Osteoarthritis - Identification of Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis in older people. It is sometimes known as degenerative joint disease because in Osteoarthritis the cartilage of the joints continues to degenerated causing pain, stiffness and swelling as bone scrapes over bone.

People often have limited movement and pain but there is no redness, heat nor does it affect the internal organs like other arthritic diseases do. Osteoarthritis is the most frequent cause of disability in older adults. It affects more men before age 45 and more women after age 45. The disease causes not only changes in the person abilities but also their lifestyle and finances.

The joints commonly affected are the knees, hips, hands and spine. Patients start to notice a difference in their comfort level as they rise to standing from a sitting position, in the morning getting out of bed or after exercise.

Warning signs of Osteoarthritis include crackling joints, stiffness after getting up from a chair or from bed in the morning, pain, swelling, and tenderness. In Osteoarthritis there isn't redness or heat from the joint.

Doctors don't have a single test that will identify this disease. They rely on several methods to identify the changes and determine a course of treatment.

They will take an indepth clinical history to determine when the symptoms started, how they've been treated thus far and how they affect the patient's lifestyle.

Doctors will also include a physical exam, x-rays and other tests. X-rays aren't conclusive since most people over 65 have osteoarthritis in the joints but are not symptomatic. Blood tests can help to rule out other diseases that cause joint pain and swelling. Joint aspiration may also be performed to evaluate the fluid in the joint.

Osteoarthritis happens in the hands greater in women than men. There also appears to be a genetic factor as it seems to 'run' in families. Medication, splinting and moist heat give patients with arthritis in their hands the most relief.

Osteoarthritis in the knees is very common since the knees are the largest weight bearing joint and therefore commonly affected. The arthritis is not symmetrical and can occur in one knee or the other but not usually both at the same time. The knee becomes stiff, swollen and painful but isn't red or hot. The pain can lead to significant disability and a disruption in the patients lifestyle.

Therapy for Osteoarthritis in the knee often includes medications, necessary weight loss, walking aids and in extreme cases a joint replacement. Over weight and obese patient have an increased rate of Osteoarthritis. Decreasing the weight load that the knees and hips carry will treat the pain and disability of the disease. In fact, people who are over weight will decrease their chances of having painful Osteoarthritis just by maintaining a healthy body weight.

Osteoarthritis in the hip can be felt as pain in the hip, knees, groin, inner thigh or buttocks. When arthritis settles in the hip it can cause stiffness, pain and severe disability. The pain limits movement and bending which makes dressing and caring for the feet a real challenge.

Patients with Osteoarthritis in the hip often respond well to medications, exercise, walking aids and in severe cases a joint replacement. Again, patients with Osteoarthritis in the hip respond very well to weight loss.

Spinal Osteoarthritis may cause numbness or weakness in the arms or legs. Patients often report relief when sleeping on a firm mattress, using back support when sitting in a chair, and warm moist heat. Exercise can be incorporated to strengthen the back and abdominal muscles.

Osteoarthritis commonly affects four different joints in the body; knees, hips, hands and spine. With the proper identification and therapy people suffering from arthritis can delay the progression and pain of the disease.

Tinnitus Headache - Causes of This Type of Tinnitus

Tinnitus and headache could have sprouted from stress and could easily be taken cared of. What is hard to manage and may require further evaluation is tinnitus with temporal headache. This condition is affects the temporal bone, which is the organ responsible for hearing, and is located just on top of the ear in the skull. Knowing the causes and evaluating it may lead the patient to have the right treatment. There may be many factors that could lead to tinnitus headache but among those are discussed here and are divided into two - the primary factors and secondary factors.

There are new discoveries of how tinnitus headache developed. This will be discussed along the article as the secondary factors. But let's go over to the primary factors from which headache might develop. First and most common is the stress. Stress affects the temporal bone structure of the skull. Relaxing and getting deep breath will relieve a person from a stress. Drinking plenty of water is necessary for those who are under stress. As medications could give relief, some medicines may have adverse side effects. Insomnia, the next factor could be easily treated with right quantity of sleep (7 hours/day).

One factor of a tinnitus headache is serious and life threatening because there is bleeding in the subarachnoid space in the brain. This is called a subarachnoid hemorrhage. It could unexpectedly occur or might be from a head injury wherein the cerebral aneurysm ruptured. This is not a common cause having only 1 out of 15,000 Americans in the survey result. Lumber puncture is a collection of cerebrospinal fluid from the sac of the lumber. Tinnitus headache may occur if it does after 12 hours from which the procedure is done.

