Arthritis in General

Almost one in three adults within the United States alone currently suffers from chronic joint symptoms, also known as arthritis. Arthritis affects over twenty-one million American each year and this number continues to grow. Arthritis is not just one disease, in fact it is so complex that it has more then one hundred different types of conditions that are all very different from each other but affects people from all walks of life, at any stage and age. The two most common forms of arthritis are rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. These two types of arthritis as well as many others all will have different risk factors, different causes and the way they affect the body. However, all types of arthritis have a shared common symptom and that is persistent joint pain.

The Pains of Arthritis

Arthritis can appear in more than one joint and for the most part will show up as wrist pain, hand pain, hip pain, knee pain and various other areas of the body. Arthritis symptoms include stiffness, inflammation and joint pain. A few signs of the onset of arthritis could include a stiffness, swelling or pain in the joints. The symptoms generally last for four or more days in a week for a one-month period. Another sign of arthritis could be joint stiffness when you have had any movement for an extended period of time or an injury in one of your joints and pain is present. If these or other symptoms last for more than two weeks you may be at risk for having arthritis and should consult your doctor or health care professional for an appointment to discuss your concerns.

A Few Facts about Arthritis

Arthritis strikes women more often than it does in men due to the genetic make-up of the bodies. Arthritis is the most prevalent chronic health problem and is the number one leading cause of disability of people aged fifty years of age and older and is only second to heart disease among all disabilities. The baby boomer generation is now at prime risk for these painful complications and more than half of them that are under the age of sixty-five today. Half of those people that suffer with arthritis think that it cannot be dealt with and there is no way to ease the pain due to the lack of information that it had ten years ago.