Welcome to Arthritis Advice Guide

Osteoarthritis or degenerative arthritis is the most common type of arthritis. It occurs due to the wearing down of the cartilage in your joints with time. Osteoarthritis worsens gradually with time.

It can involve any joint in your body. However the joints that are most commonly affected by osteoarthritis are your hips, spine, hands and knees. Usually it involves only one joint but in cases like that finger arthritis a number of joints may be affected.

Osteoarthritis doesn’t have any cure but there are treatments that help you to be active by relieving pain.

What are the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis?

Symptoms of osteoarthritis usually develop gradually and get worse over time. The symptoms of osteoarthritis are as follows:

• There may be pain in the joint during its usage or subsequent to use or following a phase of inactivity.
• There may be tenderness in the joint when a light pressure is applied.
• Noticeable stiffness in the joint after a period of inactivity or while you wake up after a nap.
• Difficulty in using the joint due to loss of flexibility.
• You may have an irritating feeling while using the joint
• Formation of bone spurs around the affected joint
• In some cases there may be swelling of the joint

Symptoms of osteoarthritis usually affect the hips spine knees and hands. Symptoms of osteoarthritis are uncommon in parts like your elbow, shoulder, jaw, ankles or wrists. Except for you have injured those parts or they suffer a rare stress.

What are the risk factors of osteoarthritis?

In many cases it is not known about what causes osteoarthritis. But there are several risk factors that increase the chances of getting osteoarthritis. They are as follows.

Age

Osteoarthritis most commonly occurs in older people. Adults under the age of forty hardly ever encounter with osteoarthritis.

Sex

The probability of getting osteoarthritis is more in case of women when compared to men. But it is not clear why women are more prone to osteoarthritis than men.

Deformed bone

People who are born with deformed joints or faulty cartilage have an increased risk of having osteoarthritis.

Injuries to the Joint

Joint injuries like that those, which happen while playing sports or other such activities, and injuries from an accident shall enlarge the possibility of osteoarthritis.

Obesity

Your joints bear your weight. So if you are obese or over weight you give more stress to the weight bearing joints like that of your knees. But still obesity is being linked with osteoarthritis in the hands.

Diseases involving the joints and bones

Other bone and joint diseases like that of gout, septic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and Paget’s disease of bone may increase the risk of osteoarthritis.