Temporomandibular Disorder (TMD) is a new study that tinnitus headache may have aroused from this condition. But this alone is the problem but this arises from another factor called Temporomandibular Join Disorder (TMJ). Some mechanisms in the jaw joint, which is located near the ear, may bring out an ear symptom. The muscles and tendrils get their nerve impulses from those that are joined to the jaw muscles, and sometimes, a bit of mistake in the analysis of the signals may cause alteration.

A progressive study of tinnitus in relation to a temporal headache is still on going. But another consideration of how a tinnitus headache may arise is from an ototoxic medication like the antibiotics, including Aminoglycosides, Vancomycin, and Erythromycin. The chemotherapy agents and quinine is also considered to be contributors to tinnitus headache, especially for the older people. Pain and discomfort may arise in the temporal structure in the skull due to the toxicity which is present in these drugs.

What Hip Replacement Rehab Means For the Athlete

Ballet dancers, football players, basketball players, and track stars all have the same concerns when it comes to having a hip replaced: will I still be able to perform?  Hip replacement surgery doesn't mean that suddenly life as you know it has changed or stopped.  Thanks to hip replacement rehab, life with a new hip can be just as good or even better than before.

A person that has an athletic lifestyle as a means of earning a living can come to a point in life when hip pain can virtually wipe out their desired movement.  When it's impossible to move any more, even to do normal things like stand or walk because of hip pain, then it's time to reconsider hip replacement surgery.

It's a known fact that no matter how strong our bodies are or how well trained, there will come a point in life when we realize it's fragility.  Over the past several years, hip replacement has developed into a time enduring solution.  With the earliest record of hip replacement surgery being recorded in 1891, the procedure has had plenty of time to advance. 

At first, the replaced hip was a metallic composition, progressing in some areas to an ivory replacement, and finally a combination of metal, a teflon acetabular, and an acrylic bone cement is used.  About 95% of  patients now can have up to 15 years or more with their replacement.  With the proper care and education, an athletic person will be able to enjoy their replacement hip and still be a semi-active individual.

There are things to consider though after having a hip replaced.  Hip replacement rehab is a good place to go over with your physical therapist the realities of your athletic career.  The suggestion may be to go from a full-time dancer to a part-time dancer and instructor, or from full-time runner to a coach. No one wants to give up their desired life passion because of an injury or severe pain, so educating yourself on how to do what you want to do the right way is the best way to maintain your athletic happiness. 

While there are several persons who have had a hip replaced and continued their livelihood, there's one person in particular that serves as a famous testimony.  In 1991, Bo Jackson had to face making the tough decision of having his hip replaced.  It took Bo Jackson two years to get his body back in "working" condition, but when he stepped back in the athletic realm in 1993, it was worth the wait. 

Fans around the country were amazed at how spectacularly he performed and by the time he retired in 1995, he had proven a point; with the proper education on how to rehabilitate a new replacement hip, an athlete can do anything they set their mind to.

TMJ Nerve Pain - How to Stop Nerve Pain

Your TMJ nerve pain jaw is getting worse. Shooting and stabbing pains that just keep coming. You are sick of spending your entire day trying not to open your mouth too wide, chewing so softly only to get another sharp pain. Is there really no effective way to stop TMJ nerve pain?

You Can Do It Yourself?

It has been recently proven that TMJ exercises can in fact relieve TMJ nerve pain and other related symptoms. But how can simple exercises get rid of this annoying and persistent foe that is TMJ?

These exercises however have a used by date. If your symptoms are too far gone they may not be able to save your jaw. For example people who have snapped tendons or ripped muscles are going to need extensive treatment and most likely surgery. Many people simply don't take enough notice of TMJ and live with the symptoms, which inevitably get worse and worse.

How Do They Fix TMJ?

Basically TMJ exercises correct and realign your jaw muscles and tendons. They do this by stretching, massaging and strengthening certain muscles in your jaw, mouth and neck. After doing these exercises, TMJ patients have reported losing their symptoms in as little as a few days. Although this is not the norm and it usually takes about 10 days for full recovery.

These exercises are a much better alternative to mouth guards and splints which can cost more than $300. Mouth guards only stop your teeth grinding at night and do nothing for the pain. Plus many people dislike them because they feel very uncomfortable when sleeping.

Arthritis - Are You Crippled by Ignorance?

