How has the jewelry awareness trend evolved over the years?

Jewelry is widely used as ornaments to display wealth, but it is not uncommon to express sentiments through pieces that we wear. Queen Victoria popularized the use of mourning jewelry to let her subjects know that she was in deep grief for the lost of her consort, Prince Albert.

The eye-catching yellow silicone bracelet or wristband that became associated with Lance Armstrong cannot be technically called a jewelry, but it served its purpose for increasing awareness and raising funds for cancer patients and survivors. It gained popularity in 2004 when Armstrong was battling cancer as well as leadership in Tour de France. Yellow was the chosen color because in professional cycling, the victor is awarded with yellow jersey.

The worldwide success of the Armstrong campaign to fund cancer research inspired other organizations and charities to do the same. Some have done promotional campaigns to increase awareness of or to show support for a political party or candidate. Others have used wristbands to further social issues or environmental causes. Now, the same jewelry awareness trend is catching on among people who show support for patients or people who are themselves suffering from the condition. The goal of the campaign, like those advocated by makers of arthritis awareness jewelry, is to educate people about the disease and to encourage them to support research efforts for its cure.

What is arthritis?

Arthritis is a broad term for any pain that may be experienced in one or several joints. Because its symptoms are commonplace and generally similar to other joint conditions, arthritis are often misdiagnosed or left undiagnosed. Forty six million Americans and counting are considered to be arthritic, and more than half of those are people under 65 who think that nothing else can be done to help them.

Despite it being a common malady, arthritis is a field of study that is yet to be explored further. Even with sophisticated advances in joint science, arthritis is one condition that is surprisingly least understood. One example of which is rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a group of conditions affecting the joints but manifest in symptoms that can be easily confused with other diseases. No preventive measures have been established yet for this arthritis category because this area still needs to be extensively fleshed out.

How can the arthritis awareness jewelry help patients and their families?

This awareness jewelry campaign intends to lend support to arthritis sufferers and research efforts to expand the current boundaries of knowledge on how to not just treat arthritis, but how to prevent it from happening in the first place. Further, more affordable treatment programs have yet to be designed, because existing treatment protocols for RA require specialized expertise, equipment and medication. Public support for arthritis research will definitely go a long way in developing treatment alternatives that are affordable and effective. Hopefully, this will make sufferers feel that arthritis can be managed to achieve quality life.