When your body is pain-free, you probably don't think much about your joints. It's only when you wake up with stiff knees, sore knuckles or swollen ankles that you're suddenly aware you even have joints.
But even then, some of us don't heed the wake-up call, thinking the pain will go away soon. Sometimes it does. Unfortunately, once your joints become inflamed and troublesome, the spiral of worsening arthritis is often already in motion. Suddenly you don't have any choice other than to take your joints seriously.
It's amazing how a little bout of pain can suddenly compel you to seek whatever it takes to manage the deteriorating joint and its soreness. Your goal now is to reverse the arthritis spiral so you can return to a mobile and pain-free life.
That's why it's important to pay attention to the first signs of inflammation.
Watch for Early Signs of Inflammation
Many common problems we experience including arthritis, the gum disease known as gingivitis, heart disease and the skin complaint called psoriasis have something in common, even though they effect very different parts of us. The common denominator is inflammation. And it doesn't end there for researchers now believe that inflammation, especially when it goes into a chronic and long term phase, is also associated with many other conditions ranging from asthma and eczema through to diseases of the bowel.
Inflammation is your immune system's first reaction against infection, and it's a very effective one. When a pin pricks your skin, it damages cells and allows invader-like bacteria into your body.
Specialized Cell Help Kicks In Immediately
When strange bacteria enter the body, your immune system goes to work immediately, calling in assistance from different types of specialized cells, each with their own task. Mast cells - special immune cells - release histamine, along with other immune messengers known as cytokines, to alert your body to the problem. Histamine encourages more blood flow to the injured area, hence the redness and swelling.
Even before the histamine reinforcements arrive, macrophages, which are the "large gobbling cells" found mostly in connective tissue and the skin, enter into the action; these also attack the bacteria and clean up damaged cells. It's a bit like sending in the cleaning crew after a wild street fracas. Other immune cells speed to the area, intensifying the fray, and as the area is cleared, and pathogens eliminated, a new group of cells called platelets arrive to begin the healing process.
Truly, the body is a remarkable machine.
Your Body's Response: Hot, Red, Swollen and Painful
With so much happening in the injured area, it's natural for it to become hot, red, swollen and painful. The heat is produced by the extra blood flow to the injured area. Redness occurs because the battle and repair processes are underway. And the area usually becomes swollen because of all the fluid and immune cells at the site. This all happens quite quickly, and pain is often the first indicator of inflammation.
Pain makes you take notice and stop moving the affected area to prevent further injury. Think about the last time you got bitten by a mosquito or flossed too vigorously and ruptured your gum: your tissues becomes inflamed, swollen and sensitive to touch.
How Chronic Inflammation Can Lead to Arthritis
Inflammation is your body's way to ensure that invaders don't get in and create more damage. However, when inflammation becomes low-grade and chronic, your immune system stays revved up and this "fighting mode" damages healthy tissues in the crossfire. Scientists now realize that this life-saving process, designed to ward off bacteria and viruses, can go on to actually create disease when left unchecked. It leads to the painful and damaging inflammation that attacks our arteries and organs as well as our joints.
If the inflammation refuses to die down, and continues for prolonged periods, permanent damage may result. Which is often happens with Rheumatoid arthritis, a common type of chronic arthritis where you notice swelling and pain in both small and large joints.
The fact that we are living a lot longer than our ancestors did may also be contributing to inflammation for as we age, our ability to shut off the inflammatory process often weakens. And many lifestyle and environmental factors can make the process even worse as they promote inflammation. So for example getting overstressed, smoking, having high insulin levels or even contracting a virus or a parasite can all promote the inflammatory process within our body.
So if you want to take a pre-emptive approach and stave off chronic inflammation and possible arthritis, watch your lifestyle habits. Simple things like weight control, exercise and modifications to your diet can help in the treatment of many types of arthritis.
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