Rheumatism is a general term for pain and stiffness in the muscular-skeletal system. Muscles, ligaments and tendons and the skeleton are all very interdependent upon one another for their shape, support and function. Trouble in any one will usually have an effect upon the rest.

Arthritis simply means inflammation of a joint and may be considered a form of rheumatism in a joint or joints have become inflamed. There are many different forms of arthritis - around a hundred different types - with a variety of causes. We are not going to explore them in detail in this article, but we will give a broad view of them.

Arthritis is derived from Greek - arthro means joint while "itis" stands for inflammation. Arthritis is the name for a group of conditions involving damage to the joints of the body.

OSTEOARTHRITIS
Probably the most common or at least the best- known form is Osteoarthritis (OA) or Degenerative Joint Disease (DJD). It tends to affect the large weight-bearing joints such as hip and knee and is often found in one joint rather than multiple sites. It may be the result of trauma, infection, obesity, aging, instability, an after effect of surgery, or a "perk" of certain occupations such as farming and horticulture. Often described as "wear and tear" and is one of the major causes of joint problems involving erosion of bone and cartilage in your joints. It's also usually really painful..

Osteoarthritis is frequently thought of as an older person's disease, although in reality it can affect younger people, especially sportspeople who put their joints under a lot of strain to maintain the levels of fitness required for them. This causes wear and tear at the joint surfaces. Footballers regularly damage their knees, causing premature muscular-skeletal changes. In some cases theres also a hereditary factor. It's most often seen in the over 60 age group and can be confirmed clinically or with x-rays where bony changes such as spurs or osteophytes can be seen.

It may also be seen in the hands and feet in which case nodules, or Heberdens nodes, may be seen on the joints at the ends of the fingers and frequently runs in families. Bunions may be present on the feet.

RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS
Another form of arthritis is Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and this is 3 times more common in women than men. This is a disease where the immune system starts to attacks itself.

RA has the potential to be a significantly disabling disease with destructive changes to the joints but modern medication has turned it into a much less crippling illness. Hands and wrists, legs and feet plus the neck are often affected. Left untreated, the lining of the joints thickens and excess synovial fluid is produced, which in turn alters the lubrication of the joint through changes to the composition of the fluid. Antibodies attack articular cartilage and gradually destroy it. Bone surfaces may become exposed and fuse to give considerable loss of function.

Initial symptoms are pain, tenderness, swelling, stiffness. These are often in the smaller joints and will affect joints symmetrically. So if you've got it in your right hand, then your left is probably affected too. It can happen at any age with the most common occurrence being between 40 and 50 years of age.

If you think you might have RA then it's important to get prompt attention as early treatment can have a big impact. Blood tests and x-rays are used to diagnose the disease. Today's medicine can go a long towards preventing deformity, disability and instability and there are many effective drugs available that control it but sadly they can't cure it.

GOUT
Another form of arthritis is Gout. This almost always occurs in men and is characterised by raised levels of uric acid in the bloodstream - either because your body is producing too much uric acid, or you can't remove it once its there.

Crystals of uric acid build up on the cartilage of your joints, tendons and surrounding tissues. The pain is excruciating with a sudden burning pain often in the foot, where there is swelling, redness, heat and stiffness, often in the big toe.

Traditionally Gout is associated with rich food intake and grain alcohol. Meat, game, scallops, offal are often thought to be implicated becase of their high purine levels. A plant based diet seems to be low in purine levels.

Knowing a little about about the conditions affecting you is the first step to undersatnding what is happening and can often take away a lot of the fear and uncertainty. The next step is to get some professional advice on the specifics of your own unique circumstance and to work with your therapist to develop a plan for managing the condition so it doesn't take over your life.

Back Pain Caused By Track And Field

As spring arrives, many people are returning to their favorite warm weather sports. For many students and adult athletes, this means a return to track and field. It is important to educate yourself about the common injuries associated with your sport in order to guard yourself against back pain and other conditions that can take you out of competition.

A number of injuries can occur during any sport. The following describes a few common injuries associated with the various activities of track and field.

Runners

Most people, whether athletes or office workers, tend to have weaker hamstrings than quadriceps. This imbalance causes the pelvis to be pulled down in front and increases the lumbar arch. As the back arches in more, the discs in between vertebrae are compressed unevenly and the spinal joints are strained. Combined with the jolting force your body experiences as your feet pound against the ground when running, joint and disc problems become likely. Weak hamstrings are also susceptible to strains. Runners should take special care to ensure their quads and hamstrings are balanced in strength and flexibility.

