health sectionhealth sectionSooner or later almost all of us will get arthritis in our joints. According to ucsfhealth.org, "Arthritis is a degenerative disease that destroys the cartilage in a joint." Your likelihood of developing arthritis prematurely is greater if you are overweight, participate in sports in which you overuse your knee joints, have inherited the genes for arthritis, have bad alignment or have sustained an injury. If the muscles surrounding your knee joints (such as the hamstrings and the quads) are not trained, premature arthritis is also more likely.
Arthritis is a word used to describe any pain or inflammation in the joints, but there are numerous types of arthritis that need to be differentiated. Find out how arthritis that affects joints on one side of the body is different than the form that affects both sides with help from a pediatrician in this free video on arthritis.
Arthritis is a degenerative disease of the joints that afflicts over 46 million Americans of all ages. Actually, arthritis isn't just a single ailment; there are over 100 varieties. The most common is osteoarthritis, a wearing down of cartilage around joints. This is more prevalent in higher age groups. Other types are caused by infection. Whatever the variety, early treatment is essential to slow the disease's progress.
