Who Else Wants General Information on Arthritis?

ay there are about 70 million Americans with arthritis?that's one person out of every four who suffer both pain and the expense of this crippling disease. In one year alone, arthritis will be responsible for over half a billion dollars in lost wages. The economic consequences of arthritis are important to review because each year, arthritis takes a devastating financial toll on our society.

Over the course of ten years, arthritis related work loss has been associated with a 37% drop in income for arthritics - all those without arthritis had a 90% rise in income over the same period of time!

If you?a friend?or a relative has arthritis, it's important to know that early treatment can help sufferers continue with their normal daily lives and remain productive members of the community.

The term "arthritis" is derived from the Greek: "arthron" meaning "joint" and "itis" meaning inflammation. Arthritis is a word that describes over 100 different conditions, some involving inflammation and others not.

Arthritis is not a single disease. It encompasses about 100 different conditions, that affect joints and that pose unique problems for diagnosis and treatment.

Some common types of arthritis include osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, pseudo-gout, ankylosing spondylitis, polymyalgia rheumatica, psoriatic arthritis, Reiter's disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, and fibromyalgia.

Most types of arthritis involve joint inflammation. Inflammation is the body's natural response to injury or infection.

For an example of inflammation, take a simple scratch?your body automatically releases chemicals that cause fluids to accumulate and white blood cells to gather around the area of the scratch. As your body fights foreign substances and bacteria, inflammation?redness?heat?swelling?and pain occur at the sight of the injury.

In arthritis, unfortunately, this natural defense mechanism goes awry. Elements from the blood designed to fight infection and repair injury attack the body instead.

And, unless this inflammatory process is halted, it will continue to attack the body and cause joint destruction.

So you can begin to see how treatments that just relieve the pain associated with arthritis - but that do not reduce inflammation - may not adequately treat this disease.

Getting proper treatment early on is important?because proper care can help arthritis sufferers lead more active and comfortable lives.

Yet many people with arthritis delay going to a physician. Either they have fear about going to a doctor or they feel that nothing can be done for arthritis. Other reasons include the notion that all arthritis Medicines are harmful or arthritis is just a normal part of aging.

Some people try uNPRoven remedies which also delay proper diagnosis and treatment.

Since arthritis may evolve gradually, people often ignore its early warning symptoms or signs. These include persistent pain, tenderness, or swelling in one or more joints?symptoms that should not be dismissed as signs of age.

Other warning symptoms are joint pain and stiffness?especially when they appear in the morning.

Low back pain is one of the earliest symptoms of arthritis. For people over the age of 60, arthritis is the most frequent cause of low back pain.

The activity of arthritis varies uNPRedictably. Symptoms are cyclic in nature and seem to come and go.

Therefore, it is important to remember that any symptoms or signs of arthritis that last for more than six weeks - no matter how mild - should be checked by a physician. And, if symptoms are severe, then even waiting six weeks might be too long.

The two most common types of arthritis are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Joint inflammation is involved in both.

But, these types of arthritis differ in terms of?age of patients who are affected?the joints involved?the pattern of stiffness?and the potential for disability.

Close to 16 million Americans have osteoarthritis - the most common type of arthritis. Although osteoarthritis can occur at any age, it most often begins in people in their 50's and 60's.

Osteoarthritis or degenerative disc disease is a disorder of cartilage - the gristle that covers the ends of long bones. Cartilage is made of cell called chondrocytes which sit inside a framework made up of collagen and proteoglyens. Under normal conditions, chondrocytes make collagen and proteoglycens - in other works - they make the framework they sit inside. With osteoarthritis, chondrocytes behave abnormally and begin to make destructive enzymes such as collagenasese, stromelysin and others. These enzymes degrade cartilage?these enzymes also attract inflammatory cells which secrete substances called cytokines which cause fur