You may be surprised to know that arthritis is part of a group of more than 100 diseases called rheumatic disorders. The two most common types of arthritis are osteo arthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

When you are diagnosed with arthritis, your doctor rarely can tell you what type you have, other than osteo or rheumatoid arthritis. This is because arthritis is largely a disorder of symptoms, or a syndrome. As long as physicians lump symptoms into one category, and don't examine the causes of the symptoms, cures are elusive.

Many alternative practitioners place the cause of arthritis at the door of a wide spectrum of causes: stress; food allergies; digestive problems; a high fat, high meat diet; chemical sensitivities; genetics, and auto-immune disorders. Improving overall health can improve arthritis conditions.

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You also may be surprised to know that arthritis doesn't affect only older people; more than half of the people with arthritis are under age 65. Arthritis - which means joint inflammation - affects 43 million people, about one in every six Americans. X-ray evidence shows early arthritis in the weight bearing joints in approximately 90 percent of the population by age forty. It is the most common form of inflammatory disorder in the United States today.

Osteoarthritis is by far the most common type of arthritis. It also is termed degenerative joint disease and is most often characterized by joint pain, primarily of the larger weight bearing joints. Approximately 80 percent of those suffering from osteo arthritis are over the age of fifty. With someone turning fifty every ten seconds in this country, it is easy to see the significance of the problem.

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Over the next two decades, 75 million baby boomers will develop this disorder, and it is expected that there will be approximately 60 million people whose lives will be affected in a negative way by some type of arthritis. For those of you entering this demographic area or already suffer from the pain of arthritis, the more you know about this disease, the more effectively you can take preventive measures.

Osteoarthritis can be primary or secondary. Primary osteo arthritis usually begins after the age of forty-five, affecting the fingers, neck, lower back, knees and hips. Obese people and, for some unknown reason, women are more commonly affected.

With obese individuals, the pressure on the weight bearing joints like the knees and the hips is dramatic. When an obese person runs or jumps, the pressure on the joints can be as much as ten times a person�s body weight. For example, if a two-hundred-fifty pound person jumped down a ladder, the pressure on the hips and knees could be as much as a ton!

Secondary osteo arthritis can affect any joint in the body, and is simply due to trauma. Tennis players commonly get arthritis in their dominant shoulder while golfers commonly get arthritis in their lower back. A worker on an assembly line doing the same job over and over will develop arthritis in the fingers, while a carpet layer will develop it in his knees and hands. Continually moving these joints in the same way causes this arthritis, which eventually can lead to chronic trauma and then to degeneration of the joint.

Secondary osteoarthritis sufferers usually appear to have symptoms at earlier ages than do those of primary osteoarthritis patients. This is due to the more rapid deterioration of the cartilage that is caused by overuse of the joints.

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Rheumatoid arthritis is different from osteo arthritis. It affects approximately ten million Americans, striking women three times more often than men. While osteo arthritis is age-related, rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease - the body attacking itself. It not only affects the joints, but it affects the entire body due to chronic inflammation. The most common ages for rheumatoid arthritis sufferers is between ages twenty and forty, although there is a particularly cruel form of rheumatoid arthritis called childhood rheumatoid arthritis. With this disease, the affected joints are usually swollen, tender, warm to the touch, and quite stiff.

The cause of rheumatoid arthritis remains unknown, but inflammation of the synovial membrane is usually an early rheumatoid arthritis symptom. In most instances, the body mistakenly identifies a natural part of the body as foreign. Over time, the inflammation leads to overproduction of white blood cells, and overgrowth of synovial cells. This then causes a thickening of the synovial membrane. In a gradual process, the cartilage, bone, ligaments, and tendons are damaged by enzymes and other chemicals released into the body as a result of the autoimmune process.

With the unchecked progression of rheumatoid arthritis, joint range of motion can be severely impaired due to the excess fibrous tissue the body produces under these conditions. The tissues surrounding the joints also are inflamed, and this further damages the joints. Over time, joints become deformed.

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