Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is one type of arthritis, it is caused by aging joints, injury, and obesity. Osteoarthritis effects more than twenty five million americans. It causes loss of cartilage in the joint. This disease can also be known as degenerative joint disease. Symptoms can include pain, stiffness, aching, or difficulty moving the joint. The pain can be more extreme if the joint is over used, normally the pain happens when you are resting or not using the joint. The most common joints to be affected include the hip, fingers, knees, and spine. You should seek medical attention if you loose mobility in the joint or if the pain gets to be unbearable. Doctors will diagnose you after further examination such as a MRI, CT scans or X-rays. Ways to improve Osteoarthritis on your own are things like weight loss, exercise, diets, heat therapy, and over the counter pain medication. The doctor will not prescribe pain medication unless your pain is unbearable, normally they will schedule you to attend physical therapy or occupational therapy. Surgery is an option if the pain doesn't recede. Different surgeries such as arthroscopy, osteotomy (incision of the bone), Chondroplasty (repair of the cartilage), and joint replacement. As someone who has experienced this disease first hand I can tell you that it is a ruff time till they finally diagnose you. I spent my whole 8th grade year trying to figure out what was causing my severe pain in my left knee. At one point i couldn't put any weight on my leg because the pain was to severe. Once they discovered that i no longer had cartilage in my knee they diagnosed me with Osteoarthritis, I then proceeded to go to physical therapy. I played softball, which wasn't good on my joints. I continued physical therapy for about two years after that so i could stay playing softball. The doctor finally decided that i needed to have surgery or i would have to quiet softball. I decided to stop playing softball because i thought it would prevent me...