Mild osteoarthritis treatments

In cases of mild arthritis there will be pain but it will not affect your daily activities to that extent. Treatments for mild arthritis are as follows.

Rest

When you feel pain or swelling in your joint, you can rest it for twelve to twenty hours. You can do actions that don’t engage your joint that much. You may take a ten minutes break every one-hour.

Exercise

You can do gentle exercises like walking, swimming or biking after getting your doctors approval. Exercises can strengthen the muscles around the joint and increase its endurance. This can make the joint more stable. Don’t exercise tender, swollen or injured muscles and stop if you experience any new joint pain.

Aid of Physical Therapist

You can improve your condition by working together with a physical therapist on a personalized exercise plan.

Managing Pain Using Heat and Cold

Both heat and cold can relieve pain in your joint. Cold can ease muscle spasms and Heat may ease stiffness. Heat pad and ice packs can be employed for the purpose. Heat should be warm. Cold treatments can be employed several times a day but don’t use them if you have numbness or poor circulation.

Lose Weight

Being overweight or obese causes more stress to your weight bearing joints even a small loss of weight can give some relief. You can consult your doctor regarding healthy ways to lose weight.

Avoiding Stress to Your Joints

You should identify the methods to do your daily activities by not stressing your joint. You can seek for help from an occupational therapist to find out the ways of doing your daily activities without stressing the affected joint. For instance using a toothbrush with longer handle can help stress in cases of finger osteoarthritis.

Medical Devices

You can try braces, shoe inserts, special splints or other medical devices that can aid in reducing pain. Such devices can support or immobilize the joint and help you keep pressure away from it.

Applying Creams to Counter Pain

You can apply gels and creams that are available over the counter for getting temporary ease from osteoarthritis pain. Pain creams are more effective on joints close to the skin like your fingers and knees

Causes of osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis results due to the detoriation of the cartilage that pads the ends of bones in the joints over a period of time. The cartilage looses its smoothness and becomes rough and causes irritation. Finally, when the cartilage completely wears down, it causes the bones to rub each other. This damages the ends of the bones and causes pain in joints.

In many cases it is not clear about the cause of osteoarthritis. Scientists predict that it may be due to several factors like obesity, old age, stress or injury, weakness of muscle and heredity.

When can you look for medical advice?

If you experience long lasting (more than 2 weeks) stiffness or swelling in your joints you should look for medical advice.

If you are taking treatment for osteoarthritis already and you are having side effects from arthritis medications then you should make an appointment with your doctor. Inform your medical practitioner if you have side effects like abdominal discomfort, constipation, tarry or black stools, drowsiness or nausea.

How is osteoarthritis diagnosed?

If your medical practitioner feels that you have osteoarthritis, he will then look at your problematic joint and will enquire about the pain in the joint. For better clarity he may prescribe for following tests.

X-rays

X-ray images of the concerned joint can expose a narrowing gap in the joint, which is an indicator that there is breaking down of cartilage. An X-ray can also reveal bone spurs around the joint.

Blood tests

Blood tests are helpful to remove other reasons of joint pain like that of rheumatoid arthritis.

Joint fluid analysis

The doctor may draw out fluid from the affected joint using a long needle. Examination and testing of the fluid around the joint can show if the pain is caused by an infection or gout.

Arthroscopy

In certain cases, your doctor will suggest arthroscopy to look inside the joint in order to find out the reason for your pain. In arthroscopy, small openings are made around the joint and a minute camera is put in to view inside the joint. The doctor will see a video screen and look for irregularities in the joint.

What are the complications in osteoarthritis?

As osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease it worsens with time. About one third of the people with osteoarthritis will experience disability. Joint stiffness and pain may worsen enough so that it makes doing daily activities very tough. Some people may not be able to any longer. When the situation becomes this severe, doctors will recommend joint replacement surgery.

Rheumatoid arthritis stages

Rheumatoid arthritis advances in 3 stages. The three stages are as follows.
The 1st stage involves the inflammation of the synovial lining, leading to pain, stiffness, warmth, swelling and redness about the joint.

