Dr. Sangeet Sharma

In medical terms, Osteoarthritis is referred to a disease of the joints. It mostly affects the cartilage or the slippery tissue, which helps to cover the ends of bones in a joint. A proper cartilage helps in gliding of the bones one over the other. In osteoarthritis, the cartilage’s top layer gets damaged or breaks down. This leads to rubbing of the bones and swelling, pain or loss of motion. As the time passes by, the joint may lose its shape. There is also a possibility of developing bone spurs from the edges of the joint. This causes pain and damage.

People suffering from osteoarthritis often complain of joint pain and experience reduced motion. Unlike the other kinds of arthritis, this affects only the joints and does not interfere with the working of internal organs. It is the most common form of arthritis. It mainly occurs in older people. In younger ones, osteoarthritis may occur due to joint injuries.

What Causes Osteoarthritis?
It is caused due to ageing. But there are certain other risk factors that have to be kept in mind. This include:

1. Excess body weight or obesity
2. Old age
3. Joint injury
4. Improper formation of joints
5. Defective genes
6. Stress on the joints

What are the symptoms?
It can develop in any joint in the body. But it mainly occurs in the hands, knees, hips, and spine. The symptoms that indicate towards its occurrence are as follows:

1. Stiffness in a joint, especially as you get out of bed or sit for a long period of time.
2. Swelling or tenderness in the joints.
3. A crunching feeling.
4. Sound of bone rubbing.

Diagnosis
It cannot be diagnosed by a single test. It takes several methods to detect its symptoms. tHerefore, a combination of tests are conducted, including physical examination, X-rays, blood tests or examination of the fluid in the joints.

How Is It Treated?
It requires a combination of treatments to meet a patient's needs, as per his or her lifestyle, and health. The treatment has four main goals:

1. To improve function of the joints
2. Maintain a healthy body weight
3. It is important to control the pain
4. Efforts to achieve a healthy lifestyle

The treatment plan or sketch will involve focus on the following things:

1. Exercise
2. Weight control
3. Rest and joint care
4. Techniques to get relief from pain without the use of drugs
5. Medications
6. Therapies
7. Surgery

Arthritis

Arthritis occurs when the joints in the body are inflamed or there is a breakdown of cartilage in the joints. Joints are places in the body where two or more bones meet, such as the hip or knee. Cartilage is the cushion in the joints that protects them from pressure and makes movements smooth. When cartilage breaks down in a joint, the bones rub together.

This causes pain, swelling, and stiffness. The most common type of arthritis is osteoarthritis. With this type of arthritis, the joints wear out over time from the use or as the person ages. Injury to a joint may also lead to this type of arthritis. Osteoarthritis occurs most often in the knees, hips and hands. The joints begin to ache
And thicken. At times, the tissues around the joint become trained and cause more pain.

Arthritis can also occur when the immune system, which normally
Protects the body from infection, attacks the body's tissues. Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common type of this kind of arthritis. It causes inflamed and painful joints and may affect other parts of the body, such as the heart, muscles, blood vessels,
Nerves and eyes.

Signs of arthritis

- joint pain
- joint is not stable or it feels like it will not support you
- joint enlarges or swells

Gone are the days when back pain affected a person only in their old age. Nowadays, almost every second person suffers from some kind of a backache. From sedentary lifestyle to certain diseases and ailments, the back pain can result from the amalgamation of various factors, making the condition painful (mild to chronic) and uncomfortable to the hilt. In this article, we will mainly stress upon the factors responsible for a back pain.

Underlying factors that often triggers a back pain

More than often, prolonged and chronic back pain interferes with the daily activities of a person, thereby jeopardizing their lives. For a proper treatment and management, one should first identify the factors responsible for the back pain. Some of the common and critical triggers include

Medical conditions:

• Sciatica: Sciatica is a neurological disorder whereby an inflammation or injury of the sciatic nerve (considered the largest nerve in the body) triggers numbness and a shooting pain that moves downwards, often from the lower back (the lumbar region) through the buttocks and hips into the back of one leg. Sometimes, a person may experience a pain down both the legs.
• Osteoarthritis of the spine: This is a painful degenerative disorder of the spine that mainly affects the neck and the lower back. Here, the cartilage of the discs and joints (lower back and neck) are damaged causing pain and weakness. In some people, the pain is so severe that it limits their motion to a great extent.
• Lumbar spinal stenosis: Stenosis of the lumbar spine results in severe back pain, especially in the lower half (lumbar area), triggered by narrowing down of the spinal canal.
• Osteoporosis of the spine: This is a bone disorder where the bones become so porous, thin and weak that they start to crack and break (including those of the spine), a condition known as vertebral compression fractures. These fractures are a common cause of weakness and back pain.
• Shingles: This is a viral infection (varicella-zoster virus) characterized by the appearance of a rash which is often painful. Shingles can occur in any part of the body including the spine. The viral infection in the spine is what triggers the back pain.
• Spinal Cancer, muscle spasm or ligament tear and strain on the back can give rise to back pain.
• Back pain can also be an outcome of rupture or disorder of the discs that act as a defensive shield between the spinal vertebrae.

Lifestyle practices:

1. Leading a sedentary life can be dangerous, often causing back pain.
2. People who are overweight or obese (especially the lower half) are known to suffer from a back pain.
3. In many people, rigorous exercise and physical activities can be a major contributing factor, triggering a back pain.
4. Women who wear high heels are more susceptible to developing a back pain.
5. In addition to these, bad posture, stress, a poor quality mattress can equally contribute to back pain.
6. Do not neglect the condition if the pain persists for more than a week. Get medical assistance to avoid further deterioration and complication.

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