Another muscle group runners should be aware of is the hip flexor group, particularly the psoas. This muscle is used when bringing the thigh and upper body closer together. The psoas connects the lumbar spine to the thigh bone and is used heavily when running. Tight, inflexible psoas muscles pull down on the pelvis and create the exaggerated lumbar arch that tight quads create. Running without regaining flexibility of the psoas will likely worsen its rigidity and exacerbate pelvic misalignment, which in turn causes lower back pain.

Regular stretching and myofascial release can help achieve muscles that are balanced in strength and flexibility. The assistance of a physical therapist is beneficial to people with sports injuries.

Hurdlers

Muscle strains are common among hurdlers, especially in the groin and thigh. Groin strain is generally a sign of either bad form or overuse. If you feel groin pain on the side of your trail leg, you may be swinging your leg out too far or too late. If the pain is on the side of your lead leg, you may be doing too many drills with the hurdles close together.

Hamstring strains are a common overuse injury acquired by hurdlers. The hamstring of the lead leg undergoes an eccentric contraction during a hurdle jump, which means it contracts as it is being lengthened by the leg's straightening. This type of contraction comes with a high risk of muscle tearing. The trail leg works hard to push the body off the ground. Hamstring strain is a sign to stop, rest, and warm up sufficiently before practicing.

More troubling than a simple muscle strain, hurdlers have to watch out for sacroiliac (SI) joint dysfunction. The sacroiliac joints form where the hip bones meet the sacrum at the base of the spine.
Injuries to the SI joints generally occur when the muscles and ligaments that support them are weakened, torn or tightened. The tremendous forces sustained by the pelvis when pushing off the ground can, over time, destabilize the pelvis, causing significant joint pain. Proper form, adequate rest time, good conditioning and sufficient warmup time can help prevent this condition.

Throwers

Whether it's a javelin, discus or shot put, throwers are susceptible to similar injuries. Throwers in track and field use muscles throughout the whole body to build momentum; javelin throwers run, while shot putters and discus throwers spin.

The most common throwing injury occurs to the shoulder. Rotator cuff injuries affect the set of muscles and tendons that surround the shoulder, giving it stability and allowing up-and-down and rotational movement of the arm. Repeated throwing can cause tears to the muscles or tendons.

Hip and lower back strains may also occur in throwers, particularly discus throwers and shot putters who twist their bodies as part of their throw. Javelin throwers may also strain muscles throughout the back when lunging forward to throw the javelin.

The best defense against throwing injuries is to avoid overworking your arm and back. Know your limits and take adequate rest periods between practices.

Many sports injuries can be prevented with warmup, conditioning, self-myofascial release and the willingness to give your body the time it needs to recover. Whatever your track and field activity, approach it in a way that will allow you to enjoy your sport for many years to come.

Do You Suffer Joint Pain and Stiffness in Your Wrist Or Knee? Gout Vs Pseudogout

Joint pain is a common side effect of old age. Ligaments and tendons begin to be less forgiving and cartilage begins to erode. Our knees, elbows, ankles and wrists can all be tender and sore as we go through our daily lives. However, if you continue to suffer from stiffness and joint pain, there may be more to it than just normal wear and tear.

Gout is a form of arthritis and can strike in the middle of the night with joint pain and soreness. Without notice, you can awake with twinges of pain in your big toe, finger or other areas like ankles and knees. Although the pain may last for several days and go away, the condition can re-surface at any time in the future.Over 2 million people in the U.S. alone deal with gout and most often it afflicts men more than women. Gout usually develops in men over 30 and post menopausal women. Males are more likely to suffer if overweight and diagnosed with high blood pressure.

Pseudogout is similar in nature and is also a form of arthritis but usually targets the knees or wrists even though other areas can be affected. Pseudogout can be caused by irregular development of calcium deposits within the cartilage area between the knee or wrist joints. Once the calcium deposits enter the fluid resulting pain can occur.

Pseudogout targets an older age group, usually people age 60 or older are affected, where gout can occur much earlier in life. During an episode of Pseudogout, your wrist or knee joint may be swollen, red or purple in color and warm to the touch.

In summary, joint pain and stiffness can be attributed to just overdoing a particular activity, but chronic pain can become more serious as you age. A healthy lifestyle and diet could be a major factor in reducing the risk of chronic joint pain. Exercise is also a factor in strengthening your joints and muscles and reducing high blood pressure to combat age related diseases. Low impact exercise can be used in the beginning and as your joints become more flexible, stronger as more physical activities can be pursued.