Osteo arthritis

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OSTEOARTHRITIS
Introduction
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the leading cause of disability. It is ranked fifth among the causes of years lost to disability in older adults in the developed countries and ninth in the developing countries. An estimated 10-15 % of the world population over 60 years has some degree of symptomatic Osteoarthritis (Wittenauer and Aden, 2013). Osteoarthritis is a joint disease that mostly invades the cartilage (What is Osteoarthritis, n.d). Healthy cartilage prevents bones from grinding against each other and helps to absorb shocks during the movement. When Osteoarthritis set in, the upper layer of the cartilage in a joint undergoes wear and tear resulting to the bones under the cartilage grinding over each other.
Background information
About USD 300 billion dollars is used every year in the United states to combat OA disease. The Federal government spends an approximate of 2% of gross domestic product every year in fighting OA (Wittenauer and Aden, 2013). The resultant effects of OA include the indirect costs of loss of production and the direct costs of medication. Osteoarthritis represents the biggest share (50%) of all musculoskeletal diseases burden. According to the radiographic 30% of men and women over 65 years have Osteoarthritis of the knee. An estimate of 80% of those people suffering from OA experience difficulty in movement and about 25% cannot attend their daily activities.

This research will concentrate on the causes, symptoms and the treatment of OA. It will further find solutions on how and why different ages are affected by OA.
Causes of Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is of two types; primary OA and secondary OA. Primary OA is related to aging. Secondary aging, on the other hand, occurs early in life at some point due to an injury sometimes sustained earlier in life or a job that requires a person to kneel or squat for extended long hours. Unlike other types of arthritis which affects the internal organs, OA exclusively affects the joints. The affected areas include the joints of hands, knees, and hips
(Wittenauer and Aden, 2013). Scientists believe that OA affecting hips and hands is hereditary hence circulate in families and goes along the family lineage, while OA affecting knees is due to being overweight. The leading causes of Osteoarthritis include Obesity, getting older, joint injury and stress from certain jobs and finally, genetic defects in the joint cartilage and joints that are improperly formed.
Obesity
Obesity is one of the lifestyle diseases. Obese and overweight people usually experience the osteoarthritis of the knee. When moving and carrying out their daily activities, they put excess pressure on the knee joints. Their knees are strained to support their excessive weight. This leads to the cartilage wearing out and friction between the bones commencing. This way OA has already set in. Obesity is a causative factor that can be controlled, but at the full discretion of the potential obese (Sinusas, 2012).
Getting older
Everyone at some point in their life will grow old. Getting older is not anyone’s choice as long as the person is alive.
When one becomes old past sixty years, symptomatic osteoarthritis shows up. As the age catches up synovial fluid in the cartilage reduces making them more susceptible to degradation and less resilient. In the advanced cases, the synovial fluid is completely exhausted, and the friction between the bones occurs even when a slight movement is initiated. The patient will feel an immense pain.
Joint injury and stress from certain jobs
Pressure from certain employment and joint injury are the primary examples of secondary Osteoarthritis. This cause is different from the rest, as OA in this case affects people early in life and not in old age (What is Osteoarthritis, n.d). Individuals who have joint injuries in their lives perhaps from accidents, sports or other causes are at a high risk of suffering from OA. People who engage in jobs that require kneeling or squatting for long hours usually suffer from this disease. This is because they put a lot of pressure on the cartilage. The cartilage eventually begins to wear out resulting in OA. Genetic defects in the joint cartilage and joints that are improperly formed.Approximately 60% of OA causes are genetic related
(Wittenauer and Aden, 2013).
Symptoms of Osteoarthritis
OA can occur in any joint. Mostly it takes place in Knees, hands, hips, and spine. The main symptoms include; loss of mobility, the stiffness of the joint after carrying out an exercise, and finding relief when relaxing (Sinusas, 2012). Some people have reported an excruciating pain that wakes them up when sleeping. Swelling and tenderness of particular joints has also been reported together with a crunching sound of bones rubbing against each other.
