Arthritis For Dummies

Dr. Barry Fox, Dr. Nadine Taylor, Dr. Jinoos Yazdany, Dr. Sarah Brewer

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780470025826
• eBook ISBN: 9781119998099
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Diseases & Allergies

Arthritis For Dummies is a book for the millions who suffer from chronic joint conditions classified under arthritis looking for lasting relief. It's a friendly, hands-on guide that gives the latest information available on the many techniques for managing the disease and controlling the symptoms so that arthritis sufferers can get on with life. It features expert advice to help readers manage arthritis, slow down its progression, and enjoy life to the full. It includes diet, exercise, and self-care advice designed to protect and soothe joints, as well as the latest on coping with stress, anger and depression and making positive lifestyle changes.

Topics covered include:

• The different types of arthritis
• Diagnosing the condition
• Alleviating symptoms and minimizing pain
• Eating to beat arthritis
• Both conventional and drug free ways of managing the condition
• Living day-to-day with arthritis and improving lifestyle

Part I

Getting a Grip on Types of Arthritis

In this part . . .

A rthritis can really put a damper on your life . . . if you let it. But the good news is that most forms of arthritis and the pain they cause can be managed (if not completely done away with) through medical techniques and lifestyle changes.

Part I gives you an overview of arthritis in its many forms: the symptoms, diseases, processes, causes, and most likely victims. You also learn what doctors can do for each type of arthritis and what you can do for yourself. We give special attention to the most common forms of this disease: osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Chapter 1

Looking at Arthritis Basics

In This Chapter

Discovering how arthritis affects your body

Becoming aware of the various types of arthritis

Recognising the signs and symptoms of arthritis

Identifying the major causes of arthritis

Discovering who is most likely to get the various forms of the disease

Considering the treatment options

Ouch! There it goes again! That grinding pain in your hip, those aching knees that make walking from the kitchen to the bedroom a chore, the stiff and swollen fingers that won’t allow you to twist the lid off a jam jar or even sew on a button. Arthritis seems to get to everybody sooner or later – slowing you down, forcing you to give up some of your favourite activities, and just generally being a pain in the neck (sometimes literally!). In more advanced cases, the disease can seriously compromise your quality of life as you may have to surrender your independence, mobility, and sense of usefulness, as well as cope with the relentless pain.

The good news is that you can manage your arthritis, if not cure it, with a combination of medical care, simple lifestyle changes, and good, old common sense. Sitting at home in an armchair, gritting your teeth from pain, or hobbling around the garden with a walking stick aren’t obligatory. Although you may not run a marathon or do back-flips like you did at the age of 13, if you follow the programme outlined in this book, you can usually manage to do things you really want to do – such as take a brisk walk in the park, carry a sleeping child upstairs to bed, or swing a golf club with the best of them. Arthritis may affect a lot of people, but thanks to intensive research over the past several years, medical professionals now know a lot more about how to handle it.

Understanding How Arthritis Affects Your Joints

So what exactly is arthritis, this disease that brings you so much misery and pain? Unfortunately, that question has no easy answer because arthritis involves a group of diseases – each with its own causes, set of symptoms, and treatments. However, these diseases do have the following symptoms in common:

They affect some part of the joint.

They cause pain and (possibly) loss of movement.

They often bring about some kind of inflammation (heat).

As for the causes of these different kinds of arthritis, they run the gamut from inheriting an unlucky gene to physical trauma to getting bitten by the wrong mosquito.

The word arthritis, which literally means joint inflammation, is derived from the Greek words arthros (joint) and itis (inflammation), and the condition’s major symptom is joint pain. Although the same group of ailments is sometimes called rheumatism, they’re usually referred to as arthritis, so that’s the term in use throughout this book. The word arthralgia, a term that’s used much less frequently, refers to joint pain alone.

According to Arthritis Care, arthritis affects some 9 million people in the UK (almost one out of every six people) – that’s a big chunk of the population.

Saying hello to your joints

Before you can understand what’s wrong with your joints, you need to understand what a joint is and how it works. Any place in the body where two bones meet is called a joint. Sometimes those bones actually fuse; your skull is an example of an area with fused bones. But in the joints that can develop arthritis, the bones don’t actually touch. As shown in Figure 1-1, a small space exists between the two bone ends. The space between the ends of the bones keeps them from grinding against each other and wearing each other down.

Other structures surrounding your joints, such as muscles, tendons, and bursae – small sacs that cushion your tendons – support your joints and provide the power that makes your bones move. The joint capsule wraps itself around the joint, and its special lining, the synovial membrane or synovium, makes a slick, slippery liquid called the synovial fluid. This liquid fills that little space between the bone ends. Finally, the bone ends are capped by cartilage – a slick, tough, rubbery material that is eight times more slippery than ice and a better shock absorber than the tyres and springs on your car! Together, these parts make up the joint, one of the most fascinating bits of machinery found in your body.

Figure 1-1: Anatomy of a healthy synovial joint.

Bones are living tissue – hard, porous structures with a blood supply and nerves – that constantly rebuild themselves. Bones protect your vital organs and provide the supporting framework for your body. Without bones, you would consist of nothing more than blobs of tissue – like a tent without any supporting poles!

But bones are more than broomsticks that prop you up and, fortunately, they don’t leave you rigid and awkward. The 200-plus bones found in your body are connected together by some 150 joints, giving you a remarkable flexibility and range of motion. You only have to watch a gymnast, ballet dancer, or figure skater execute a handspring, arabesque, o...

Table of contents

• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part I : Getting a Grip on Types of Arthritis
• Part II : Tests and Treatments: What to Expect
• Part III : Is Complementary Medicine for You?
• Part IV : The Arthritis Lifestyle Strategy
• Part V : The Part of Tens
• Part VI : Appendixes
• : Further Reading