Health Tips

Put plainly arthritis is inflamed joints. Sometimes it affects just a single joint, though often it hits many joints at once. Often sufferers of different diseases fall prey to arthritis – it is strongly associated with many other things. The bad news is that arthritis is a long lasted condition that tends to get worse.

There are two diseases under the banner of arthritis – rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. The first of these is the worse kind. The second kind is much more common though – if you are over sixty you are more likely to have osteoarthritis than not: some 80% of over 65s are sufferers. Oftentimes this is seen as one of the inevitable effects of getting a little older – think about the number of time the joints will have been called into action in sixty odd years.

Osteoarthritis can be painful and plenty of people find it very unpleasant, but it is much more bearable than rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis starts out with stiff joints, maybe along with a noticeable limitation in the range of movement of that joint. Sometimes it proceeds no further, sometimes the joint will become stiffer and the movement will steadily diminish.

Rheumatoid arthritis is the chronic form, and as well as being very painful, it can lead to crippling deformity. Thankfully it is much less common than Osteoarthritis and if suffered by less than 3% of the population of the developed world. You are more at risk from this form of arthritis if you are a woman than if you are a man, and the disease can start much earlier than osteoarthritis – normally between the ages of 30 and 50.

The symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis start a little like osteoarthritis in that the joint can feel stiff, but with rheumatoid arthritis the joint swells and the person can feel generally unwell and more tired than usual. This form of arthritis can also attack the other organs such as skin, eyes and lungs.

The causes of both types remain a mystery to modern science. Neither is there a cure. Of the little that is known we can see that there is a higher incidence of osteoarthritis in the severely overweight. Bring weight under control places less stress on joints and does help prevent the disease. Those already suffering with osteoarthritis may find that shedding pounds relieves their suffering somewhat. Osteoarthritis is treated with anti inflammatory drugs and Aspirin. Steroids can be injected as a later line of defense, but it is not encouraged to begin with.

No way of staving off rheumatoid arthritis is known. It is better if the disease is treated as soon as possible. common pharmaceuticals like Aspirin and paracetamol help, but they must not be taken indefinitely. There are newer anti-rheumatism pharmaceuticals that are safer for longer.

The pain brought on by arthritis can be eased by a steaming bath. Advances in surgery means that arthritis sufferers who have been confined to a wheel chair by the disease can receive a new hip joint made from plastic. Physio treatments can be of help, along with things like acupuncture and hydrotherapy. There are also reports of herbal remedies and fish oil capsules helping.