Osteoarthritis

Primary osteoarthritis has no known cause. Secondary osteoarthritis is caused by another disease, infection, injury, or deformity. Osteoarthritis starts with the breakdown of cartilage in the joint. As the cartilage wears down, the bone ends may thicken and form bony growths (spurs).

Osteoarthritis affects each person differently. For some people, osteoarthritis is relatively mild and does not affect day-to-day activities. For others, it causes significant pain and disability. Joint damage usually develops gradually over years, although it could worsen quickly in some people.

Symptoms of Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis symptoms often develop slowly and worsen over time. Signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis include:

Pain: Affected joints might hurt during or after movement.

Stiffness: Joint stiffness might be most noticeable upon awakening or after being inactive.

Tenderness: Your joint might feel tender when you apply light pressure to or near it.

Loss of flexibility: You might not be able to move your joint through its full range of motion.

Grating sensation: You might feel a grating sensation when you use the joint, and you might hear popping or crackling.

Bone spurs: These extra bits of bone, which feel like hard lumps, can form around the affected joint.

Swelling: This might be caused by soft tissue inflammation around the joint.

How it occurs?

Osteoarthritis occurs when the cartilage that cushions the ends of bones in your joints gradually deteriorates. Cartilage is a firm, slippery tissue that enables nearly frictionless joint motion.

Eventually, if the cartilage wears down completely, bone will rub on bone.

Osteoarthritis has often been referred to as a wear and tear disease. But besides the breakdown of cartilage, osteoarthritis affects the entire joint. It causes changes in the bone and deterioration of the connective tissues that hold the joint together and attach muscle to bone. It also causes inflammation of the joint lining.

Primary osteoarthritis

Primary osteoarthritis is the most common form of osteoarthritis that develops in your joints over time. Experts think it’s usually caused by normal wear and tear of using your joints throughout your life.

Secondary osteoarthritis

Secondary osteoarthritis happens when something directly damages one of your joints enough to cause osteoarthritis. Injuries and traumas are common causes of secondary osteoarthritis. Other types of arthritis can damage the cartilage in your joints enough to cause osteoarthritis, too.

Remedy of osteoarthritis

You can’t repair any cartilage degeneration (breakdown) that’s already happened, but starting osteoarthritis treatment can slow down further damage inside your joints.

Osteoarthritis usually affects people older than 55. However, there’s no set timeline or age restriction on when you might experience it. It also doesn’t start the way some health conditions do — there’s not usually an exact starting point your healthcare provider can precisely identify. It can take a long time for the cartilage in your affected joints to wear down enough to cause pain and stiffness. So, even if you first notice symptoms around age 55, that doesn’t mean osteoarthritis started exactly at that time.

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease that worsens over time, often resulting in chronic pain. Joint pain and stiffness can become severe enough to make daily tasks difficult.

Depression and sleep disturbances can result from the pain and disability of osteoarthritis.

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