Experiencing Unexplained Joint Pain? Here’s What Could Be Causing It And How To Treat It

Rich & Famous August 26, 2021

No matter the age, it is never too early to start taking care of your health preemptively. Of course, if someone already has arthritis, there is little choice but to fight it even though modern medicine has no concrete solution for this issue. However, plenty is known about this condition and its various types and there are some tips on how to fight it, which are presented below.

Ian Furst/Wikimedia Commons |Besides the pain, symptoms that usually indicate some type of arthritis are swelling, redness and joint stiffness

What Is Arthritis?

Arthritis is a common term used for many joint disorder types, and there are over a hundred of them which fall into the category. The most popular two, for the lack of a better term, are the well-known rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder that generally affects feet and hands, while osteoarthritis affects the hand, knee, hip, and other joints. The latter is more common to happen with age, while the rheumatoid type is probably more sinister.

Arthritis Symptoms

Summarized in one word, arthritis symptom is pain. Pain in the affected joints or extremities can vary in severity; it can be mild or slightly annoying, or so severe that it can even prevent one from sleeping properly.

Besides the pain, symptoms that usually indicate some type of arthritis are swelling, redness, joint stiffness, aching around the swollen part or the joints, and similar occurrences. Some rare forms of the disease, like lupus, can also affect inner organs and have various other symptoms, and can even prevent the use of a person’s extremities.

National Library Of Medicine US/Wikimedia Commons | Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder that generally affects the feet and hands

Knee Arthritis

The human knee joint functions thanks to cartilage, which coats the ends of bones. If it wears down, problems with the movement of the bones occur. However, the joint cartilage can also be inflamed which also causes movement problems, but it is treated differently.

Based on the cause for knee arthritis, we have osteoarthritis, which is the wearing down of the cartilage, rheumatoid arthritis of the knee, which is the inflammation, and post-traumatic arthritis of the knee, which, as the name suggests, comes after a trauma or injury to the knee.

Spinal Arthritis

Similar to the knees, the spinal cord can also suffer from osteoarthritis, and this is a very common condition, affecting roughly 30% of men and 28% of women over 55 years of age. It particularly targets the lower back and is caused by the thinning of the cartilage in the spine’s lowest joints.

Neck Arthritis

Now that we understand osteoarthritis of the joints, the same thing happens to the neck area. Neck arthritis is the same as spinal arthritis only the term is used to specifically name the area where it happens. Here, again, the cushioning between the joints wears down and causes problems during movement.

Soham.yoga/Wikimedia Commons | There are many exercises specifically designed to relieve arthritis pain

Tips For Arthritis Treatment

1. Exercise

There are many low-impact exercises like yoga, walking, and swimming that are specifically designed to relieve arthritis pain and help recuperation.

2. Losing weight

Regardless of the type of arthritis, the problems with movement and the wearing down of cartilage is additionally increased by being overweight or it might even be the cause of it in the first place.

3. Alternative medicine

There are so many methods and types of treatments besides the “mainstream” western medicine, and many of them offer answers to things usually considered untreatable.

4. Natural remedies

Besides medical treatments, there are plenty of natural remedies that can help ease the symptoms of arthritis. Acupuncture, glucosamine, chondroitin, supplements, topical creams, electricity therapy, chiropractic, and many other natural methods are proven to alleviate the pain but they might not work for everyone.

It is never too early to work on preventing these issues. However, even when suffering from any form of arthritis, there are methods and treatments one can opt for to make life pain-free. The only thing that matters after picking the right path is sticking to it and being persistent.