Your knee bone is covered by cartilage. Cartilage is a smooth layer that is elastic while also firm. It keeps your knee joint moving without bone rubbing on bone. As you age, or due to an injury, wear and tear happen that can hurt the cartilage which then causes stiffness, tenderness, and pain. The pain is often what sends people to the doctor.
How You Get Knee Arthrosis
There are some things that can make you more likely to get the painful condition of arthrosis, such as genetics, obesity, improper movement, and repetitive movements. Sometimes it happens due to an injury or infection, but often it happens when you didn’t see it coming too – due to those risk factors mentioned.
Stages of Knee Arthrosis
Knee arthrosis has three stages that doctors label to decide on which treatment to recommend.
* Mild – At this stage, the cartilage is softened and you’re starting to feel some stiffness and pain after movement. Sometimes people have no pain yet in this phase.
* Middle – At this stage, the cartilage is frayed and you’re likely experiencing a good deal of friction and pain during and after movement. This is the phase where most people seek treatment.
* Advanced – At this stage, the cartilage has pockets or holes it and you’ll hear some grinding or other sounds during movement, as well as experience pain. People tend to seek treatment when their condition is advanced because the pain can be quite severe.
You can also have arthrosis without pain, which doctors call silent arthrosis. With pain it is called activated arthrosis. If your doctor says you have primary arthrosis, this is because they believe it to be genetic in nature rather than causal such as with obesity or injury.
Treatment for Knee Arthrosis
Treatment usually starts with some form of medication to ease the pain. That might be with a 
NSAID, a corticosterone treatment, or even physical therapy. In some rare cases, surgery might be in order. It really depends on what type you have, why you have it, and what is available for that issue.
First Things First
The best thing for you to do about your knee arthrosis is to seek a professional diagnosis. There are many less common conditions you could have when you’re in pain, such as bone cancer. It’s always best to rule out worse issues.
Get Healthy
The next thing to do about your knee arthrosis is to improve your lifestyle. Even if you tended to eat right and exercise before, you’re going to have to do even better now by incorporating an anti-inflammatory diet, gentler exercises, and maybe even change jobs so you don’t have to keep doing repetitive movements that are making you worse.
Try to rest the area by putting it up higher than your heart. Alternate heat and cold treatments and consider some form of water exercise to help you improve. If your doctor recommends surgery, consider doing it. The thing about this condition is that it doesn’t get better. You can only relearn how to move properly to not make it worse, and treat the pain as it comes.