What You Should Know About Arthritis

If you suffer from pains in your joints and find they are swollen it can be a sign of arthritis. Arthritis is an orthopedic condition and it affects 350 million people in the world and over 10 million in the UK alone. Although this is a very common condition, not everyone knows a lot of information about arthritis. In this article, we will discuss what you should know about arthritis, if you are interested in finding out more information about arthritis then keep reading.

What is Arthritis?

Arthritis causes your joints to be painful and can make them swollen which causes people discomfort.  Arthritis can affect different parts of the body which include your hands, knees, hips and even your spine. There are 2 different types of arthritis; rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis causes the joints to become swollen and affects your fingers, wrists, elbows, knees and feet. Osteoarthritis arthritis is a condition that causes the cartilage to wear away from the joints and is caused by injury or repetitive use during sports or through work. This type of arthritis can affect your hips, knees, back or even joints in your hands.

Signs of Arthritis

If you are having trouble with certain movements, feeling stiff, have swelling around your joints or even if you find it is painful then these can be signs of arthritis. If you feel that you have the symptoms it is important to get in touch with your doctor or an orthopedic doctor to make sure you can find out what is wrong with you and understand the treatment of your condition. There are specialists throughout the country, so you’ll definitely be able to find someone nearby who can help you. For instance, there’s the highly reputable Yale Medicine who are the biggest academic multispecialty practice in New England who have over 1,400 doctors available.

How You Can Develop Arthritis

There are a number of reasons why you can develop arthritis, for example, if you play sports and you have to do a lot of movement as you do in tennis, then through time, you can develop arthritis. If you are a carpet layer or if you are always crawling in confined spaces or lifting a lot of heavy material, you can damage the joints in your knees or your back. If you have a family member that suffers from the condition it can also lead to you developing the same. There is also a connection between age and arthritis. This is because arthritis is also more common in people who are 40 and over, however, it can happen to other people at any age. For example, if you have suffered from an injury, you can suffer from arthritis.

In Conclusion

Overall, there are many things that you should know about arthritis and in this article, we discussed some of the important things that you should know. For example, what arthritis is, what it affects and how you can develop it as well as spotting the signs. If you are interested or you think that you may have arthritis, keep this article in mind for some more information.