Osteoarthritis and its Causes

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is one of the very common joints diseases and is also called the degenerative joint disease, OA and some even say osteoarthrosis, like the names this disease carries different symptoms and stages.

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Basically it is the kind of arthritis which is mainly caused by inflammation, breakdown and eventually loss of cartilage in the joints as the cartilage wears out by the time. This kind of arthritis is the major problem of people along the world and according to the National Health Service in UK approximately 8.5 million people are affected by this condition and some other reports from the claims of Arthritis Foundation USA 25 million Americans are affected by this disease

According to the doctors this disease is very progressive in nature and it gradually worsen by the time and the cure for this disease is near to impossible but if the treatment starts at the early stages then the pain and condition of the disease can be controlled and now days doctors have also find out some ways to help with the pain and swelling at any stage of the disease but one unfortunate fact is that there is no complete cure.

Mainly the joints which are affected by this disease are: Hands, Hips Knees, Neck and Lower back and during the bad condition only one or even other joints get swerve pains along with swelling and the patients even sometimes fails to move their joints. Three characteristics that are associated with this disease are

image by Northcoast Footcare

• The edge of joints starts getting the bony growth.

• It badly affects the cartilage which mainly cushions the ends of your bones and thus helps in the movements of your joints.

• An inflammation is created on the tissues that are situated around the joints and in medical term this condition is called Synovitis.

The young people usually don’t get this disease but in some cases it does happen and the causes are mainly some earlier injuries or results of some other joint condition. Most of the doctors and the scientific reports say that this disease is most common in women aging above 50. There is a misconception that this disease is strongly associated with aging and everyone gets it but the fact is that there are many people above 80 or 90 and they don’t have even minor symptoms of this disease.

Signs and symptoms:

There is a major difference between signs and symptoms of this disease, signs are those which the doctor detects during any treatment and the symptoms are felt by the person himself. Some of the symptoms associated with this disease are:

• acute pain in the joints

• The movement of joints becomes problematic

• The joint becomes stiff when the person wakes up and then after sometime it came back to its normal condition.

Symptoms are just like the alarms that say that the patient is going to get the disease and before reaching at the critical level the problem should be minimized otherwise the pain gets unbearable. While talking about the signs there are many situations that can give the feeling that a person is having Osteoarthritis, just for the sake of examples here are some conditions discussed which can be called as the signs of Osteoarthritis.

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• Those people who face pain and difficulty while walking uphill or upstairs have greater chances of getting this disease.  Some of the very obvious signs are knees getting lock into a position and the person feels it hard to straighten his/her leg.

• Any activity which involves movement of hips causes problem like getting in/out of car and putting the shoes.

• Fingers get stiff, swollen and painful and the person finds it hard to move the hand in any direction.

Doctors should be consulted at those times when the stiffness or the swelling condition stays long lie for a week or more. The regular checkup and treatment for this disease can very effectively decrease the pain and conditions of disease which sometimes become hell for the patients.

Causes:

The main cause of the disease is the malfunctioning of joint but the factors which have make this condition can be numerous and some of the main causes which we can associate with this disease are

• Any injury which has affected the joint and no matter how long ago you have got that injury the affect will still persist.

• After any kind of surgery or operation the joint was used too much

• Due to any other problem the cartilage become rough, irritating and painful.

• If the patient already have a rheumatoid arthritis and his joints have been sternly damaged than he can get this problem as well.

• The repair process of the body is quite slow and it takes time in repairing the joint’s and bone’s problems.

image by Northcoast Footcare

Treatment

Now coming to the treatment of this disease, it would be good for the patient to go for some physical therapies rather than taking high doses of medicines. The medicine is also effective but as we know that complete cure is not possible then taking too much medicine can affect the other functioning of the body. The treatments which are carried along the world for this disease are:

• First of all medication, different medicines are available in the market which can stop the pain and sufferings of this disease for some time and thus the severe affects can be controlled.

• Physical therapy is another way by which the pain and problems of this disease can be controlled. Physicians have invented many ways of physical therapy which can prove to be helpful for patients with this disease.

• Some physical experts also suggest some exercises which can also control the swelling and pain of this disease so the patient with Osteoarthritis should consult such health experts.