Saturday 22 May 2010

Arthritis Joint Pain - Ways to Manage Pain

Arthritis is often considered as a single condition. The fact is that arthritis is the name given to a set of conditions which leads to swelling up (or more technically inflammation) of the joints of the body. There are over a hundred rheumatic conditions and a few other non-rheumatic conditions which are collectively known as arthritis.
It is likely to affect people who are involved in physical or manual labor. Due to the wear and tear of the various joints in the body one could develop arthritis. This is more commonly known as Osteoarthritis. This affects hips, hands, knees and spine leading to chronic pain. One other important variant of arthritis is rheumatoid arthritis. It is similar to some of the autoimmune diseases like lupus. The body starts attacking the cells that are present in the joints mistaking them for foreign agents!
Arthritis in theory can affect people of all ages. The statistics suggest that people above the age of 50 have a high likelihood of getting this disease. Early detection of arthritis is absolutely necessary as they could lead to debilitating and fatal medical conditions, if left untreated.
It is not difficult to identify arthritis early. Symptoms usually include fatigue, joint pain, muscle stiffness and weight loss. But these symptoms could be indicators of other medical conditions as well. A combination of these issues usually warrants a check up with your physician who is likely to identify an arthritis condition easily.
It is very important to understand that arthritis is neither fatal by itself nor curable completely. The first thing that you should do if you have arthritis is to understand your limitations and adjust your lifestyle accordingly. You should be ready to acclimatize yourself to chronic pain!
There are a lot of medications for reducing pain. Biological response modifiers, non steroid pain killers, selective inhibitors and glucocorticoids are some of the options. Almost all of these medications involve deadening or inhibiting the transmission of pain impulses. But there have been a lot of concerns raised over the side effects of these drugs. They are said to cause increased vulnerability to heart diseases at a later stage.
As an alternative to medicine you could try out some exercises with chiropractors. Some even like to resort to topical medicines like balms which greatly help to alleviate the pain by a substantial degree. Most of these medicines contain glucosamine and chondortin, both of which are used by the body to create cartilages which are the most important part of joints. The wear and tear faced by joints cause pain. If these two drugs are used they help to repair the torn cartilages making your joints healthy!

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