The Condition Called Arthritis

There are hundreds of thousands of people who suffer from a condition commonly called arthritis. Arthritis in the literal sense means inflammation of the joints. In fact it is not a single disease, rather it refers to a whole cluster of over a 100 rheumatic diseases and conditions. In earlier days certain conditions that were generalized into the category of rheumatic diseases were rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, lupus, Fibromyalgia, and tendonitis.

Typically a part of your body can become inflamed due to arthritis at any age and some of these conditions can really be crippling by putting you in life threatening predicaments. If left undiagnosed or unattended it can affect other parts of your body like the bones, muscles and sometimes even some of your internal organs. Arthritis is a condition that can even affect children. The most common types of arthritis are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Osteoarthritis which is also called degenerative joint disease is the consequence of wear and tear, meaning that the pressure exerted brings on physical injury to the joints and the tissues around that joint. As a result of this you suffer pain, inflammation and reduced movements. In the early stages of this condition this ailment is not inflammatory and you hardly realize you have it as its progress is very slow and causes pain only in some joints like the knees, hips, spine and hands. But as you grow older the risk increases.

On the other hand rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that starts off when your own immunity system fights the synovial fluid in the joints. This condition is chronic and far more debilitating causing pain in the joints, stiffness, swelling and in more severe cases loss of joint functioning. Though the causes for the ailment are not very clear, it can to a great extent be attributed to genetic factors.

Gout is another terribly painful form of arthritis that brings on severe and sudden attacks of pain, redness, tenderness, swelling, etc to the joints particularly to the big toe. It is believed that the inflammation related to gout is caused by the crystals of uric acid that get accumulated in the joints from the blood.

There is no cure for this condition but there are many different ways you can get relief from the symptoms of various types of arthritis. You can relieve pain and attempt to arrest deterioration with allopathic, Ayurvedic and homeopathic medications.