Youth & Teen Problems

When a patient is suffering from arthritis his musculoskeletal system is affected; the joints become very painful and stiff, there is a lot of swelling at the joints and the joint cartilage gets damaged. Bones have a tissue cover on them which protects them while rubbing against each other called cartilage. They are like the glands in our body and the cells they are made of are called chondrocytes. The life cycle of the chondrocytes is like all cells and they die and new ones are formed.

When there is prolonged inflammation, cartilage cells are destroyed and die faster than the body’s ability to replace them. This is especially true if there has been an injury or there are not enough proper nutrients in the body to repair the joint. Lack of sufficient cartilage, can cause instability, joint weakness, pain and deformity, all of which affect and interrupt regular activities. A person suffering from arthritis needs to bring about a change in his day to day living and requires proper medication and physiotherapy. Joint replacement surgery is a last option after healthcare providers have tried other less intrusive interventions to relieve the discomfort.

Arthritis is mainly categorized into two types, ‘localized’ and ‘generalized’ depending on which areas are affected (body or the joints); they are then sub categorized further. Localized conditions are where the soft tissue around the bone or joint is affected; it refers to conditions like tendonitis and bursitis. A sub category of localized conditions is when only one or two joints are affected like the hip or the knee. One of the foremost sub-categories of generalized arthritis is a condition that affects muscle and soft tissue without swelling or inflammation. In this condition there is no joint damage and fibromyalgia belongs to this category.

Another sub-category involves inflammation affecting the entire body. Gout, psoriatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are examples of this condition. The other kinds of this condition are vasculitis (any organ); polymyositis (muscles); and systemic lupus erythematosus (skin, kidneys, or other organs).

However a person may suffer from multiple kinds of arthritis, in the United States of America around forty six million adults and abut three hundred thousand children suffer from hundred medical conditions. The condition is most common as osteoarthritis in adults age 60 and above but it can start as early as infancy. The number of people suffering out of this condition is increasing proportionally with the increasing average age of the American population; with old age setting in people suffering with arthritis is increasing day by day.

Arthritis and related illnesses are the cause of major disability in the U.S. and costs over 124 billion dollars a year in medical care and indirect expenses. Arthritis home remedies involve keeping a check on the weight and by eating fresh vegetables and fruits that contain vitamin C and Vitamin D. Regular exercise and consumption of up to 1000 to 1500 mg of calcium per day for adults would help them avoid injuries caused by sports activities.