Arthritis affects people of all ages, but it is most often occurs as a person gets older. Anyone can develop arthritis but it is more common to women, obese people, to the less educated and the elderly.
One feel the stiffness , pain and fatigue in arthritis. The severity of pain differs from person to person. Some feel that the pain is tolerable but others feel that as if the entire body system is affected. The most common symptoms of arthritis are the following:
— Swelling in one or more joints.
— Morning stiffness lasting thirty minutes or more.
— Persistent joint pain or tenderness, redness and warmth in the joint.
— Not able to move the joint in the normal way.
The less common symptoms are:
— Weight loss, fever,weakness/dizziness, and unexplained joint pain.
Arthritis most often affects the joints. Joints are parts of the body where bones meet, such as you knees, elbows, wrists, ankle and even fingers.
The end of the bones are covered by cartilage, a spongy material that acts as a shock absorber to keep bones from rubbing together.
The joint is enclosed in a capsule called the synovium which serves as the lubricant to the joint, that helps the joint to move smoothly and easily.
Here are some of the common type of arthritis:
— Osteoarthritis – The most common type of arthritis. This predominantly affects as people grow older. It is also known as degenerative arthritis because it involves the deterioration of cartilage and bones causing pain and stiffness to the joints. It affects in both genders upon reaching forty five years old.
— Fibromyalgia – This kind of arthritis is affecting mostly women. It affects the muscles and their attachments to the bones resulting in widespread pain. It may result in fatigue, disturbed sleep, stiffness and sometimes psychological distress.
— Rheumatoid Arthritis – This occurs when a fault in the body’s immune system causing inflammation or swelling. Inflammation begins in the joint lining and then damages both cartilage and bone. Hands, wrists, feet, knees, ankles, shoulders and elbows maybe affected. This kind of arthritis is common to women and men.
— Gout – It results when the body is unable to get rid of a natural substance of uric acid, generally believe comes from food rich in uric acid such as sardines, animal internal organs, beans and monggo. Uric acid destroy the mutual lubrication of the joints that can cause severe pain and swelling brought by friction and needle like crystals which is form by uric acid. More men than women have gout.
— Low back pain – It is a certain type of arthritis that can occur at any age for both men and women.
— Bursitis and Tendinitis – Results from irritation or overusing the joint. Bursitis affects a small sac that helps muscles move easily while tendinitis affects the tendons that attach muscle to bone.
There are more than one hundred types of arthritis and related diseases in which we only discuss it here the common ones. If you don’t know of which type of arthritis you have to consult your doctor and discuss it with him of what best treatment options is good for you.
Arthritis prevention focuses on good nutrition and moderate physical activity to maintain a healthy body weight.
Many arthritis medication are now also available for different types of arthritis, and these drugs had been proven to reduce the pain and inflammation cause by the disease.
Other treatment recommendations rest, heat and cold therapies, use of devices such as splints/ braces and even surgery.
