What are the symptoms of tricompartmental osteoarthritis? When all 3 compartments of the knee are affected, this is tricompartmental osteoarthritis. When one compartment of the knee is affected, this is called unicompartmental OA. Osteoarthritis can affect any of these compartments, or any combination of them, although it’s most common in the medial (inner) compartment.

The lateral compartment refers to the outer compartment of the knee.

The medial compartment refers to the inside compartment of the knee joint.

The patellofemoral compartment is in the front of the knee where the kneecap and thigh bone are.

Tricompartmental osteoarthritis occurs when you lose protective cartilage from all of the areas where the bones meet the knee joint, damaging your biomechanics and throwing off your gait. As you can tell, it’s a very complicated joint with a lot of moving parts that need to work together. In addition to these bones, the knee is also made up of cartilage, ligaments, tendons, and more, with all of these parts working together to keep the knee stable and flexible.

The tibia and fibula connect below the knee joint, the femur connects above the knee joint, and the patella rests on the femur and the connecting cartilage. Four bones meet at the knee joint: the femur (or thigh bone), the tibia (or shin bone), the patella (or kneecap), and the fibula (or calf bone). The knee is a hinge joint that allows your leg to move back and forth, but it doesn’t move much from side to side. How does tricompartmental osteoarthritis affect the knee? And although, such a thing may seem impossible to live a normal life with, there are people who are able to. The key is having good walking mechanics, or “gait” which is something that can be improved with the right kind of treatment program. Try to imagine the cartilage of the knee joint being so deteriorated that the deterioration is in all three parts, that’s what we’re talking about. Hence the name, “tricompartmental osteoarthritis.” Osteoarthritis can affect any one of the compartments, but if you have osteoarthritis in ALL THREE compartments, that’s tri-compartmental. To understand tricompartmental osteoarthritis, it is important to understand that there are three parts - i.e. What is tricompartmental osteoarthritis? The three compartments of the knee that are affected when knee arthritis is “tricompartmental” which literally means the arthritis affects 3 (tri) compartments It is also becoming more prevalent and the people suffering from Knee OA has DOUBLED since 70 years ago.Īnd, as noted, while tricompartmental osteoarthritis is the least prevalent form of knee osteoarthritis, it is also the most complex. Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common type of arthritis, and affects more than 32.5 million people in the US alone. Knee OA can cause a lot of pain and stiffness affecting the quality of life to a lot of people.

You probably know a number of people who suffer from, what they call, “bone-on-bone” knee pain. This means the bones are rubbing together without the smooth protective layer of cartilage protecting them. Understanding arthritis and osteoarthritis

Tricompartmental osteoarthritis is the most complex type of knee osteoarthritis and affects only 1.5% of knee osteoarthritis sufferers. Fortunately, there are ways to address it and manage it, including at least one non-invasive method which will be discussed later.

Knee compartments chondromalacia