What is Arthritis and How it affects the Joints?

by Sam Walton Sr. Business Analyst

If you or a loved one suffers from arthritis, you are aware of how painful and debilitating it can be. Your joints feel stiff and painful, making it extremely tough to go about simple, everyday tasks like brushing your hair or going up a staircase.

Your joints

There are many different types of joints in the body and arthritis can affect any of them. For example, your hips and shoulders are large joints of the ball-and-socket type. These joints possess a great range of motion, even rotation, which allows you to swing your arms and legs.

The knees, elbows, and fingers are another type of joints – the hinge joint that allow you to bend and straighten your arms, legs, fingers, and toes.

The neck is a pivot joint that allows tilting your head from side to side, move it forward and back, and even rotate it, to some extent, from left to right.

The wrist is an ellipsoidal joint, allowing many free movements except rotation.

Unfortunately, arthritis can affect all your moveable joints and its symptoms can make it hard to continue your personal and professional lives without pain.

Osteoarthritis

All the moving joints in the body have cartilage. Cartilage is the tissue that acts as a cushion and helps your joints move freely. This cartilage may gradually break down, as a result of aging-related wear-and-tear or after an orthopedic injury or infection. This results in development of osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis, affecting millions of people. As the wears out, you would experience pain, stiffness, and swelling in the joint. Osteoarthritis typically affects the knees, hips, hands, and spine, making it difficult for the patient to move, and perform other activities, without pain.

While it is not possible to cure or completely reverse the damage from osteoarthritis, you can take measures to prevent the progression of cartilage wear in your joints by staying active and maintaining a healthy weight.

Treatments for osteoarthritis include physical therapy, anti-inflammatory pain medications, and joint injections to relieve pain and reduce inflammation in the joint.

In severe cases, joint repair and joint replacement surgery may be needed to help the patient regain full mobility and obtain long-term pain relief.

Lifestyle changes can help your joints

Apart from any medications or therapy your doctor recommends, getting regular exercise can help to strengthen the muscles around arthritic joints. Hot and cold therapies may aid in reducing swelling and relieving pain. Losing excess body weight can reduce the stress on arthritic joints.

If you are looking for knee replacement surgery and knee arthritis treatments, consult the premier knee surgeon in Phoenix, AZ, call FXRX Inc. at 480-449-3979. Dr. Sumit Dewanjee at FXRX Inc. is a Board-Certified Orthopedic surgeon and workers compensation orthopedic surgeon, who has been recognized with the prestigious Patient’s Choice Award for eight years in a row.