 |
| Arthritis |
Arthritis is a common disorder (disease) that affects your joints. The term arthritis describes pain, inflammation, swelling and stiffness in or surrounding a joint or joints that makes it difficult to move or stay active. Arthritis is a rheumatic condition that manifests in different forms, causing different symptoms and may require different treatments.
According to the Center for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), over 54.4 million adults in the United States and about 10
million in the UK have been diagnosed with some form of arthritis.
What are
the common types of arthritis?
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis refers to one of the most common
forms of arthritis or joint disease. This condition affects the entire joint,
including bones, ligaments, cartilage and muscles. Osteoarthritis is often
described as ‘wear and tear’, but such a description doesn’t fit the condition
accurately. Medically, it’s also thought that the condition is the impact of
the self-repair process of the joint.
Rheumatoid
arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) refers to a common form
of arthritis characterized by inflammation. It is an autoimmune disease that
comes with pain and swelling of the joints. An autoimmune disease means your
own healthy tissues get attacked by your immune system. With Rheumatoid
arthritis presence in your joints, your immune system targets the joint lining
and the result is inflammation and damage of the joint.
Ankylosing
spondylitis
Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) describes a form of
arthritis that affects mainly the spine. The condition causes the inflammation
of joints of the back, neck and pelvis, leading to pain and stiffness. AS can also affect other body joints, for
instance, hips and shoulders, as well as even the eyes, bowel, skin, and lungs.
The condition usually becomes symptomatic from the ages of 15 to 45 years.
Psoriatic
arthritis
Psoriatic arthritis is another condition that
inflames the joints, bringing about painful, stiff and often swollen joints.
One specific detail here is that psoriatic arthritis only affects people who
have been infected by a skin disease called psoriasis.
Juvenile
idiopathic arthritis
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis refers to several
types of arthritis that occur in children. JIA is also an autoimmune condition.
What happens involves a child’s body immune system not doing its job as a
protective mechanism against infection but instead mistakenly attacking healthy
body cells.
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is a common group of symptoms
characterized by generalised pain, muscle stiffness and extreme fatigue. They
may vary from very mild to severe. Fibromyalgia may take many years or become
periodic. People infected by this condition end up managing the resultant pain
and fatigue well when they stick to medical advice.
Gout
Gout is another common and painful condition
affecting the joints. This type of arthritis involves the formation of small
crystals in and around the joint that cause inflammation, swelling and pain. A
gout attack often occurs quite quickly and often overnight. This causes the
joint to become very red, swollen and so painful. Gout attacks normally affect
one joint at a time, especially the big toe joint.
Lupus
(systemic lupus erythematosus)
Systemic lupus erythematosus (also referred to as
SLE or lupus) is another autoimmune condition. Remember that the normal
function of your body’s immune system is to combat any infections and diseases
that try to attack you. This keeps you healthy. In an autoimmune infection such
as lupus, your immune system begins to attack your own body’s healthy tissues instead.
Do you want to learn from more important facts about
arthritis? Go straight to my next article and read it.
Have fun learning about arthritis.
0 Comments