Is The Pain In Your Joints, An Alarming Signal For Osteoarthritis?

Arthritis is basically a symptom and not a disease, but it is often thought of as a disease. There are over hundreds of diseases that have arthritis as a common symptom. One of those diseases is osteoarthritis.

Also known as a degenerative joint disease (DJD), is the inflammation of weight-bearing joints that causes the breakdown of the cartilage, bone thickening, and bone spurs within the joint. Not being a systematic disease, it can only affect a single joint in your body.

According to a study, Arthritis affects the knees of more than 5% of the population in India with over 1/4th of the patients under the age of 55. It is initially started on the inner or medial side of the knee, causing uncomfortable movement and over time leads to complete restriction in knee movement. However, there are many risk factors that are involved in the development of Osteoarthritis in a joint. However, it mostly causes due to the “wear and tear” from excessive stress on a joint over time. Mostly old aged are prone to the diseases, but now a good amount of young people are suffering from the same. However, primary Osteoarthritis is idiopathic in nature with no known cause of arthritis, and secondary is arthritis-related to some other health condition such as trauma, congenital or developmental disease, an inflammatory disease, or obesity.

Symptoms of Osteoarthritis

7 alarming signals that you shouldn’t ignore;

1. Pain at weight-bearing joints
2. Joint deformity over time
3. Joint stiffness
4. Decreased range of motion at the joint
5. Joint inflammation
6. Crepitus (cracking, creaking sound that can be heard and felt)
7. Limitations in ability to perform daily activities

What happens when you suffer from Osteoarthritis?

The pain from the disease actually happens due to the destruction of the cartilage within the joints. Pain augments while performing different activities. Along with that joint stiffness is especially evident when beginning to move after a period of not moving such as waking up in the morning. The situation gets worse when the disease progresses or is at its peak, this leads to a decreased range of motion, deformities at the joint, and loss of functional abilities.

4 Common joints affected by osteoarthritis are;

1. Knee joints
2. Hip joints
3. Ankle joints
4. Hand and shoulder joints

The disease can also lead to some other serious problems such as decreases in muscle strength and endurance, decreased aerobic endurance and capacity, and weight gain.

However, if not treated properly then it can involve some potential risks which like joint deformity, Congenital disorders Diabetes, Hypothyroidism etc. So, here it becomes imperative to opt for the right treatment in one of the best Arthritis & Joint Replacement Clinic.

Due to the advancement of technology and the latest researches in medical science have made treatment of the different kinds of joint replacement possible in the most of the clinic like knee replacement surgery or Hip replacement surgery in Delhi. However, the city offers some good options for a clinic.

How to decrease the risk of Arthritis and Joint Replacement Surgery?

3 preventive measures that you should opt for;

• Reduce your weight 

Increased body weight would lead to increased stress through the joints of your body which ultimately make the joints weak. If one loses around 10 pounds of weight decrease your risk for developing arthritis pain.

• Avoid doing strenuous job

Strenuous activities will involve the wear and tear on your joints which would increase the risk of orthopaedics and joint replacement surgery as more the wear and tear the more will lead weakening of the joints.

• Avoid a sedentary lifestyle

A sedentary lifestyle is harmful in almost all health scenarios as this increases the bodyweight which in turn lead to increase in the risk of pressure on the joints. So, it is imperative to be physically active by regularly doing exercise and yoga.