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Causes of Arthritis -
Many & Varied |
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What
exactly are the causes of arthritis? Medical researchers
have labored long and hard to find the specific
reason as to what causes arthritis to appear in the
human body.
Their findings till now have been sporadic for
the simple reason that arthritis actually comes
in many forms, and each form has its own set of
symptoms and the causes of arthritis is thus varied.
In most of the major cases of arthritis that attack
the load bearing joints on the lower half of the
body, particularly the hips, knees and ankles
the cause is sports related. |
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Many former
avid sportsmen such as tennis players or golfers will
invariably suffer from arthritis in their shoulder or
elbow joints in later life. “ Tennis Elbow”
is a particularly well-known form of arthritis.
Arthritis is rarely described as a genetic disease except
in the rarest of cases. When attending a doctor
and complaining of the symptoms, this may be one of
the first course of investigation they may take, as
it then can lead to ease of diagnosis and treatment.
The second path which is no less easy to follow is history
of the patient; if they were actively engaged in sports
and if so which ones.Their work history may also be
significant, as well as a history or accidents involving
the joints.
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If
none of these directions can assist the doctor
in diagnosing the cause of arthritis and setting
the future course of treatment, the doctor may
then reach the conclusion that the patient is
suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, which is
the most difficult form of the disease to diagnose
and cure.
The reason is that rheumatoid arthritis is an
autoimmune disease; autoimmune diseases occur
when the body sends out “ wrong signals”
and actually begins to attack itself.
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The principal
symptom of rheumatoid arthritis that separates it from
the other forms is serious inflammation of the tissue
around the joints, which can rapidly spread to other
major organs, and can sometimes prove fatal if undiagnosed
and left untreated.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a classic example of an “autoimmune”
disease where antibodies in the blood actually seek
out and destroy their own body tissues, and in this
case, the joint may still be left intact. The only form
of treatment is to destroy these antibodies in the patient’s
blood. As you can see the causes of arthritis are many
and varied and not very easy to diagnose. |
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