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Healthy Cartilage Today Can Keep Osteoarthritis Away
Be good to your cartilage, it’ll be good to you.
What smooth, elastic material covers the ends of our 206 bones, at our joints and is a nesting ground for osteoarthritis? It’s the cartilage.
Cartilage, which is a living tissue that grows, break downs, and repairs itself, can under normal circumstances, maintain an equal rate of decay and repair with the help of its only cell called “chondrocytes”. It has no blood supply or nerves, and gets its nutrition and oxygen from joint fluid. It is formed from two main materials called “collagen” and “proteoglycans” (PGs) which attract water molecules. This is why 80% of cartilage is simply trapped water.
Pressure from body weight compresses the cartilage and squeezes out some of the trapped water onto the surface. This thin film of water and waste lubricates the two cartilages so they do not rub against each other and gives our joints flexibility. When the pressure is relieved, the cartilage springs back to its original shape, sucking back water along with oxygen and nutrients into the joint fluid.
Unfortunately, excessive biomechanical stress can cause an imbalance in the decay/repair process making the chondrocytes unable to keep up with cumulative damage. The result, cracked cartilages filled with tiny fissures and its loss of density and elasticity: Thus the insidious development of osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis (OA), from the Latin word "os" meaning “bone”, is often referred to as degenerative joint disease (DJD). Most cases of OA are the result of aging, wear and tear and excess stress on a joint caused by obesity, overuse, or injury. As I mentioned before, the thick and moist cartilage wears down and becomes thin and rough. When enough cartilage wears away, the unprotected bones rub together, causing severe pain and reducing joint movement. As the bone tries to repair itself, bone spurs form, which make the joints look knobby. Although the cartilage breakdown may cause a little inflammation, a majority of OA has none at all.
The number one cause of disability is osteoarthritis. More than 40 million people show evidence of osteoarthritis on x-ray and 16 million feel symptoms of arthritis. This means about 50% of people over age 65 have joint pain, stiffness, or limited movement. Will you be one of these statistics? Let’s take a look at some risk factors and see.
AGE, GENDER & HEREDITY
Although OA increases with age, many people even in their 80s have perfectly normal hips, knees and hands. However, even young and middle aged adults develop OA without obvious reason. Women seem to be more likely to develop OA of the knuckles, sometimes occurring as early as age 40. Ultimately, genetic predisposition seems to contribute to deterioration of cartilage.
OBESITY
As being overweight causes excess stress on cartilage, especially in the knee joints, researchers have found that a person’s body weight during the midlife seems to have the greatest effect in developing osteoarthritis. The heavier you are the greater your risk.
INJURY OR OVERUSE
A history of significant injury or prolonged overuse of the knees and hips increase your chances of developing OA in these joints. A good example is a football player, as he has a high risk of developing OA in his knees, at an early age.
SIGNS AND SYMPTONS
Most commonly, OA affects the end and middle joints of fingers, the base of the thumb, knees, hips, neck, lower back and the joint at the base of the big toe. It is interesting that the proximal knuckles (MCP joint), wrists, elbows, shoulders, and ankles usually do not fall victim to OA. Usually, OA affects only one or a few joints, but it can affect many.
If you have OA, you may experience brief morning stiffness and pain during movement. You may suffer with pain around the groin or inner thigh (OA in the hips), in the knee area (OA in the knees), in the base of the head, neck or back (OA in the spine) or in the knuckles, base of thumbs or big toes (OA in the hands and feet). Other symptoms you may have are bony growths on the fingers, toes and knee joints, crackling or crunching when you move, or rare swelling or redness.
At an advanced stage, your pain may become more constant, making it difficult to move and even sleep. Because of this, you may begin to limp and even take on a more sedentary lifestyle. However, as cartilage needs motion and certain stresses to remain healthy, immobile joints deteriorate faster, causing muscles to weaken and loose shock absorbency, therefore, ineffectively protecting your joints from pain and deterioration.
Don’t be fooled into believing that osteoarthritis is simply an inevitable part of aging: it is a disease. And even though you can’t change your genes or the fact you are getting older, there certain measures you can take to lower your risks of developing it and even take control of OA before it takes control of you.
By Dr. Yong H. Tsai
Published in The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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