LAUSR

Gonarthrosis is one of the most frequent forms of degenerative rheumatism, characterized bybenign evolution andprognosis. Itequally interests both sexes, manifesting itself around the age of 40, and affecting mostly the elderly population. The disease appears as a consequence of the wearingaway of the epiphyseal cartilages, which lose their elasticity and resistance due to mechanical shocks during walking.The localization of the osteoarthritic process at the knee level is considered to be the most common, and, according toits gender based incidence pool, women are by far the most affected, especially after entering menopause. The degenerative osteoarthritic process of the knee is the result of an imbalance between the resistance of the joint structures and the stressorsthey are subjected to.In contrast to hiposteoarthritis, knee osteoarthritis could transform intoa dysfunctional disease early on, due to pain and impaired muscular strength, especially of the leg extensors. It is true, however, that severe degenerative, dysfunctional forms can be found almost exclusively in secondary gonarthrosis, caused by misalignments (genuvarum, valgum, etc.), meniscopathies, ligamentous instability, traumas interesting intra-articular bone insertion, chronic nonspecific or specific inflammatory articular processes, endocrine-metabolic disorders.Starting from these assumptions and taking into account the number of people searching treatment for this condition, we believed that thorough theoretical and practical research was needed regarding the efficiency of kinetotherapyin slowing down the evolutionary process of the disease.