When suffering from OA of the knee, a person can have one knee properly functioning and the other one severely aching. If it’s OA of the hip, an individual may experience sharp pain in the buttocks. OA of the spine in addition to other signs and symptoms will cause a weak sensory extremity.
Treatment
There is no known cure for OA to date. Scientists are working around the clock to come up with the cure. Treatment for OA falls into four main categories; pharmacologic, non-pharmacologic, complementary and alternative medicine and surgical treatment.
Pharmacologic
Pharmacologic treatment involves the use of drugs to treat OA. Its main aim of pharmacological treatment is controlling pain, improving functions and the quality of life. The drug that is mostly used is acetaminophen. This medication is cheap, safe and efficient. Acetaminophen has few gastrointestinal effects and therefore patients are advised to take 650-1000mg of this drug four times a day to relieve the pain. This treatment only solves mild OA, and in the advanced cases, other treatments are recommended (Sinusas, 2012).
Non-pharmacologic
Nonpharmacologic -therapy often commences with exercise. In this treatment, no drugs are used. Activities like cycling, swimming, and elliptical training are recommended to the patients. A follow up is done to track the patients’ response to the treatment. Non pharmacologic treatment of bracing and splinting are too used on the patients to help support painful joints or unstable joints.
Complementary and alternative medicine
This treatment involves the use of supplements and therapies. Glucosamine and chondroitin are the supplements that have been proven effective in the treatment of moderate to severe osteoarthritis Glucosamine is amino acids found in the body and plays a major in cartilage replenishment.
Balneotherapy also referred to as the spa therapy or mineral bath is a heterogeneous group of treatments. It has been found helpful in the OA patients. Capsaicin cream is derived from chili pepper is widely available and relatively cheap. This supplement has been found more efficient than placebo in treating the joint pain in OA other therapies and supplements are: herbal medicines, intra-articular corticosteroids, Vasco supplementation and use of S -adenosylmethionine (Wittenauer and Aden, 2013).
Surgical treatment
Surgical treatment should is the last option. It’s usually undertaken after all the other treatment options have failed. The only thing that necessitates surgery in OA is the persistence pain despite using the conservative treatment. The most successful operation is the total joint replacement of the affected area for example hip, knee or shoulder. This has proven the effective way of combating pain treating OA, though the patient may have slight difficulties in movements. Other surgical interventions include osteotomy and arthroscopic debridement and lavage.
Age
OA affects all people across the age. It is untrue that this disease only affects older people at their old age. What is true is that OA mostly affects elderly i.e. above sixty years. This is because as one age, the liquid in the cartilage decreases. Consequently, cartilage is strained, and the joints begin to wear out (What is Osteoarthritis, n.d).Young people still get secondary OA from injury or work-related activities. It is not a wonder to find children suffering from OA as it can affect children who are born with defect cartilage and improperly formed joints.
Conclusion
Osteoarthritis is the leading cause of disability. Most patients are the older people above 60 years. OA starts by invading the cartilage of the joints. The affected joints rub against each other causing pain. OA is mostly prevalent in the developed countries where it is ranked fifth cause of the years lost to disability. OA is of two types; primary OA which is related to aging and secondary OA that happens due to injury or work-related. The body parts that OA affects include hips, knees, spine, and hands. OA mostly affects old people but also affects young people from injuries sustained. The leading causes of OA are Obesity, diabetes, aging, genetic defect cartilages; improperly formed joints and injuries. The symptoms of OA include Stiffness, joint pains, swelling and tenderness. At the moment OA has no cure. The treatments are classified as pharmacologic, non-pharmacologic, complementary and alternative medicine and surgical treatment. Pharmacologic involves the use of drugs.
References
Sinusas, K. (2012). Osteoarthritis: Diagnosis and treatment. , 85(1), . Retrieved from http://www.grupomedicopanama.com/uploads/asignacion-6-complementario-4.pdf
What is osteoarthritis? (2015). Retrieved from https://www.niams.nih.gov/health_info/Osteoarthritis/osteoarthritis_ff.pdfWittenauer, R., Smith, L., & Aden, K. (2013). Background paper 6.12 osteoarthritis. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/medicines/areas/priority_medicines/BP6_12Osteo.pdf