Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most popular form of arthritis, impacting millions of people across the globe. It happens when the preventive cartilage that cushions the ends of the bones wears down with time. Even though osteoarthritis can impair any joint, the disorder most commonly affects joints in your hands, knees, hips, and spine. The symptoms of osteoarthritis may usually be treated, but the damage to the joints cannot be reversed. Being active, keeping a healthy weight,and going through certain treatments might laggard the progression of the disease and aid in improving pain and joint function.

Osteoarthritis symptoms frequently develop slowly and aggravate over time. Signs and indications of osteoarthritis comprise:
  • Pain - Impacted joints may hurt at the time of or after movement.
  • Stiffness - Joint stiffness may be most evident upon awakening or post being inactive.
  • Tenderness - Your joint may feel tender when you use light pressure to or near it.
  • Loss of flexibility - It's likely that you won't be able to fully extend your joint's range of motion.
  • Grating sensation - You may feel a grating sensation when you use the joint, and you may hear popping or crackling.
  • Bone spurs - These extra bits of bone, which sense like hard lumps, can form near the affected joint.
If you are suffering from joint pain or stiffness that doesn't go away, book an appointment with your doctor.
Osteoarthritis happens when the cartilage that cushions the ends of bones in your joints step by step deteriorates. Cartilage is a steady, slippery tissue that enables nearly frictionless joint motion. Sooner or later, if the cartilage wears down totally, the bone will rub on bone. Wear and tear disease is a common term used to describe osteoarthritis. But in any case the breakdown of cartilage, osteoarthritis has an impact on the entire joint. It results in changes in the bone and deterioration of the connective tissues that keep the joint together and attach muscle to bone. It also leads to inflammation of the joint lining.
Causes that can raise your risk of osteoarthritis include:
  •  Older age - The risk of osteoarthritis hikes with age.
  •  Sex - Women are more prone to get osteoarthritis, though it isn't obvious why.
  •  Obesity - Keeping extra body weight leads to osteoarthritis in many ways, and the higher you weigh, the more your risk. Added weight hikes stress to weight-bearing joints, like your hips and knees. Also, fat tissue generates proteins that can cause dangerous inflammation in and around your joints.
  •  Joint injuries - Injuries, for instance, those that take place when playing sports or from an accident, can augment the risk of osteoarthritis. Even injuries that appear to have healed several years ago can increase your risk of osteoarthritis.
  •  Repeated stress on the joint - If your job or a sport you play puts repetitive stress on a joint, that joint may over time develop osteoarthritis.
  •  Genetics - Few people inherit an inclination to develop osteoarthritis.
  •  Bone deformities - Some people are born with malformed joints or problematic cartilage.
  •  Certain metabolic diseases - These consist of diabetes and a condition in which your body consists of too much iron (hemochromatosis).
Osteoarthritis is a chronic disease that aggravates over time, often consequent in acute pain. Joint pain and inelasticity can become intense enough to make day-to-day tasks hard. Depression and sleep disturbances can outcome from the pain and disability of osteoarthritis.