What Causes Arthritis?
Osteoarthritis is a common, but painful disease. While people
who live to old age may develop osteoarthritis, others can get it while
they’re still relatively young. That’s why it’s important to know
some of the causes of this condition. Knowing causes can go a long
way to prevent developing this disease.
Osteoarthritis is a condition of one or more joints in the body.
Whether our joints are healthy or not, the cartilage in them is
constantly deteriorating and being replaced. In an arthritic
joint, the cartilage is deteriorating faster than the body can rebuild
it. The cartilage not only serves to keep to bone in place and
moving properly, it also provides the padding between the various bones
in the joint. When the cartilage degrades too far, the bones rub,
causing severe pain. An even more painful side effect is when the
rubbing causes the bones to grow painful spurs. Eventually, the
condition becomes so bad that the joint is no longer useful due to
decreased movement or intense pain.
While determining the cause of the pain of arthritis is simple,
determining the cause of the cartilage degradation is a bit more
complicated. It is believed that there is no one cause of
osteoarthritis, but a combination of risk factors that may cause a
problem when combined. Here are the biggest risk factors for
developing osteoarthritis.
* Age. Whether they experience pain from it or not, almost
everyone over the age of 60 has some degree of osteoarthritis. The
older you are, the harder it is for cartilage to repair itself. It
becomes brittle and can degrade easily. Plus, you’re dealing with
a joint that has had many years of wear and tear.
* Genetics. While they’re not really sure how and why, doctors
have discovered that arthritis tends to run in families.
* Weight. Carrying extra weight around causes excess strain and
wear to your joints. This is obviously a factor only in joints
that bear weight, like the knees. It’s not really a factor in
arthritis of the hands or shoulders.
* Diet. A deficiency of certain nutrients may cause cartilage to
degrade faster because it doesn’t have the proper materials to rebuild.
Eating a healthy, balanced diet can help prevent nutrient deficiencies.
* Injury. Certain injuries that affect the cartilage, if severe
enough, can be a cause of osteoarthritis. While you can’t prevent
all injuries, you should take care of yourself if you’ve been injured
and find out if your injuries may increase your chance or developing
arthritis.
* Occupation. If you have a job that demands a large amount of
physical exertion; you are wearing your joints out a lot faster which
may lead to arthritis. This is also true of people who regularly
participate in certain strenuous sports.
* Infection. Getting an infection in the joints increases your risk for
arthritis. If you have a serious joint infection, you may have an
increased risk.
* Inflammation. The reason you tend to get osteoarthritis as you
age is because your joints swell more as you get older. If you have
chronic inflammation, you could develop arthritis much sooner.
These are just the major known risk factors for developing arthritis.
Since we aren’t aware of all the risk factors and because many of them
aren’t preventable (i.e. age, genetics) it is important that we continue
research to help keep joint cartilage from degrading. If you feel
you may be suffering from Arthritis, please speak to your health care
provider. Also if you have many of these risk factors, then speak
to your doctor about what they recommend you do for prevention.
Preventative medicine is much less costly on your pocketbook and
emotional well being.
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