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KEY POINTS
- Arthritis is pain and stiffness of your joints.
- Your treatment may include a combination of medicines, exercise, surgery, and other therapies.
- Ask your healthcare provider how to take care of yourself at home. Learn how to move in ways that are easier on your joints. Exercise according to your healthcare provider's instructions.
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What is arthritis?
Arthritis is pain and stiffness of your joints. Sometimes you may have redness, swelling, and warmth around painful joints. In severe cases, the shape of your joints may change.
Common kinds of arthritis include osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and gout.
- Osteoarthritis is a disease in which the cartilage in your joints breaks down. Cartilage is the cushion that covers the ends of bones and allows free movement of joints. If cartilage gets rough or wears away, the roughened cartilage or bone surfaces grind against each other. The joint gets irritated and swollen (inflamed). Sometimes the irritation causes abnormal bone growths, called spurs. Osteoarthritis can happen in any joint, but usually affects your hand, knees, hips, or spine. Symptoms of the disease often start to appear by middle age.
- Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a disease that affects the lining of your joints. It’s an autoimmune disease, which means that your body's defenses against infection attack your body's own tissue. Rheumatoid arthritis causes redness, swelling, stiffness, and changes in the shape of your joints. It usually affects the wrists, knuckles, knees, and feet. It usually starts in early adulthood or middle age.
- Gout is a condition caused by having too much uric acid in your body. Uric acid is a waste product your body makes when it breaks down certain chemicals called purines. Purines are in many foods, but are especially high in organ meats, dried beans and peas, and anchovies. Usually gout first affects your big toe but can affect the hands, elbows, knees, ankles, and other joints. It causes redness and swelling and can be very painful. Gout can start at any age but is most common in middle-aged men.
- Other forms of arthritis include:
- Arthritis following an injury
- Arthritis after an infection such as Lyme disease
- Arthritis with a long-term autoimmune disease, which is a disease that causes your body to mistakenly attack your own tissue, such as Crohn’s disease
What is the cause?
Arthritis can have many causes. You may inherit genes for osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, or gout from your parents. Genes are inside each cell of your body and are passed from parents to children. They contain the information that tells your body how to develop and work.
Things that may cause or contribute to arthritis are:
- Aging
- Heavy lifting or contact sports that put pressure on joints and damage the cartilage
- Too much wear on joints from overuse, obesity, or bad posture
- Infection
- Injury
- Hormonal changes, as in menopause
- Smoking
- Long-term exposure to silica or asbestos
What are the symptoms?
The symptoms depend on the type of arthritis you have and may include:
- Mild to severe pain in your joints
- Red, warm, or swollen joints
- Joint stiffness
- Changes in the shape of your joints
How is it diagnosed?
Your healthcare provider will ask about your symptoms and medical history and examine you. Tests may include:
- Blood tests
- Joint aspiration, which uses a needle to take fluid from a joint for testing
- X-rays
You may have other tests or scans to check for other possible causes of your symptoms.
How is it treated?
There are many ways to treat arthritis. The goals of treatment are to:
- Relieve pain and stiffness
- Reduce swelling
- Stop or slow down damage to your joints
- Keep your joints working properly
Medicine
Several kinds of medicines may be used, such as:
- Prescription or nonprescription pain medicine
- Medicine patches put on painful joints
- Steroids or other medicine injected into a painful joint
- Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) slow or stop damage to the joints. They can help reduce pain and inflammation in the joints. DMARDs may increase your risk of infection or other serious side effects. Your healthcare provider will check you regularly to see how these medicines are working and to watch for any side effects.
Exercise
Three types of exercise are best for people with arthritis:
- Range-of-motion exercises are gentle stretching exercises that help you improve the movement of a joint. Examples include low-speed bike riding, tai chi, swimming, and yoga. Range-of-motion exercises help you keep or improve your flexibility and relieve stiffness.
- Strengthening exercises such as weight training make muscles and tendons stronger. Strong muscles and tendons support joints better. You will be able to move more easily and with less pain.
- Aerobic or endurance exercises at a moderate pace, such as walking, swimming, or bicycle riding, improve your overall health and help control your weight.
Talk with your healthcare provider before you start an exercise program. Too much exercise too soon or not warming up before you exercise may make arthritis worse. Your provider may refer you to a physical therapist to design a program that is right for you.
Surgery
Your provider may advise that arthroscopy surgery may help, which is done with a small scope inserted into your joint. You may need to see a joint specialist who can look directly at your joint and repair it without having to cut open the joint.
If you have a joint that is severely damaged, your provider may recommend a joint replacement.
Other treatments
- Your healthcare provider may recommend physical or occupational therapy to treat pain and help you have better use of your joints.
- Your provider may suggest using heat or cold therapy, depending on the type of arthritis you have.
- Sometimes it may help to use a splint or brace to rest a joint and protect it from injury.
- Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) may relieve some types of arthritis pain. TENS directs mild electric pulses through the skin to nerves in the painful area.
- Acupuncture and massage are other possible treatments.
How can I take care of myself?
Follow the full course of treatment prescribed by your healthcare provider. In addition:
- Rest your joints when they are warm, swollen, or painful.
- Try to keep a healthy weight. If you are overweight, lose weight. Losing even a small amount of weight can reduce the stress on your joints.
- Regular exercise can help keep your joints flexible. Exercise according to your healthcare provider's instructions.
- Learn how to move in ways that are easier on your joints. Wear good shoes. Be open to using devices to help you. These devices include:
- Canes and walkers fitted to you by a specialist
- Bath seats and grab bars for the bathtub
- Larger grips on tools, utensils, pens, and pencils
- Velcro fasteners on clothes and shoes
- Join a support group or take classes on how to manage your arthritis.
- Eat a healthy diet. Ask your provider about the benefits of talking to a dietitian to learn what you need in a healthy diet.
- If you smoke, try to quit. Talk to your healthcare provider about ways to quit smoking.
- Try to get at least 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night.
- Ask your healthcare provider:
- How and when you will get your test results
- If there are activities you should avoid and when you can return to your normal activities
- What symptoms or problems you should watch for and what to do if you have them
- Before you try any alternative treatments
- Make sure you know when you should come back for a checkup. Keep all appointments for provider visits or tests.
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