Did you know simple joint pain can make you permanently disabled?😱😱😱

 Be aware of arthritis, act before it's too late.😨

What is arthritis?

Arthritis is inflammation of the joints of the body. In medicine word ''is'' indicates inflammation. For example, appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix, gastritis is inflammation of gastric(stomach) mucosa.

Let's see what is mean by inflammation?

inflammation is a process to protect the body from actual injuries or potential injuries. The body defense system is activated when there are foreign toxic particles in the body. Mainly white blood cells work hard to remove the toxic particles from the body. These toxic particles can be chemical compounds, bacteria, viruses, fungi. white blood cells secrete various chemicals that cause increased blood flow to the area affected by the injury. This will leads to redness and warmth in the area. These chemicals increase the permeability of the blood vessels resulting in the leaking of fluid from the blood vessels to the injured area. This causes swelling of the area. All of these effects can lead to pain and loss of function of the affected body part.

Does it mean inflammation is a good process?

The answer is NOT ALWAYS. Unfortunately, this process is triggered by non-injurious triggers like in autoimmune diseases and sometimes this process progresses without control resulting destruction of healthy body tissues like in sepsis.

How do we identify Arthritis?

as we discussed earlier arthritis is an inflammation of joints. therefore all the features of inflammation should be in arthritis.

1. redness of joint
2. warmth of joint
3. swelling of joint
4. pain of joint
5. restriction of joint function/movement or joint stiffness

What are the types of arthritis?

Arthritis can be classified into two main groups.

1. Non-inflammatory arthritis
2. inflammatory arthritis

What is non-inflammatory arthritis?

even though we call these arthritis non-inflammatory there is some inflammatory process is going on. but the main mechanism of the disease is not inflammation.

1. Osteoarthritis

There is a cartilage cover on the ends of the bones which prevents bone to bone friction in the joints. What happens in osteoarthritis is this cartilage gets damaged due to excessive weight-bearing and abnormal joint positioning. Ultimately uncovered bones get damaged.

2. Traumatic arthritis
3. Coagulopathic arthritis

This happens in patients with preexisting bleeding disorders like hemophilia.

What is inflammatory arthritis?

Here inflammation is more prominent than in the previous one.

1. Rheumatic arthritis
2. Infectious arthritis
3. crystal-induced

How to treat arthritis?

Arthritis treatment depends on the type of arthritis you have.

In osteoarthritis weight reduction is very important as there is no drug that can cure or stop the progression of the condition. medications can be given to reduce the pain and inflammation. The last option is joint replacement surgery.

infectious arthritis needs antibiotics therapy to kill the infectious organism.

Rheumatoid arthritis should be managed carefully as it can make you permanently disable which is preventable. EARLY TREATMENT WITH DISEASE-MODIFYING ANTI-RHEUMATIC DRUGS (DMARDs) CAN PREVENT THE PERMANENT DISABILITY. Therefore it is important to early identification of rheumatoid arthritis.

What are DMARDs?

DMARDs are chemical compounds that suppress your immune system. In rheumatoid arthritis body's immune system attacks, its own healthy tissues especially synovium which is a healthy tissue lining of most of the joints.

commonly used DMARDs are methotrexate, leflunomide, sulfasalazine, azathioprine, and hydroxychloroquine.

even though they are very potent drugs it takes time to relieve the symptoms. methotrexate may take up to 6 to 8 weeks to reach its maximum efficacy. Therefore usually DMARDs are initially taken with a drug that reduces inflammation quickly such as NSAIDs or steroids. NSAIDs and steroids reduce symptoms but they do NOT IMPROVE the long-term outcome. 

TAKE HOME MASSAGE!

Never ignore joint paint and never take over-the-counter medications for long-term joint pain. Always meet your doctor and start proper treatment before it's too late.