In the 2nd stage there is rapid division is the rapid cell division and cell growth that causes the synovium to thicken.

The 3rd stage involves the release of enzymes by the inflamed cells. The enzymes can digest cartilage and bone and thus making the joint involved to lose its alignment and shape, causing pain and movement loss.

What does cause rheumatoid arthritis?

The exact cause of rheumatoid arthritis is not known. Infectious agents like bacteria, viruses and fungi have been suspected for long but there is no proof for them to cause rheumatoid arthritis. Researches are being undertaken worldwide in order to identify the causes of rheumatoid arthritis. Some researchers feel that the tendency of developing rheumatoid arthritis can be inherited genetically. It is alleged that some infections or environmental factors may cause the body’s immune system to attack its own tissues, leading to inflammation in different organs like that of the eyes or lungs.

Irrespective of what causes the trigger, the end result is that the immune system is activated to cause swelling in the joints and other tissues of your body. Immune cells otherwise known, as lymphocytes are triggered and chemical messengers are expressed in the areas of inflammation.

Environmental factors are also considered to play some part in bringing about rheumatoid arthritis. Researchers have recently found out that tobacco smoking rises the possibility of developing rheumatoid arthritis.

Who is at risk of getting rheumatoid arthritis?

In the USA around 1.3 million people possess rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis or RA can involve anyone, even children. However about seventy percent of those having rheumatoid arthritis are women. RA mostly occurs in persons in the age group of 30 to 50 years of age. Also people who possess the genetic marker HLA-DR4 seem to have more possibility of getting RA.

Women have 2 to 3 times more probability of getting rheumatoid arthritis than men. But when men are affected the severity of the disease seems to be more than in women.

Rheumatoid arthritis usually moves into remission in cases of pregnant women, however the symptoms seem to raise in intensity after the birth of the baby.

Rheumatoid arthritis Diagnosis

The diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis starts with the meeting of the doctor and the patient. The doctor would do an analysis of the symptoms, its history and then would inspect the joints for deformity and inflammation. He will also examine other parts of the body for inflammation and the skin for rheumatoid nodules. Some x-ray and blood tests are frequently taken.

The diagnosis will depend on the distribution of the joint inflammation, the symptoms pattern, and the x-ray and blood test results. A number of visits may be needed so that the doctor can be sure about the diagnosis.

The distribution of inflamed joints is vital for the doctor while making a diagnosis. Usually in rheumatoid arthritis, the small joints of the wrists, feet, knees and hands are swollen in a symmetrical distribution ie both sides of the body are affected. The diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis gets tougher if only 1 or 2 joints are inflamed. The medical practitioner will then carry out other tests to eliminate arthritis due to gout or infection. The finding of rheumatoid nodules can imply the diagnosis.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis can contain abnormal blood antibodies. Rheumatoid factor, a blood antibody, can be found in eighty percent of patients. Another antibody known as the Citrulline antibody is found in almost all patients with RA. It helps the diagnosis of RA while evaluating patients who have unexplained joint inflammation. Another antibody, the antinuclear antibody or ANA is often present in patients with RA.

A blood test known as the sedimentation rate is used as a rough measure of the joint inflammation. C-reactive protein is another blood test, which is used for calculating the extent of inflammation found in the body.

The ANA, rheumatoid factor, C-reactive protein and sedimentation rate tests are inconclusive for rheumatic arthritis as the results may also suggest other inflammatory and systemic autoimmune conditions.

Early in the disease Joint x-rays may only show inflammation of soft tissues or can be normal. When the disease advances x-rays can reveal bony erosions, a characteristic of rheumatoid arthritis in the joints. They can be of use in examining the advancement of disease and damage to joint with time. Bone scanning is a radioactive test method that demonstrates the inflamed joints.

Arthrocentesis is a procedure in which the doctor will drain out joint fluid using a sterile needle and syringe. Laboratory analysis of the joint fluid can be useful in excluding other arthritis such as gout and infection.

Causes of septic arthritis?

