What You Don’t Know About Arthritis May Kill You!
Arthritis is a disease of the musculoskeletal system and the damage to the joints can be bad as time goes by, accompanied by swelling and pain. Cartilage is a dense, living, tissue covering the ends of bones, protecting them from abrasion as the joint bones rub against each other.
Therefore, it has the same needs as other organs and glands; cartilage cells are called chondrocytes. All chondrocytes will die and are usually replaced by new cartilage cells.
When there is prolonged inflammation, cartilage cells are destroyed and die faster than the body’s ability to replace them. Cartilage cells are not sufficiently regenerated when there is injury or insufficient nutrition for regenerating new cells.
Instability, joint weakness and deformities can be caused by this condition which will start affecting normal day to day activities. Generally, arthritis can be treated with physical therapy, medication, and changes to the lifestyle the individual is used to living. The last option left for the physicians to relieve the patients from discomfort is joint replacement surgery.
Arthritis is divided into to major groups that may affect the ‘localized’ or ‘generalized’ parts of the body or even depending on the joints that get damaged; it then is further divided into sub-groups. Localized Conditions: This affects the soft tissue surrounding the joints or bones is refers to conditions such as bursitis or tendinitis.
A sub category of localized conditions is when only one or two joints are affected like the hip or the knee. A generalized arthritis condition is a condition where the muscles and the soft tissues get damaged, in this condition there is no swelling or any kind of inflammation on the joints. In this condition there is no evident kind of damage caused to the joints and is known as Fibromyalgia; this form of the condition is widespread among people.
The next condition in the second sub category causes inflammation which affects the whole body. Gout, Rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis are all related to this group. Still other generalized situations include polymyositis, involving muscles, systemic lupus erythematosus involving the skin, kidneys and or other organs and vasculitis where any organ is involved.
It is not uncommon for people to have more than one form of arthritis; there are almost 100 medical conditions which affects approximately 300,000 children and 46 million adults in the United States. Osteoarthritis is a condition mostly noticed in adults over 60 years, however, it can start at infancy too. The numbers are increasing as the American population ages and more and more people are beginning to suffer from arthritis.
Medical care and indirect expenses costs over 124 billion dollars in the US where arthritis and related problems are the main cause of disability. By taking the time to follow a couple of simple steps, most individuals can help to prevent osteoarthritis: The ability to maintain the appropriate weight and consume fresh vegetables and fruits are a really good source of vitamins D and C.
There should also be sufficient calcium intake, 1000-1500mg per day for adults; in addition regular, moderate exercise can help preventing sports injuries that can aggravate a condition.
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