Types of arth­ritis and what’s behind each

From pressreader.com

By The Shopper

Arth­ritis affects people all over the world. Approx­im­ately 53.2 mil­lion adults in the United States have doc­tor-dia­gnosed arth­ritis, says the Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion. But many more suf­fer in undia­gnosed silence. Glob­ally, nearly 300 mil­lion people may live with arth­ritis.

Arth­ritis can range from mild to debil­it­at­ing and stem from a vari­ety of causes. Under­stand­ing what’s behind arth­ritis can help people get the treat­ment they need. Here are the major types of arth­ritis and their causes.

• Osteoarth­ritis: Osteoarth­ritis is the most com­mon form of arth­ritis, says the Clev­e­land Clinic. It forms as the res­ult of wear-and-tear on car­til­age, which breaks down over time. Aging, repet­it­ive move­ments or pre­vi­ous joint injur­ies can cause osteoarth­ritis.

• Gout: Gout is a meta­bolic con­di­tion caused by the build-up of uric acid crys­tals in the joints. The Mayo Clinic says the build-up occurs when the kid­neys can­not fil­ter the uric acid effect­ively or when the body pro­duces too much. Pain, swell­ing and ten­der­ness can occur in the joints, often in the big toe.

• Autoim­mune: Some forms of arth­ritis are autoim­mune in nature, mean­ing that the immune sys­tem mis­takenly attacks the joints. This occurs with rheum­at­oid arth­ritis and psori­atic arth­ritis, accord­ing to Penn Medi­cine.

• Infec­tion/injury: Some­times viral or bac­terial infec­tions or acute joint injur­ies can trig­ger arth­ritis, says the Clev­e­land Clinic.

Cer­tain risk factors elev­ate the chances of devel­op­ing arth­ritis. Risk elev­ates as joints age and wear down, so older adults are more likely to exper­i­ence arth­ritis. Car­ry­ing extra weight puts pres­sure on joints like the knees, so those who are over­weight are more likely to get arth­ritis. Genet­ics can make a per­son more vul­ner­able to dis­eases like rheum­at­oid arth­ritis, and women are more likely to develop it.

There are vari­ous treat­ments for arth­ritis, and any­one in pain can work with a doc­tor to make life­style changes that can alle­vi­ate symp­toms and help them live fuller lives.

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