. not animal-sourced ingredients, so that there are no adverse reactions of the body after the injection.
• Product certification must be from official global organizations.
• Finally, always prefer to get medical and pharmaceutical preparations from certified distributors in your country and not from unreliable online sources that may put your health in danger.

You can find the products of i+Med that our company represents HERE.