What Causes Arthritis? Find Out the Possible Causes of Arthritis

A lot of people today ask the question what causes arthritis and although there are many resources available online with extensive explanations of its answer, there are still many individuals who are not happy with what they’ve found out. Hopefully, this article will shed more light into this medical condition that has been known to affect a huge number of the United States population, including children and adults, regardless of sex and nationality.

 

What Causes Arthritis – The Description

 

First, let us go ahead define this medical condition. The word arthritis was derived from the Greek “arthron” which means joint and the Latin “it is”, meaning inflammation. This disease affects the muscles and skeletons of the body most specifically the joints. According to reliable studies made by certified medical experts, arthritis is the leading cause of disability among individuals aging between 40 years of age to 60 years of age in the United States and anywhere else in the world.

 

Over the years, several researches have been done to conclusively determine what causes arthritis. For your information, arthritis is not a single disease – it is a medical terminology that encompasses more than 100 medical conditions, whether they are centralized in a specific location in the body or systemic as most cases are. The most common that affects older people is what is called osteoarthritis although there are many others that have very early onsets even during the teenage years of an individual.

 

So that you may understand how arthritis progresses, it is important that you understand the function of the body part that is greatly affected when a person suffers arthritis. Basically, a joint is where a bone moves another. What holds these two together is known as the ligaments which are akin to elastic bands keeping the bones in place while the muscles relax and contract to facilitate movement.

 

In order to keep the bones from rubbing with each other thereby causing friction, the cartilage covers is present to cover each of their surfaces. Damage to any of these parts may be what causes arthritis. Because of the cartilage, there is smooth and pain free movements of the joints. If you have arthritis, then something is the matter with your joints and the cartilage cushioning them. It is possible that the cartilage has been worn down with age and time, there is a lack of synovial fluid in the joint cavity, infection has occurred, and autoimmunity has caused the release of harmful substance or a combination of any of these occurrences.

 

What Causes Arthritis – Conclusions

 

Arthritis affects different kinds of people in various ways depending on the progression of the disease as well as its specific type. Most patients with this medical condition suffer pain, swelling, stiffness, limited movements, and fever in some cases as well as fatigue. Frustration and decreased sense of well being may also set in as daily activities of living that used to be very simple before become very challenging. Knowing early on the signs and symptoms as well as what causes arthritis is thus very important.

 

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