Friday, January 14, 2011

Unicompartmental Osteoarthritis of the Knee - What Does this Mean?

Medical jargon can be confusing but it gets easier if you break it down.

Osteoarthritis is the "wear and tear" type of arthritis that commonly occurs in weight bearing joints.

Unicompartmental is a word that is unfamiliar to most. 

"Uni" here means 'one'.

In medical terms the knee is divided up into three compartments.

The joint between the thigh bone and shin bone is divided into two compartments. The medial compartment is the inside half of the knee joint. The lateral compartment is the outside half. The third compartment is the articulation between the knee cap and the thigh bone.

Unicompartmental osteoarthritis therefore means the arthritis is only present in one of the three compartments. Most commonly it is the medial compartment and when the wear becomes severe it can result in the knee becoming bow legged.

This is the most common type of osteoarthritis treated with an unloader knee brace.