Aug 9, 2017

Some Arthritis Risk Factors You Should Know

By Anthony Martin


Bone inflammation is a condition that manifests when one or more joints in the body experience stiffness and pains. This condition, also known as arthritis, is known to affect about 50 million people in America, who have been predisposed to the problem by several factors ranging from the modifiable ones to the non-modifiable ones. Some modifiable risk factors of this problem include physical inactivity, diet, obesity, smoking, occupation and joint injuries. Among the non-modifiable risk factors are hereditary, hormones, sex, and age.

One cannot control the aging process. As long as one doesn't want to die, the other option is to grow old and face the challenges of old age. At old age, the cartilage may have been exposed to more wear and tear, exposing the bones to grind against themselves. As this happens, inflammation occurs and the pains are strongly felt.

If 64 out of every 100 patients are women, it means that one is likely to have the challenge by being a female. Actually, while the different forms of this condition are peculiar to the female gender, only Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and gout are known to affect the males more. One can, therefore, conclude from these facts that one's sex is a determining factor and since one cannot control or change his or her sex, it remains a non-modifiable one.

Hormones, which are natural chemical substances in the body, have been discovered in clinical studies to be the major factor affecting the occurrence of this condition. As a result, about 70% of women suffer more of this than men. That means that if you are a woman, you are already naturally predisposed to suffering from the rheumatoid type than you would have been if you were a man.

Many health conditions are hereditary and the same applies to this one. The gene called human leukocyte antigen (HLA) can cause this problem when passed from one generation to another. Although there are many other causes of it, this particular gene is quite responsible for a number of well-known cases.

Modifiable risk factors refer to those ones that an individual can control. An example of modifiable factors is activity (or inactivity). This means that one can choose to be active or inactive, and the result of the decision taken can have an effect on the occurrence of this condition. If people are more active, the bones are more flexible and the problem will be less common.

If you know a person who has joint pains/inflammation and still consumes a lot of sodium salt, that person should be educated on the likeliness of worsening his or her condition. It is better for the person to avoid sodium salts and take more of water and fruits like bananas. Feeding plays a major role in determining if one will have the condition or not.

In the same vein, smoking does not help at all. In fact, it is one of the major causes of bone degradation and will cause any natural healing process of the bones to be carried out slowly. Although the exact way by which smoking affects bone healing is not exactly known, studies have shown that it actually happens. It is, therefore, necessary to stop smoking if you want to reduce your chances of having joint pain or inflammation.




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