What is Osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis is also known as degenerative joint disease, degenerative arthritis or wear and tear arthritis. This is the most common type of arthritis. It is one of the chronic forms of joint condition, that affects millions of people worldwide.
At the point where two bones meet and form a joint, there is a protective cushion of cartilage to prevent the two bones from rubbing over one another. In the case of osteoarthritis the protective layer of cushion of cartilage gets destroyed due to regular wear and tear of joints over time, allowing the bones to rub together. This results in inflammation, pain and stiffness of the joint.
Osteoarthritis can affect any joint at any age, but it’s more common in old age people and mainly affects joints of hands, hips, knees and spine.
Apart from ageing, osteoarthritis may also result from injury and obesity. If arthritis is due to being overweight, symptoms can be improved by just reducing weight.
Causes
The main cause of osteoarthritis is regular wear and tear in the joints, which causes damage of the cartilage that provides a protective cushion to the joints. This is the reason it is more common in aged people, the more the age, the more the joints would have faced wear and tear.
The other reasons for developing osteoarthritis may include past injuries to the joint, which could result in joint damage, like torn cartilage, dislocated joints and ligament injuries.
The other causes may include, joint malformation, obesity and poor posture. People having a family history of osteoarthritis are more at risk for developing osteoarthritis.
Sign & Symptoms
Osteoarthritis develops slowly, the symptoms also appear slowly and worsen with time. The most common symptoms may include-
- Pain in the joints during or after movement
- Stiffness of the joints, specially the first motion in the morning or using them after being inactive for a while
- Presence of tenderness in the joints, while applying pressure to or near the joint
- There might be limited movement of the joint and the joint may lose the full range of motion
- There might be a sensation of grating when the person uses his joints. There might also be the sound of popping or crackling
- Formation of bone spurs around the affected joints, which are extra growth of bits of bones which feels like hard lumps
- There may be formation of inflammation around the affected joint
Risk Factors
Risk factors may include-
- Old age
- Women are prone to develop this condition more often as compared to men
- Obesity
- Past joint injuries
- Repeated stress on the joints
- Having a family history of osteoarthritis
- Congenital bone deformities or defective cartilage
- Metabolic diseases like diabetes or medical conditions in which the body accumulates too much iron
Diagnosis
Doctor will physically examine the affected joint for swelling, tenderness, redness and range of motion. To estimate the amount of damage done, he can advice tests like joint X-rays and MRI.
Homeopathic Treatment for Osteoarthritis
The deformity or the bone damage that has been once done cannot he reverted, so it is advised to seek medical advice as soon as possible to prevent further damage and symptoms. Homeopathy provides best treatment in all forms of arthritis. Osteoarthritis is preventable to some extent if the homeopathic treatment is started at early stages of disease. In the advanced cases, homeopathy is very effective in easing the symptoms and preventing further damage, along with some lifestyle managements.
The choice of treatment depends upon the severity and duration of symptoms. For acute conditions and pain homeopathic medicines prescribed on therapeutic basis can be helpful in relieving symptoms on basis of modalities. For chronic cases individualised medicines is mostly the choice of treatment. Personalised or individualised remedy is chosen after descriptive case taking, considering each and every aspect of the patient, that include mental and emotional symptoms also.
AVI Homeopathy is the best homeopathic centre in Jaipur, that provides best and most effective treatment in the cases of osteoarthritis.
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