How to stay strong with ARTHRITIS (Part 1)

Arthritis is inflammation of one or more joints and also involves the breakdown of cartilage. A joint is the area where two bones meet. Cartilage normally protects a joint, allowing it to move smoothly. Cartilage also absorbs shock when pressure is placed on the joint, such as when you walk. Without the normal amount of cartilage, the bones rub together, causing pain, swelling (inflammation), and stiffness. 

Joint inflammation may result from:

• An autoimmune disease (the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue)
• Broken bone
• General "wear and tear" on joints
• Infection, usually by bacteria or virus

Usually the joint inflammation goes away after the cause goes away or is treated. Sometimes it does not. When this happens, you have chronic arthritis. 

Arthritis may occur in men or women. 

The common types of arthritis include the following:

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, affecting millions of people worldwide. It occurs when the protective cartilage on the ends of your bones wears down over time.

Although osteoarthritis can damage any joint in your body, the disorder most commonly affects joints in your hands, knees, hips and spine. With aging, the water content of the cartilage increases, and the protein makeup of cartilage degenerates. Eventually, cartilage begins to degenerate by flaking or forming tiny crevasses. 

In advanced osteoarthritis, there is a total loss of the cartilage cushion between the bones of the joints. It is mainly related to aging. The symptoms of OA usually appear in middle age. Almost everyone has some symptoms by age 70. However, these symptoms may be minor. Before age 55, OA occurs equally in men and women. After age 55, it is more common in women.

Other factors can also lead to OA.

• OA tends to run in families
• Being overweight increases the risk of OA in the hip, knee, ankle, and foot joints
• Fractures or other joint injuries can lead to OA later in life
• Long-term overuse at work or in sports can lead to OA

Symptoms

The pain of osteoarthritis typically begins gradually after age 40 and progresses slowly over many years. Younger people with the condition may have no symptoms at all. Osteoarthritis is commonly identified by the following symptoms:

• Pain that worsens during activity and gets better during rest. This is the most common symptom of osteoarthritis. As the disease advances, the pain may occur even when the joint is at rest.
• Pain is generally described as aching, stiffness, and loss of mobility. The symptoms are often worse when resuming activities after periods of no activity.
• The pain may be intermittent, with bad spells followed by periods of relative relief.
• Pain seems to increase in humid weather.
• Some people have muscle spasm and contractions in the tendons.
• Some people feel a grating sensation when the joint is used. Osteoarthritis in the knee may cause a crackling-like noise (called crepitus) when the affected knee is moved.

Treatment

Osteoarthritis itself is not life threatening, but a person''s quality of life can significantly deteriorate as a result of pain and lost mobility. No treatment can cure osteoarthritis, and none can alter its progression with certainty, but many available treatments can relieve symptoms and significantly improve the quality of life.

The goal of osteoarthritis treatment is to reduce pain and improve joint function. Treatment approaches include:

Lifestyle Changes - Exercise helps maintain joint and overall movement. Ask your health care provider to recommend an appropriate home exercise routine. Water exercises, such as swimming, are especially helpful.

Other lifestyle recommendations include:

• Applying heat and cold
• Eating a healthy, balanced diet
• Getting rest
• Losing weight if you are overweight
• Protecting the joints
  • As the pain from your hip or knee OA becomes worse, keeping up with everyday activities may become more difficult or painful.
  • Sometimes making changes around the home will take some stress off your joints, and relieve some of the pain.
  • People whose work is causing stress in certain joints should find ways to reduce trauma. You may need to adjust your work area or change work tasks.

Medications -  For mild pain relief, doctors recommend acetaminophen, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and topical ointments. Patients with more severe pain may require stronger narcotic pain medication, corticosteroid injections, or visco-supplementation with injections of hyaluronic acid drugs.

Surgery -  For severe osteoarthritis that is not helped by other treatments, surgery such as joint replacement may be considered. Severe cases of OA might need surgery to replace or repair damaged joints. Surgical options include:

• Arthroscopic surgery to trim torn and damaged cartilage
• Changing the alignment of a bone to relieve stress on the bone or joint (osteotomy)
• Surgical fusion of bones, usually in the spine (arthrodesis)
• Total or partial replacement of the damaged joint with an artificial joint (knee replacement, hip replacement, shoulder replacement, ankle replacement, elbow replacement)

Ankylosing spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a type of arthritis in which there is long term inflammation of the joints of the spine. 

