Reasons for Arthritis

Arthritis is a common affliction affecting the joints of the human body. Responsible for causing various degrees of joint pain, stiffness, and disability on the parts of sufferers, there are many factors that can cause arthritis to develop.

Joint Injury

A joint that has suffered some type of an injury, especially an injury that results in a deformed or misaligned joint, is at an increased risk for developing osteoarthritis, more commonly referred to as wear-and-tear arthritis or degenerative joint disease. Any joint injury that changes the shape of a joint, even slightly, is likely to result in abnormal stresses being placed on that joint when in use. Abnormal joint stresses cause uneven loading on joint articulation and function, and these abnormal stresses have a tendency to result in increased and uneven joint cartilage degradation, which is a form of osteoarthritis, or degenerative joint disease.

Genetics

Many times arthritis develops in a joint for no apparent reason. This type of arthritis, which is often called idiopathic arthritis, develops in a joint that is clinically normal with no obvious structural deformities or problems. Genetics is believed to play a big role in causing various types of arthritis to develop in normal, injury-free joints. Certain genetic qualities can predispose joint cartilage and/or joint congruency to break down and/or degrade at accelerated and/or abnormal rates. Healthy joint cartilage maintenance is dependent on an interaction of a variety of bodily processes, and it is believed that some sort of defect or abnormality in the joint cartilage matrix, which is most likely fueled by genetics, is responsible for the joint destruction of a seemingly healthy body joint.

Developmental Disorders

Certain developmental disorders can negatively impact joint function and predispose a joint to develop arthritis. In the hip, dysplasia, which results in a malformed hip joint, alters the normal function of the hip joint, which over time can predispose the hip joint to developing osteoarthritis. In the knee, developmental disorders such as knock knees or bowlegs can cause abnormal knee joint function by altering the normal anatomical alignment of the bones that form the knee joint, which in turn can result in the development of osteoarthritis over time. Other joints of the body can develop similar developmental disorders that can adversely affect their anatomy and function and lead to the development of osteoarthritis.

Avascular Necrosis

Avascular necrosis is a disease that develops as the result of a lack of blood flow to bone. In advanced avascular necrosis cases, the affected bones simply collapse and die. In the hip joint, which is where the majority of avascular necrosis cases develop, the arteries supplying the femoral head, or hip bone, die out, which reduces the flow of blood and nutrients to the hip, a condition that causes the hip joint to eventually degrade and become deformed. When this happens, the cartilage lining the hip quickly becomes frayed and starts to erode, which is when the hip is diagnosed as having osteoarthritis secondary to avascular necrosis. Avascular necrosis can, and does, develop in other joints, the knee being the second most common location to the hip.

Autoimmune Disorders

Autoimmune disorders, which cause the body's own immune system to attack the body itself, are a less common, but significant, cause of arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis, which is classified as an autoimmune disorder, is caused when the body's immune system attacks various joints within the body. Rheumatoid arthritis is a potentially debilitating and severe form of arthritis that can result in significant joint deformity and joint destruction, including cartilage breakdown and joint collapse. Unlike osteoarthritis, which often arises from a malformed or previously injured joint, rheumatoid arthritis usually strikes seemingly normal, healthy joints that have no obvious clinical abnormality.