Causes of Degenerative Arthritis and How to Prevent It

From semissourian.com

By: Dr. Greg Pursley ~ PC Medical Centres 

A common misconception about arthritis is that it is an aging process, but age — also known as time — is only one of three factors. Our physicians at PC Medical Centres hear it all of the time. Patients are told by other providers, “You have the knee joint of an 80-year-old,” or, “You have the spine of a 90-year-old.” However, we see 60, 70, 80 and 90-year-olds all of the time with joints that look great. So, what are the other factors? First, let’s look at what degenerative arthritis is.

Degenerative arthritis — inflammation of a joint causing degenerative change — is a process in which a joint in the body has repetitive inflammation either in or around the joint, which causes the joint to start to degenerate. This repetitive inflammation generally comes from malfunction. Simply put, if the joint is not working correctly, damage will occur, and inflammation will be the result. If the inflammation occurs either constantly or on a regular basis, the joint will start to degenerate.

There are three factors that create degenerative arthritis. First is time, also known as age; second is function or how the joint is working; and third is use or pressure on the joint. This is why you can have one knee that looks great but the other knee has degenerative arthritis. Or, you can have one spinal joint that has zero injury but the next spinal joint has degenerative arthritis.

Basically, if you have a joint in the body that is not functioning very well (function) and you use it a lot (pressure), it will degenerate quicker.

The answer is to improve the function of the joint as much as possible and heal the previous damage. This is done by improving the joint mobility, improving the muscle balance and using joint injections to improve the healing response.

https://www.semissourian.com/story/2992406.html

What is degenerative arthritis?

From semissourian.com

Arthritis is a common issue we see and treat on a daily basis, but it is also misunderstood. When broken down, “arthritis” means “joint” (arth-) “inflammation” (-itis). So, when someone talks about having arthritis, it really means the joint is inflamed. The reason for this inflammation is damage, and the body is flooding the joint with inflammation to try to heal the damage and to irritate the nerves, so you stay off of it while it is trying to heal.

So, how does the damage occur? Most commonly, inflammation in a joint is occurring because the joint isn't working properly. This means there is an imbalance within the joint that is causing it to "track" improperly, which then leads to damage over time. If this continues day after day, week after week and month after month, the body will start to deposit calcium to protect the joint.

This is where the term "degenerative" comes in to play. The joint has been inflamed (damaged) for so long that the body tries to protect the joint by tightening up muscles around the joint and depositing calcium in the bones around the joint, which are called “osteophytes,” or “bone spurs.”

The other problem when a joint isn't functioning properly is it will become dehydrated and lead to tearing of the internal structures like disks, labrum, cartilage or meniscus. This can lead to more complicated issues that require invasive surgery to treat.

So, what is the solution? Creating an environment where the joint can move properly and the muscles are balanced around the joint, so the joint can stay hydrated. Then, we can focus on healing the previous damage, which is why we use regenerative medicine (stem cells) at PC Medical Centres. We have seen clinically that patients who use stem cells improve and heal better than patients who don't.

https://www.semissourian.com/story/2981098.html