Arthritis is a generic term for about 100 diseases that cause inflammation or tissue (Particularly joints), or a non-inflammatory degeneration of these tissues.

It affects approximately 350 million people worldwide. The most common are osteoarthritis, a degenerative disease caused by wear and tear of joint, rheumatoid arthritis, an inflammatory disease resulting from changes in the immune system.


The is osteoarthritis?

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease that occurs when the cartilage joint that covers the termination of the bone is damaged or worn out irregular, making movement extremely difficult and that articulation painful.

It usually affects the joints of the neck, hip, knee and spine and is the most common cause of functional limitation in older people.

The Osteoarthritis is estimated to affect 90% of the population over 50 years, damaging your ability to drive, shop, walk, bathe and do other activities routine, such as climbing stairs and opening cans.

Almost 70% of people over 70 years have signs of this disease, which makes osteoarthritis the most common arthritis.

The causes of osteoarthritis

Its causes are manifold, ranging from the wear and tear from use and age, to the overweight, which overloads the larger joints (hips, knees, ankles). Trauma, joint injuries and surgeries also can develop osteoarthritis.

Some cases of osteoarthritis may be familiar, i.e. parents and children develop disease when they reach middle age, but this is not a rule.

Some people who have parents with this disease will never develop it.

The clinical diagnosis of osteoarthritis is. During the visit, the doctor may have evidence, the complaints, signs and symptoms; it is this

type of change degenerative joint, especially when the affected joint is superficial and accessible, such as the knee.


In other cases, the diagnosis will be made only after laboratory and radiological evaluation. A simple x-ray may be useful in cases of OA of the hip or spine.

As treat osteoarthritis

Treatment of osteoarthritis is aimed basically relieve the symptoms of the disease, since joint wear can not be reversed except by replacement joint with a prosthesis.

The therapy is based on pain relief, which can be achieved with simple analgesics or no steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Eventually where there is no satisfactory answer to these medications may be an infiltration of corticosteroids or intra peri-articular.

Currently, there are also products for viscosupplementation or that is, substances similar to synovial fluid, which fill the joint, injected directly into the joint space, relieving pain and restoring properties lubricating synovial fluid and elastic.

The is Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis, an inflammatory disease that manifests itself initially in the joints, affects about 1 to 2% of global population and occurs predominantly in women.

For reasons not well understood, the body produces a response immune against all the joints, causing pain, swelling, inflammation and erosions bone and reticular cartilage.

In course of time, the patient developed deformities in these joints, especially accompanied by morning stiffness, immobility and loss of movement along with intense pain.

In about 40% of patients who suffer from more aggressive forms of the disease, irreversible deformities may occur, as well as systemic symptoms involved with the production of an antibody called

rheumatoid factor, which can cause damage to organs other than the joints, such as kidney, liver and lung.