Septic arthritis may originate as an infection somewhere else in your body and spread to the joint through the bloodstream. An infection in urinary tract or upper respiratory tract can spread and lead to septic arthritis. Some rare causes include surgery, drug injections and puncture wounds that may allow bacteria into your body close to the involved joint. In some cases, bacteria will enter your body, travel in your bloodstream and cause an infection only in your joint but not anywhere else.
The synovium has not much to defend it from infection. When bacteria get to the synovium, they easily enter and begin to damage cartilage. Inflammation is caused as a reaction to this. But inflammation increases pressure in the joint and decreases blood flow, which adds to the destruction of your joint.

What are the microbes that cause septic arthritis?

Bacteria

Several strains of bacteria may cause septic arthritis. Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium found commonly on your nose and skin, is the most common bacterium to cause septic arthritis.
Earlier, the bacterium that leads to the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea, was the most common bacterium causing septic arthritis. How ever more usage of safer-sex practices has caused a fall in gonorrhea.

Viruses

Viral arthritis is the arthritis caused by the virus. Usually this condition resolves by its own and results in minimal damage to joints.

Fungus

Fungus rarely causes joint infections and the condition is known as fungal arthritis.

What are the risk factors of septic arthritis?

Risk factors of septic arthritis are as follows.

Joint Problems

Conditions and diseases that involve your joints can elevate your risk of having septic arthritis. This includes other forms of arthritis like pseudogout, lupus, and gout. Earlier joint injury and joint surgery also raises the risk.

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

People who have rheumatoid arthritis possess increased risk as the medications they take in for RA can suppress the immune system increasing the possibility of infection.

High Risk of Infection

Conditions and diseases, which make skin wounds common, provide easy access for bacteria into your body.

Fragile Immune System

A weak immune system increases the risk of septic arthritis as it makes the body more vulnerable to infections. Persons who have liver and kidney problems, diabetes and those taking in immunosuppressive drugs possess an elevated risk of septic arthritis.

Treatments for septic arthritis?

Treatment of septic arthritis involves two main components namely antibiotics and joint drainage.

Using Antibiotics

Your doctor works to first identify which bacterium has caused the infection. He will then select the most appropriate and effective antibiotic in order to attack that particular bacterium. Initially, antibiotics shall be administered intravenously through a vein in your arm. The bacterium causes infection and then selects the most effective antibiotic. Afterward, in certain cases, you may possibly be able to change to oral antibiotics. The duration of your antibiotic treatment will depend on your health, the degree of the infection and the type of bacterium. The treatment usually lasts for about 2 to 6 weeks.

Nausea, diarrhea and vomiting are the various side effects linked with antibiotics. Allergic reactions may also arise. You can get information regarding the possible side effects from your medical practitioner.

Joint Drainage Method

Joint drainage involves removal of the infected synovial or joint fluid from the joint. This process serves three purposes.

1. Removal of bacteria from your joint
2. Minimizes pressure on your joint
3. It serves as a sample in order to test for microbes like bacteria.

Arthroscopic surgery is the most common method of draining joint fluid from your joint. In this method small incisions are made around your joint and tiny cameras and surgical tools are inserted via those incisions in order to access and remove the synovial fluid.

In some cases, doctors may opt for draining the joint fluid by employing a needle. This process is known as arthrocentesis. The process may be repeated every day until there are no bacteria in the fluid removed.

Open surgery may be required to drain the synovial fluid from your hips as they are more difficult to access. Larger incisions may be required in the cases of open surgery in order to pull back the skin and to access the joint. In some cases surgery may have to be repeated.
What are the recovery measures required?

After bringing the infection under control your medical practitioner will recommend mild movement for keeping your joint lively. In order to prevent joint stiffness and weakening of muscles your doctor may ask you to do gentle exercises. Moreover, movement aids blood flow and circulation, which in turn aids the healing process of your body.

Severe arthritis treatment

If you have undergone all other treatments and you are still feeling severe disability and pain then your medical practitioner may discuss the following treatments with you.

Stronger Painkillers

Pain killers like propoxyphene and codeine, can provide ease from more severe pain due to osteoarthritis. These medications may have side effects like constipation, sleepiness and nausea and should be had only on prescription.

