What Is Osteoarthritis?

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disorder. It occurs when cartilage begins to break down or be worn away and the bone rubs together. As a result bony spurs and inflammation of the joint(s) occurs. Surrounding ligaments and muscles may also weaken or stiffen. Major risk factors are: genetics, excess weight, joint injuries, jobs that involve more than an hour of joint stressing activities like kneeling, and sports that involve direct impact on the joints, twisting, or throwing. Bleeding disorders, disorders that blood supply near joints, and other types of arthritis can cause osteoarthritis. Symptoms typically begin while one is middle aged and almost everyone shows some symptoms of OA by age 70. This is important to note because OA is seemingly inevitable for everybody. OA is not curable and typically gets worse with time, but the symptoms can be managed. Strength in weight bearing joints, the hip, the knee, and the ankle, is particularly important for prevention. Also important are not overusing joints and maintaining a normal body weight.

Progression of osteoarthritis involves of three stages. Stage 1 start from cartilage matrix breakdown follow by cartilage fibrillation and erosion. Disease continues to progress to stage three where synovial inflammation started. With inflamed synovial, synovial membrane produced cytokines, particularly inflammatory cytokines and growth factors which both able to diffuse through synovial fluid and enter the cartilage. This will activates pro-inflammatory cytokines (Pelletier et al, 1999).In short, cartilage breakdown or degrade will lead erosion and release pro-inflammatory cytokine which in turn contribute to joint destruction. In an osteoarthritis knee, Examples of pro-inflammatory cytokines are interleukin-1, IL-1 and tumour necrosis factor alpha, TNF-α.

Because of this decrease, bone diseases like osteoporosis, osteopenia, and arthritis. Osteoporosis is when the bones become more brittle, the mass decreases which makes bones more likely to break. Osteoporosis is more common in women but increases the likeliness the older the body is for both men and women. “As many as half of all women and a quarter of men older than 50 will break a bone due to osteoporosis” ("Osteoporosis: MedlinePlus.”). Osteopenia is the same as osteoporosis in the sense that the bones become brittle and bones are more likely to break and the mass decreases, but not as much of the mass as osteoporosis. Osteopenia is “low bone mass that is not low enough to be osteoporosis” ("Osteoporosis: MedlinePlus.”). “Bone mass or density is lost as people age, especially in women after menopause” ("Osteoporosis: MedlinePlus.”). Arthritis is a condition that generally affects the bone and tissues surrounding the bone. There are two main types of arthritis: osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis is aging in any joint on the body. When the bones in a joint are worn down, they begin to rub against each other. The rubbing from the two bones in a joint is what causes the severe pain and inflammation. Rheumatoid arthritis involves many joints mainly in the wrists, fingers, thumbs, elbows, feet, ankles, and knees. When the lining of the joints diminishes, pain and stiffness make mobility hard on the

Osteoarthritis, or degenerative joint disease, is a form of arthritis characterized by the breakdown of cartilage within joints. Cartilage serves to provide cushion at the ends of bones, and when the cushion is not sufficient, as in osteoarthritis, the bones rub together. As a result, osteoarthritis sufferers are constantly plagued by stiff, swollen, and inflamed joints (http://www.arthritis.org/answers/diseasecenter/oa.asp). It is a relatively common condition, with an estimated 20 million American sufferers, most of whom are elderly (http://webmd.lycos.com/content/article/1668.50297). Traditional treatments include Tylenol, aspirin, or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative arthritis, a condition in which joint cartilage breaks down. New tissue, which grows at the ends of bones, now has no cartilage cap to control it. Instead, this new bone forms into strange lips and spurs that grind and grate and get in the way of movement of the joint. Osteoarthritis is common in older people after years of wear-and-tear that thin the cartilage and the bones. Osteoarthritis can also result from diseases in which there is softening of the bone, like Paget's disease in which the long bones of the body curve like a bow, or osteoporosis with its bowing of the shoulder called "dowager's hump," or the breakdown of other bones. Other forms of arthritis can also cause a secondary osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease. It’s where flexible tissues in the end of the bones wear down. It mostly occurs in knees, hips, lower back, fingers, and the neck. In Osteoarthritis, the cartilage in the bone breaks down which causes pain, swelling, and problems in moving the joint. When it worsens over time, one can get spurs, where bones break down and develop growths. Even though this can occur in anyone, ones who are over the age of 65 will most likely get Osteoarthritis. Some risk factors will include the increasing of age, obesity, genes, weak joint muscles, previous joint injury, and the overuse of the joint in the body. Some related signs/symptoms can be swelling around a joint, stiff joint, and/or having a clicking sound

