It is often said that pain is the body's way of telling you what you are doing is not healthy. The idea is for you to take notice and stop doing whatever it is that is causing the pain. However, sometimes the pain is due to a disease or illness. In this case, pain acts as an early warning system, telling you something is wrong. But sometimes the pain does not go away. This is sometimes due to irreversible destruction wrought by the cured disease, but more often it is due to a chronic disorder, often one without a currently known cure. Arthritis pain falls into the latter category.
There are several different types of arthritis - rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, septic arthritis, and osteoarthritis, among others. The one feature they all have in common is pain, usually joint pain in particular. It is a deep, nagging pain that often passes barely noticed in the early stages, stiffness that is put down to bad posture or having over-exercised or slept badly. It may be intermittent, and different types of arthritis pain respond differently to exercise - some types go away while others intensify.
However, if left untreated it usually gets worse with time, to the point where the person may not be able to move the affected joint at all due to excruciating pain. In contrast, cuts, fractures, sprains and most other sharp pains tend to be most painful at the moment the injury happens, and get better over time as the injury heals.
Inflammation, disease damage, strained muscles, overuse or simply everyday wear and tear can all cause pain from arthritis. Along with the pain, arthritis causes swelling, joint stiffness and an aching in the joint that never fades. The symptoms are often limited to specific areas such as the back, knee, hip, neck, or feet.
The most common form of arthritis, osteoarthritis, is mostly due to daily wear and tear of the larger joints, such as the back, pelvis and spine. It tends to be a disease of the elderly. It cannot be cured, like rheumatoid arthritis, but physical therapy can be employed to help strengthen muscles and joints.
Individuals with osteoarthritis often need pain medication, especially in the later stages when the pain is debilitating and can even be continuous. At this point, surgery may even be necessary. As osteoarthritis is not due to inflammation but rather to simple wearing out and friction of the bones, a joint replacement surgery can help patients, unlike rheumatoid arthritis sufferers.
Joint replacement surgery may still be recommended for rheumatoid arthritis patients who have pain in their wrist, if simply because this will allow them to move this frequently used joint. For patients with pain elsewhere, other surgeries are available, such as arthroscopy, where a tube-like instrument is inserted into the joint to allow the doctor to see and repair affected tissue directly.
There are several different types of arthritis - rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, septic arthritis, and osteoarthritis, among others. The one feature they all have in common is pain, usually joint pain in particular. It is a deep, nagging pain that often passes barely noticed in the early stages, stiffness that is put down to bad posture or having over-exercised or slept badly. It may be intermittent, and different types of arthritis pain respond differently to exercise - some types go away while others intensify.
However, if left untreated it usually gets worse with time, to the point where the person may not be able to move the affected joint at all due to excruciating pain. In contrast, cuts, fractures, sprains and most other sharp pains tend to be most painful at the moment the injury happens, and get better over time as the injury heals.
Inflammation, disease damage, strained muscles, overuse or simply everyday wear and tear can all cause pain from arthritis. Along with the pain, arthritis causes swelling, joint stiffness and an aching in the joint that never fades. The symptoms are often limited to specific areas such as the back, knee, hip, neck, or feet.
The most common form of arthritis, osteoarthritis, is mostly due to daily wear and tear of the larger joints, such as the back, pelvis and spine. It tends to be a disease of the elderly. It cannot be cured, like rheumatoid arthritis, but physical therapy can be employed to help strengthen muscles and joints.
Individuals with osteoarthritis often need pain medication, especially in the later stages when the pain is debilitating and can even be continuous. At this point, surgery may even be necessary. As osteoarthritis is not due to inflammation but rather to simple wearing out and friction of the bones, a joint replacement surgery can help patients, unlike rheumatoid arthritis sufferers.
Joint replacement surgery may still be recommended for rheumatoid arthritis patients who have pain in their wrist, if simply because this will allow them to move this frequently used joint. For patients with pain elsewhere, other surgeries are available, such as arthroscopy, where a tube-like instrument is inserted into the joint to allow the doctor to see and repair affected tissue directly.
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