Are you looking for an Arthritis Cure? Arthritis means pain and this could be anywhere in the muscles or the bones which the disease affects; the joints especially bear the brunt and are very painful. Cartilage is a dense, living, tissue covering the ends of bones, protecting them from abrasion as the joint bones rub against each other. Cartilage as a living tissue behaves very much like other organs and glands and these cells are termed as chondrocytes. The chondrocytes die, they are replaced with new ones and the life cycle goes on. The primary focus of this article will be to explain arthritis rather then arthritis cures.

The body can handle only a certain amount of cartilage cell replacement when there is inflammation the cartilage cells need much faster replacement which sometimes cannot be handled by the body. This is especially true if there has been an injury or there are not enough proper nutrients in the body to repair the joint. This condition makes the joints become weak and instable; the joints can also become deformed which hinders day to day tasks. A person suffering from arthritis needs to bring about a change in his day to day living and requires proper medication and physiotherapy. Health care providers use joint replacement surgery as their last resort, once they have tried all of the less intrusive interventions, to try and relieve the discomfort.

Arthritis is divided into two main categories, i.e. localized and generalized depending on areas affected; it is further subdivided into sub-categories. The two localized conditions are bursitis and tendonitis; they affect the soft tissues surrounding the bones and joints. It could just be that the localized conditions could manifest themselves in just one of two joints being affected. It could also be that the patient is affected in a more general sense with no arthritis inflammation or signs of swelling. Fibromyalgia, even though it isn’t associated with joint damage, is a very common form which can be placed under this particular category.

The next condition in the second sub category causes inflammation which affects the whole body. Gout, psoriatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are examples of this condition. Still other generalized situations include polymyositis, involving muscles, systemic lupus erythematosus involving the skin, kidneys and or other organs and vasculitis where any organ is involved.

A person can have more than one type of arthritis and it includes more than 100 medical conditions that affect approximately 46 million adults and 300,000 children in the United States. Osteoarthritis is a condition mostly noticed in adults over 60 years, however, it can start at infancy too. The number of people suffering out of this condition is increasing proportionally with the increasing average age of the American population; with old age setting in people suffering with arthritis is increasing day by day.

Medical care and indirect expenses costs over 124 billion dollars in the US where arthritis and related problems are the main cause of disability. Individuals can help prevent osteoarthritis by following a few simple steps: Maintaining appropriate weight and consuming fresh fruits and vegetables as a good source of vitamins c and d (think of it as following something of an arthritis diet). By taking the time to make sure that you are consuming enough calcium, participate in regular exercise and avoiding injuries that are brought about due to sports activities, you can also help with prevention of this condition.  ***