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis. The prevalent population suffering from OA is the elderly, but it may afflict a person of any age, especially upon injury of the joint. This ailment will usually affect loan bearing joints such as the knee or hips, but it can affect any joint. OA is the breakdown of the protective cartilage within the joint, and the patient will suffer from pain, swelling and/or stiffness of the joint, and a decreased range of motion at the joint. These symptoms can have a debilitating effect on a patient by making menial tasks suck as walking, climbing stairs, or even rising out of bed or a chair difficult. Currently, there are various treatment options available for OA but no cure exists; therefore,

In osteoarthritis, the cartilage at the end of bones wears down and produces rough, hard, edges of bone which cause trouble. This generally begins after 40, and 16 million in the U.S. have it. In rheumatoid arthritis, the cartilage at the end of bones is destroyed and is replaced with scar tissue. Then swelling occurs, and the joints may eventually fuse together. While osteoarthritis only affects individual joints, rheumatoid arthritis ultimately affects all synovial joints in a person's body.

Osteoarthritis is a type of degenerative joint disease that typically affects the weight-bearing joints and produced pain. The common joints that are affected include the knees, hips, back, and hands. This condition is most commonly seen in individuals with advanced age.

Osteoarthritis is a chronic joint disease, the degeneration of the joint cartilage and the underlying bone. Usually osteoarthritis is mostly found in the knee, hip, and hand. This disease is more common in people over the age of fifty and is also more likely in women than men. This disease generally develops over several years. Symptoms can often remain stable for long periods of time during this period of time.

Osteoarthritis is a condition where joint and bone cartilage start to deteriorate. This is can be caused by age, injury in joint areas, and genetics. There is no known cure for Osteoarthritis, but recommended treatments such as, exercise, physical therapy, stretching, can help minimize the symptoms. Osteoarthritis is more commonly found in the elderly, women, people who are obese, people who have had an injury in the joint areas, people who worked in certain occupations, and those who have been born with bone deformities.

OA is a musculoskeletal disease that causes chronic joint pain and reduced physical functioning (Laba, brien, Fransen, & jan, 2013). Osteoarthritis (OA) is a non-inflammatory disorder of synovial joints that results in loss of hyaline cartilage and remodeling of surrounding bone. OA is the single most common joint disease, with an estimated prevalence of 60% in men and 70% in women later in life after the age of 65 years, affecting an estimated 40 million people in the United States (Goodman & Fuller, 2009). Women are more commonly affected after the age of 55, almost everyone has some symptoms by the age of 70 (Tan, Zahara, Colburn & Hawkins, 2013, p.78). Osteoarthritis can be described radiological, clinical, or subjective.

Statistics say that an estimated twenty seven million people age twenty-five and older have osteoarthritis? Arthritis is one of the oldest diseases. There is evidence that it has been in this world since the beginning of civilization. “It is an established fact that the dinosaurs suffered from arthritis and there is ample proof to show that our earliest ancestors also suffered from chronic aches and pains”(RSS). In 4500 BC, arthritis was discovered in humans. It was first discovered in a mummy, Ã-tz, in 3000 BC. Osteoarthritis is the most common forms of arthritis. This disease cannot be cured, although treatment does help. Osteoarthritis is the most common arthritis and can affect your lifestyle.

Arthritis is degenerative disease that causes cartilage to wear away, giving the afflicted person a lot of pain and discomfort. There are many forms of arthritis, among them osteoarthritis, bursitis, tendinitis, and carpal tunnel syndrome. Arthritis is a condition that affects more than 50 million people in the U.S., and that number is expected to only increase. Pain is the common symptom of all forms of arthritis. Pain develops as a result of various factors, such as joint deformity and inflammation, and can result in lack of mobility and partial disability.

As you may know, Osteoarthritis is a result of the breakdown of connective tissue, otherwise known as cartilage, inside a joint. When this happens, the main bones of the joint start to rub against each other, causing pain. In your case, Grandma, the cartilage within your knees have worn down to the point where your thigh bone (femur) and your shin bone (tibia) are scraping against each other to cause you all the pain you’re experiencing. OA has no specific cause, however, all the cooking and cleaning you do around the house have surely taken a toll on your knees. To alleviate this excruciating pain, there are several treatments—that I am sure you have been recommended—that can be undergone.