Cortisone Shots

Corticosteroid injections shall ease pain in your joint. Your medical practitioner will restrict the number of injections you shall have every year as if corticosteroid injections cross a limit they may lead to joint damage.

Visco-Supplementation

Injections of hyaluronic acid derivatives like Hyalgan and Synvisc can offer relief from pain by giving cushioning within your knee. Persons, who are sensitive to feathers, eggs or birds, must not undergo this treatment.

How osteoarthritis can be treated with a Surgery?

Surgery is usually in cases of severe osteoarthritis where it cannot be relieved by other treatments. The surgical treatments for osteoarthritis are as follows.

Joint Replacement Surgery or Arthroplasty

In this your surgeon will take out the deterred joint surfaces and replace them by metal and plastic devices known as prostheses. The knee and hip joints are the most common joints to be replaced. However nowadays finger, ankle, shoulder or elbow joints can also be replaced. The durability of your new joint depends on the way you use it. Certain hip and knee joints can last twenty years. This procedure has a small risk of bleeding and infection. The new joints become loose or will wear down and may have to eventually be replaced.

Debridement

Your surgeon can suggest taking away loose parts of bone and cartilage from about your joint in order to get pain relief. Debridement is usually performed arthroscopically and thus only tiny incisions are made in the body. A small video camera is inserted into the incision to aid your surgeon to view inside the joint. He will use special surgical equipments to remove debris parts from your joint.

Fusing Bones or Arthrodesis

Surgeons may fuse bones in a joint permanently in order to improve stability and ease pain. The fused joint then has no flexibility but can bear weight without pain. Arthrodesis can be a choice if you suffer severe pain but cannot have joint replacement surgery.

Realigning Bones

Surgery for realigning bones can give pain relief. Procedures of this type are usually used when joint replacement surgery cannot be done like in young persons with osteoarthritis. In a procedure known as an osteotomy, the surgeon slices across the bone either below or above the knee in order to realign the leg.

Symptoms of septic arthritis

The signs and symptoms of septic arthritis include fever and chills. You may experience severe pain in the infected joint particularly in the course of movement of that joint. Symptoms also include stiffness, redness, swelling and warmth around the area of the joint involved.

Severe pain may not be felt by people undertaking medications for other forms of arthritis, as those medications will hide fever and pain.

Large joints like your knees, ankles, elbows, and hips are the most commonly affected joints while joints like that of back, head and neck may be involved only in rare cases.
The joints of your arms and legs are most commonly affected by septic arthritis. In rare cases other joints, such as those in your back, neck and head, may be affected. Rare microbes like that of Brucella spp can infect atypical joints like the sacroiliac joints.

When can you seek medical advice?

If you have the above-mentioned signs and symptoms then you can make an appointment with your doctor. You should consult your doctor right away, if you possess an elevated risk of infection and you experience the signs and symptoms of infection like chills and fever. Timely treatment can avoid the spread of infection and reduce joint damage.

How is septic arthritis diagnosed?

During your meeting with the doctor, he will conduct a complete examination. He will ask you some questions regarding your signs and symptoms. He will also enquire in relation to any recent infections. This data helps your doctor to get some clues regarding the origin of your infection.

To find out the exact bacterium that has caused the infection, your doctor will take samples of the synovial fluid i.e. the fluid inside the joint. Your doctor may take samples of synovial fluid by inserting a needle (aspiration) into your joint. Usually the synovial fluid will look thick and clear. If there is a bacterial infection there will be changes in the color, volume, consistency and constitution of the synovial fluid. Your medical practitioner will then examine the joint fluid. He will then send the fluid to laboratory for analysis and tests in order to find out which organism is responsible for the infection.

Your medical practitioner may suggest blood tests to find out whether bacteria are found in the blood stream. In certain cases, X-rays and other imaging tests may be suggested.

Pain due to osteoarthritis may flare now and then. You may have to try various self-care techniques so that you can cope up with these flares in pain.

The various self-care techniques are as follows.

