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What Is Osteoarthritis? |
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Osteoarthritis also called a degenerative joint condition is one of the most common types of arthritis. It is a chronic condition characterized by the breakdown and wearing away of the joint’s cartilage, that is the rubbery tissue that covers the end of the bones in a joint.
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What Are the Symptons Of Osteoarthritis? |
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Osteoarthritis is a dull, stiff, achy sensation in a joint and the most commonly affected areas of the body include your lower back, your hips, your knees, and however, other areas that are also included are your neck, your wrist, your fingers, your shoulders and your feet, and during the early stages of an unhealthy joint, the surfaces of cartilage start to fray like poorly woven cloth, patches of cartilage start to unravel, pieces break off and start floating around the joints and the breakdown of cartilage eventually causes the bones to rub against each other. They start grinding into each other. This of course, as you can imagine, causes severe pain for so many people out there. |
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We hear about arthritis all the time. How common is Osteoarthritis in our society? |
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The numbers are truly staggering. Just in the U. S. alone, we are talking in excess of 20 million Americans. In addition to that, we are talking tens of millions of people suffering worldwide, and osteoarthritis is so prevalent, even if you do not have the awful joint condition yourself, you probably know a friend or loved one who does. In addition to that, if you are a pet lover, they are not immune to this debilitating condition as well. In fact, osteoarthritis has plagued just about anything with bones since the beginning of time. |
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Who Is More Likely To Get It, Men Or Women? |
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Overall, women are more often affected by osteoarthritis than men are. Up until about the age of 45, men are more likely than women to suffer from osteoarthritis, perhaps because males tend to engage in more strenuous activity however about the ages of 45 to 55, men and women begin to have an equal chance of suffering. |
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How Does Osteoarthritis Affect Your Life? |
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Osteoarthritis affects each person differently. In some people it progresses quickly. In others, the symptoms are more serious. In the U. S. alone, there are several hundred thousand hip replacements, lower back operations, and knee replacements performed annually, mostly due to the progression of this degenerative joint condition. But, osteoarthritis does not just hurt people in their joints, their finances and lifestyle are also drastically affected. It is a major cause of work disability and reduced quality of work. |
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What Causes Osteoarthritis? |
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There are certain factors that we should be aware of. These risk factors can be categorized in either primary or secondary risk factors. For primary osteoarthritis, the more common form, it is a slow progression that usually strikes after the age of 45. Primary osteoarthritis is believed to develop in two ways. First, when you have excessive weight loads that are applied to normal joints, your major weightbearing joints such as your knees, your lower back and hips are able to handle loads several times your body weight. However, excess weight places excess stress on these joints and clearly the load on your joints can become incredibly difficult to bear as your body weight increases. |
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