As l open the door,I was so astonished seeing my mother crying with her hands on her knees. Though I knew she had arthritis but I could not comprehend why she was crying heavily. I never knew arthritis could result to such pain.
My mother's condition serves as an eye opener to me on what arthritis is all about. I was always thinking that arthritis affects only the elderly men and women. This mindset keeps on growing in me till I was moved to research on what arthritis is all about. The research I made unraveled the hidden things which I don't know about arthritis.
Today I am going to be talking on arthritis, how it affects the joint and the possible ways which we can use to cure this problem like we will always say,
a stitch In time saves nine
Join me as I move down to explain In details what arthritis is all about.
Arthritis is mainly known to some people as an inflammation of the joint that affects only the aged men and women. I can't say it is wrong because I always think in the same way. I never knew arthritis affects most of the youth we have in the country until I researched on it.
According to the center for disease control and prevention.
54.4 million adults in the united States have received a diagnosis of some form of arthritis. Of these, 23.7 million have their activity curtailed In some way by their condition.
Though arthritis is common in old men and women it is equally found in adult and children. Arthritis of the joint are grouped into different types base on how it affects the body and the site of which it is found in.
An inflammation due to injury is known as degenerative arthritis, why the one due to a breakdown in the body cartilage is termed osteoarthritis. Arthritis can also be as a result of infection.
Haven't understood this concept, let us quickly without punctuation bring in the detail explanation on how this types of arthritis affects different parts of the body.
Inflammatory arthritis
Inflammation simply means a local response that occur as a result of injury,this response is accompanied with redness, pain,heat and swelling of the affected parts.
Inflammatory arthritis comprises mainly of rheumatoid arthritis and reactive arthritis.
Rheumatoid arthritis
wiki commons by ammonium under~CC BY-SA 3.0 </div
Rheumatoid arthritis has to do with the immune system reacting against the your body tissues. One dangerous thing about this type of arthritis is its ability to affects not only the joint but also the major organs of the body. It causes painful swelling of the tissue and can also result to erosion in bone and joint deformity.
Rheumatoid arthritis also affects the synovium that surround your joints and lead to a damage in the cartilage. This arthritis can be observed by swollen joints,stiffness of the joint, fatigue and fever.
I can say that since this arthritis affects the cartilage that surround the bone,don't you think that the bone can also loose its alignment.
Factors that can cause increase in this rheumatoid arthritis are sex,age and smoking and it can also lead to osteoporosis, a condition or disease that weakens the bone.
Reactive arthritis
An entrance of bacteria into the joint is another way inflammation can occur. This inflammation of the joint is due to some pathogenic organisms that affects the body such as salmonella and shigella.
wiki commons by photo credit under~ CC BY-SA 3.0 </div
Reactive arthritis may also occur if there is transfusion of blood that is contaminated with bacteria. And It can only affects people between the age of 19-42years of age.
Since reactive arthritis is an infectious arthritis, there is possible means that people with HIV can develop reactive arthritis. Reason being that HIV occurrence in the body depletes the body immune system and gives room for opportunistic infection.
It can be treated by the use of antibiotics to kill those microorganism which is the main cause of this disease.
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is known as degenerative arthritis. This arthritis occurs due to old age.it is regarded as the commonest cause of arthritis. Osteoarthritis occurs as a result of a breakdown of joint cartilage.
wiki commons by BruceBlaus,under~ CC BY-SA 3.0 </div
The breaking down of cartilage lead to what we called wears and tears.it is an arthritis associated with old age which many may consider to be the only cause of arthritis.
The major symptoms of this disease is stiffness of the joint most especially in the thumb and neck. Since osteoarthritis affects the cartilage there is always a disalignment of the bone at the place where cartilage is affected, and it can be diagnose using x-ray machine.
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis
This is the commonest causes of arthritis in children. The cause of this arthritis is unknown. It is an auto inflammatory disease where there is over reaction of the body immune system which term to react with the body normal tissues and cells. Juvenile idiopathic arthritis are grouped into different types.
wiki commons by Fiona McQueen, Marissa Lassere and Mikkel Østergaard,under~ CC BY-SA 3.0</div
Systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis
This type of arthritis occurs mainly in children between the age of 2-10years.it is associated with high fever and inflammation of the underlying joints. Juvenile idiopathic arthritis can lead to skin rash and heart inflammation.
Oligoarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis
This type of arthritis affects mostly the knees,ankles and elbows joint of the children. It is the commonest cause of eye inflammation in children and can cause swelling in the elbow joints.
Juvenile psoriatic arthritis
The name psoriatic is associated with skin disorder. This types of arthritis occurs as a result of skin disorder, it affects mainly the fingers and knees and may cause swelling and pains in the joints.
Enthesitis related juvenile idiopathic arthritis
This is the types of arthritis that occurs where there is connection between the bone and tendon,it also leads to inflammation of the joint. It is most common in male children.
Conclusion
Arthritis is an inflammation of the joint.this inflammation is cause due to infection, injury and breakdown in the cartilage surrounding the bone. Occurrence of this disease in the bone lead to painful swollen and a severe pain in the affected part.arthritis can be treated depending on the type that affects the individual. Infectious arthritis for example are treated using antibiotics in order to kill the underlying cause of that reaction.
It will be more nice if arthritis are prevented than to receive a deadly pain that is associated with it's occurrence, but remember prevention is better than cure.
Refrences
1,Arthritis foundation
2,Osteoarthritis
3, Reactive arthritis~wikipedia
4,Rheumatoid arthritis~mayoclinic