Do you know what is osteoarthritis? It is a degenerative joint disease causing swelling, stiffness and joint pain.In osteoarthritis, cartilage in between joints breaks down and so, the smooth surface is also disrupted. This, in turn, disturbs the normal gliding of bones. With lesser cartilage, bones tend to rub against each other while moving, resulting in pain and more friction. There can be mild to severe symptoms in osteoarthritisin knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers and hands.
Osteoarthritis mostlybegins during middle age.Any person can suffer from this disease but there are some factors that can increase the risk of disease in a person. Have a look at them…
RISK FACTORS LEADING TO OSTEARTHRITIS
- Age
Age plays a significant role in osteoarthritis because aging causes wear and tear in joints. The more the joints are used,the more they undergo wear and tear. Moreover, with age, joints lose shock-absorbing ability. As a result, joints experience stress from activities like standing or walking.
- Obesity
Obesity or overweight gives stress on the weight-bearing joints like knees and hips. Do you know that with every pound that you gain, load on the knee joints increases four pounds when you exercise or walk. Therefore, losing some pounds from your body will help in reducing joint pain and improve functioning of people. The best orthopedic doctor in Salt Lake will advise you to have proper body weight to avoid joint pains and other severity.
- Old injury
If you have a joint injury previously, then it might result in osteoarthritis in the later stage. It is because damaged cartilage might not completely heal. Injuries which have higher risk are – broken bones round a jointor injuries affecting ligaments. Thus, whenever there is some injury, you should contact the best orthopedic hospital in Kolkata to get the right treatment.
- Genetics
At times, osteoarthritis can trigger as a genetic disease. Experts opine that a number of genes can be involved in causing this disease but, they are not sure about the exact ones. they also do not have any knowledge about the number of genes that might cause this disease.
- Gender
Osteoarthritis can affect women and men equally. However, women have greater risk of developing this disease. Hormonal change in women during menopause leads to bone thinning and hence, they have greater risk of developing osteoarthritis.
Nevertheless, various osteoarthritis treatments are available these days. So, no sooner that you face a problem, you should see a doctor.