Typically the joints where the spine joins the pelvis are also affected. Occasionally other joints such as the shoulders or hips are involved. Eye and bowel problems may also occur

Symptoms

The disease starts with low back pain that comes and goes.

• Pain and stiffness are worse at night, in the morning, or when you are not active. It may wake you from your sleep.
• The pain typically gets better with activity or exercise.
• Back pain may begin in the sacroiliac joints (between the pelvis and the spine). Over time, it may involve all or part of the spine.

You may lose motion or mobility in the lower spine. You may not be able to fully expand your chest because the joints between the ribs are involved. Fatigue is also a common symptom.

Other symptoms include:

• Eye inflammation
• Heel pain
• Hip pain and stiffness
• Joint pain and joint swelling in the shoulders, knees, and ankles
• Loss of appetite
• Slight fever
• Weight loss

Treatment

There is no cure for AS, although treatments and medications can reduce symptoms and pain. The goal of treatment is to relieve your pain and stiffness, and prevent or delay complications and spinal deformity.

Medications - The major types of medications used to treat ankylosing spondylitis are pain-relievers and drugs aimed at stopping or slowing the progression of the disease. All of these have potentially serious side effects.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) — such as naproxen (Naprosyn) and indomethacin (Indocin) — are the medications doctors most commonly use to treat ankylosing spondylitis. They can relieve your inflammation, pain and stiffness. However, these medications might cause gastrointestinal bleeding.

If NSAIDs aren't helpful, your doctor might suggest starting a biologic medication, such as a tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blocker or an interleukin 17 (IL-17) inhibitor. TNF blockers target a cell protein that causes inflammation in the body. IL-17 plays a role in your body's defense against infection and also has a role in inflammation.

TNF blockers help reduce pain, stiffness, and tender or swollen joints. They are administered by injecting the medication under the skin or through an intravenous line.

Physical therapy is an important part of treatment and can provide a number of benefits, from pain relief to improved strength and flexibility. A physical therapist can design specific exercises for your needs.

Range-of-motion and stretching exercises can help maintain flexibility in your joints and preserve good posture. Proper sleep and walking positions and abdominal and back exercises can help maintain your upright posture.

Surgery - Most people with ankylosing spondylitis don't need surgery. However, your doctor might recommend surgery if you have severe pain or joint damage, or if your hip joint is so damaged that it needs to be replaced.

Gonococcal arthritis

Gonococcal arthritis is inflammation of a joint (usually just one) due to a gonorrhea infection. Gonococcal arthritis is an infection of a joint. It occurs in people who have gonorrhea caused by the bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

If the infection spreads to the bloodstream, fever, rash, and arthritis-like symptoms may occur. It affects women more often than men, and it is most common among sexually active adolescent girls.

Two forms of gonococcal arthritis exist:

• One involves skin rashes and many joints, usually large joints such as the knee, wrist, and ankle
• The second, less common form involves the spread of the bacteria through the blood (disseminated gonococcemia), which leads to infection of a single joint

Symptoms

In many cases, gonorrhea causes no symptoms, so you may not be aware that you have it. Gonococcal arthritis can occur in the ankles, knees, elbows, wrists, and, rarely, in axial skeletal joints (bones of the head and trunk). It can affect many joints or a single joint.

Symptoms may include:

• red and swollen joints
• joints that are tender or painful, especially when you move
• restricted joint range-of-motion
• fever
• chills
• skin lesions

In infants, symptoms may include:

• difficulty feeding
• irritability
• crying
• fever
• spontaneous movement of a limb

Treatment

The gonorrhea infection must be treated.

There are two aspects of treating a sexually transmitted disease, especially one as easily spread as gonorrhea. The first is to cure the infected person. The second is to locate, test, and treat all sexual contacts of the infected person. This is done to prevent further spread of the disease.

Some locations allow you to take counseling information and treatment to your partner(s) yourself. In other locations, the health department will contact your partner(s).

A treatment routine is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Your provider will determine the best and most up-to-date treatment. A follow-up visit 7 days after treatment is important if the infection was complicated, to recheck blood tests and confirm that the infection was cured.

Also Read:-

How to stay strong with ARTHRITIS (Part 2)

The Beauty Inside

FEEL YOUNG -Keep yourself physically and mentally fit

Any feedback or suggestions, please feel free to Comment.