Arthritis is a frequent accompaniment of old age. Every third person in America is affected by it. It is a complex disorder that boasts of more than 100 distinct conditions, and remains to be the leading cause of disability among many people who are aged 55 years or older. While knowing about it may not reduce the prevalence and ubiquity of arthritis, it will surely help many with dealing and managing the disease, and to reduce the complications of the disease.

What is Arthritis?
Etymologically, arthritis means the inflammation of joints, or the sections where two bones meet and join. As a result, people who suffer from arthritis usually complain from pain, stiffness, and difficulty in moving usually centered on a set of joints. While most people relate a “cracking” sound when rotating limbs from the joint area as a sign of arthritis, there is no medical proof to support this conclusion. Instead, this “cracking” sound is a result the pressure of joint fluid being pushed around the area of a joint. This joint fluid lubricates the area between the joints and helps protect these bones from rubbing and damaging each other.

In some types of arthritis, the pain is worse at night or subsequently after a period of rest, while others complain of worse pain around the time of their morning shower. Regardless of what time the symptom of pain manifests itself, the general symptom of arthritis is prolonged and sustained pain that emanates from the joints.

Types of Arthritis
While there are over a 100 distinct types of arthritis, there are common ones from which majority of people suffer.

The most common type of arthritis is osteoarthritis, which is a degenerative joint disorder that usually results from the natural decline of the body from old age. Other common causes of osteoarthritis are events that cause trauma to the joints, or the infection of a joint. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases estimates that one out of eight Americans aged 25 years and older suffer from osteoarthritis. The spread of the age group of people who suffer from osteoarthritis is attributed to the fact that it is caused both by injury and old age.

With osteoarthritis, pain results from the inflammation of the joints because of the wearing out of the cartilage, which cushions and protects joints. In the absence or lessening of this protective cartilage, pain results from simple and usual movements like walking, standing, or any activity that causes the joints to bear weight. As a result of the pain, many people who suffer from osteoarthritis lessen their physical activity, causing further degeneration of their muscles and ligaments.

While people who suffer from osteoarthritis feel general joint stiffness and joint pain, only a third of them complain from excessive pain and inflammation around the joints. The progression of osteoarthritis also vary greatly among people, with some acquiring osteoarthritis suddenly and some developing it gradually. The joints most usually affected with osteoarthritis are fingers, the neck, the lower back, the knees, and the hips.

Rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis occurs when the body attacks itself. These two types of arthritis are generally classified as auto-immune diseases precisely because it is caused by this bodily mechanism. Rheumatoid arthritis is a painful inflammatory systemic disease that can eventually lead to a loss of mobility because of excessive pain and joint destruction. It also can affect adjacent organs like the skin, blood vessels, lungs, heart, and even muscles. A good 60% of patients who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis lose their mobility and capacity to work some ten years after their initial diagnosis.

Another common form of arthritis is gout or metabolic arthritis. In this congenital disease, the uric acid metabolism breaks down, causing the deposition of uric acid crystals in the joints. The deposit of uric acid crystals in the joints causes an inflammatory reaction as uric acid concentration in the bloodstream rises. Because the uric acid crystal deposits continue to accrue in the joints, these eventually erupt out into the skin that discharge white, chalk-like material. Gout usually attacks the big foot first, but may attack a number of other joints like the heel, the ankle, the wrist, the instep, knee, elbows, and even the spine.

How do you diagnose arthritis?
Arthritis is diagnosed by a physical examination designed to best characterize the surrounding factors causing pain. These include when the pain was first felt, how long that pain was felt, around which joints or bodily areas the pain was localized in, and what factors worsened or lessened the pain. Blood tests, X-ray scans, and radiographs help assess and track progression of arthritis in a more quantitative manner.

If there are indications of other specific types of arthritis like rheumatoid arthritis, screening blood tests may be performed. Blood tests will measure their rheumatoid factor, their antinuclear factor, their extractable nuclear antigen measure, and the presence of other specific antibodies.

Treatment of arthritis
As is true for all forms of arthritis, the first step in treatment is pain management. This is done through a combination of medication prescribed by a physician to adequately relieve the patient of the pain caused by arthritis. After which, a combination of physical and occupational therapy to help relieve pain and work the joints to lessen or slow the progression of arthritis may be prescribed by the physician as well. For those people whose form of arthritis causes the erosion of joints or may have endangering effects for adjacent organs, arthroplasty or joint replacement surgery may be recommended.