Eating Healthy Diet

You can cope with arthritis better if you follow a healthy diet. A diet rich in whole grains, vegetables and fruits may help you in controlling your weight and in maintaining your total health. But there is no particular diet that is proven to be effective in treating arthritis.

Usage of Assistive Devices

Assistive devices can be of great use in helping you to go about your day today activities without giving much stress to the painful joint. You can take the stress off your hip or knee by using a cane. Grabbing and gripping tools can make it easier for you to work in kitchen if you are experiencing finger arthritis. You can get suggestions from your occupational therapist or your doctor regarding which assistive device you can use

Taking Medications As Suggested

You can reduce the intensity of the discomfort by taking medications as suggested rather than waiting for pain to develop.

Avoiding Grasping Actions

You can avoid grasping actions, which may strain joints in your finger. For instance, you can use a purse with shoulder strap instead of using a clutch-style one. Then you can loosen a jar lid using hot water and giving pressure from your palm instead of twisting forcefully using your joints.

Maintaining Proper Posture

Poor posture can lead to uneven distribution of weight and can strain muscles and ligaments. The simplest way for improving your posture is through walking. Certain people feel that swimming too aids in improving their posture.

Using Suitable Footwear

If you are having arthritis in your back or weight bearing joints it is important for you to wear cushioned shoes that are comfortable and those, which aptly support your weight.

Using Stronger Muscles and Favoring Larger Joints

For example, you can open a heavy glass door by leaning into rather than pushing it. Then while picking up any object squat down with your back straight.

How to cope up with osteoarthritis?

Different medications and other measures are vital in managing disability and pain. Apart from these another most important component is your own attitude. Your own capability to manage disability and pain that arise due to osteoarthritis will determine the impact of osteoarthritis on your day-to-day life. You can follow these ideas to cope up with osteoarthritis.

• You should have a positive attitude
• You can practice some relaxation techniques
• You should always know your limits

Osteoarthritis or degenerative arthritis is the most common type of arthritis. It occurs due to the wearing down of the cartilage in your joints with time. Osteoarthritis worsens gradually with time.

It can involve any joint in your body. However the joints that are most commonly affected by osteoarthritis are your hips, spine, hands and knees. Usually it involves only one joint but in cases like that finger arthritis a number of joints may be affected.

Osteoarthritis doesn’t have any cure but there are treatments that help you to be active by relieving pain.

What are the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis?

Symptoms of osteoarthritis usually develop gradually and get worse over time. The symptoms of osteoarthritis are as follows:

• There may be pain in the joint during its usage or subsequent to use or following a phase of inactivity.
• There may be tenderness in the joint when a light pressure is applied.
• Noticeable stiffness in the joint after a period of inactivity or while you wake up after a nap.
• Difficulty in using the joint due to loss of flexibility.
• You may have an irritating feeling while using the joint
• Formation of bone spurs around the affected joint
• In some cases there may be swelling of the joint

Symptoms of osteoarthritis usually affect the hips spine knees and hands. Symptoms of osteoarthritis are uncommon in parts like your elbow, shoulder, jaw, ankles or wrists. Except for you have injured those parts or they suffer a rare stress.

What are the risk factors of osteoarthritis?

In many cases it is not known about what causes osteoarthritis. But there are several risk factors that increase the chances of getting osteoarthritis. They are as follows.

Age

Osteoarthritis most commonly occurs in older people. Adults under the age of forty hardly ever encounter with osteoarthritis.

Sex

The probability of getting osteoarthritis is more in case of women when compared to men. But it is not clear why women are more prone to osteoarthritis than men.

Deformed bone

People who are born with deformed joints or faulty cartilage have an increased risk of having osteoarthritis.

Injuries to the Joint

Joint injuries like that those, which happen while playing sports or other such activities, and injuries from an accident shall enlarge the possibility of osteoarthritis.

Obesity

Your joints bear your weight. So if you are obese or over weight you give more stress to the weight bearing joints like that of your knees. But still obesity is being linked with osteoarthritis in the hands.

Diseases involving the joints and bones

Other bone and joint diseases like that of gout, septic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and Paget’s disease of bone may increase the risk of osteoarthritis.