The disease most commonly affects the joints in the knees, hands, feet, and spine and is relatively common in shoulder and hip joints. The main symptoms are pain, loss of ability, and “joint stiffness after exercise or use.” These symptoms are often aggravated by activity or rigorous exercise and relieved during rest, though the disease may eventually progress to the point where the patient even feels pain when resting, and some people report pain so intense that it wakes them up when they are sleeping.
A variety of traumas may trigger the need for a joint to repairitself. Osteoarthritis includes a slow but efficient repair process that often compensates for theinitial trauma, resulting in a structurally altered but symptom-free joint.
Osteoarthritis is classified into two groups according to its etiology: primary (idiopathic or non-traumatic) and secondary (usually due to trauma or mechanical misalignment).
Primary osteoarthritis is a chronic degenerative disease that is related to, but not caused by, aging. As a person ages, the water content of their cartilage decreases, thus weakening it and making it less resilient and more susceptible to degradation.
Secondary arthritis tends to show up earlier in life, often due to a specific cause such as an injury, a job that requires kneeling or squatting for extended amounts of time, diabetes, or obesity.
The prevalence of osteoarthritis is increasing due to population ageing and an increase in related factors such as obesity. According to the United Nations, by 2050 people aged over 60 will account for more than 20% of the world’s population. Of that 20%, a conservative estimate of 15% will have symptomatic osteoarthritis, and one-third of these people will be severely disabled.
Osteoarthritis
– symptoms and classification
