Osteoarthritis A Degenerative Arthritis - 1631 Words

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative arthritis, a condition in which joint cartilage degenerates or breaks down. New tissue, which grows at the ends of bones, now has no cartilage cap to control it. Instead, this new bone forms into strange lips and spurs that grind and grate and get in the way of movement of the joint. Osteoarthritis is common in older people after years of wear-and-tear that thin the cartilage and the bones. Osteoarthritis can also result from diseases in which there is softening of the bone, like Paget s disease in which the long bones of the body curve like a bow, or osteoporosis with its bowing of the shoulder called dowager s hump, or other bone degeneration. Other forms of arthritis can also cause a secondary†¦show more content†¦It seems to start more in the winter and after some siege of sickness, but it is not considered an infective arthritis. Nobody knows what causes rheumatoid arthritis. There may be some hereditary trait, and there seems to be some connection to viral infections like German measles and serum hepatitis, the liver disease brought on by an injection of one kind or another. Because of this, scientists theorize that rheumatoid arthritis may be an autoimmune disease, one in which the body acts as though it were allergic to itself. The immune system gets mixed up and attacks normal joint tissue instead of the stuff it is supposed to attack. Polyarteritis Nodosa is also an inflammatory arthritis, fortunately it is a rare form of arthritis. It can lead to complications that are dangerous to life. It affects four times as many males as females, mostly young adults. There is joint and muscle pain, ulcers or sores on the legs and gangrene of the fingers and toes because of interrupted blood supply to those parts. The organs of the body are almost all involved, producing symptoms like sudden blindness, hemiplegia, and heart disease. Aggressive treatment prevents death, which at one time resulted within five years. Miraculously, some cases simply get better for no apparent reasons, called spontaneous remission. Ankylosing Spondylitis is an inflammatory arthritis of the spine which causes ankylosing or fusing of the vertebrae. It is more common in young men that women, and more