What causes osteoarthritis ?

Most osteoarthritis sufferers would experience
symptoms like pain on walking, morning stiffness,
swelling, tenderness of the joints, heaty feeling
around the joints and limited range of motion.

That was why the doctor will ask questions like
.....does it hurt in the morning ?
.....is the pain confined to the finger joints ?
.....is the pain episodic ?
.....does it hurt while sitting, climbing or exercising ?

His objective is to let you realise the symptoms
of arthritis in hands, in particular the exact symptoms
of osteoarthritis.
To understand what causes osteoarthritis,
just imagine the cartilage .... the protective layer
that cushions the end of the joints .

And imagine the cartilage being rubbed and
scraped numerous times per day, being worn out,
until the ends of the bone become exposed .....
resulting in pain and stiffness.

During use, while the cartilage is being worn out,
it is also being replaced simultaneously.

But if the repair of the cartilage cannot keep pace
with the damage, the protective layer becomes
exposed .

And when this occurs, more bones grow out from
the exposed part, producing spurs or osteophytes of
bones , thus restricting the joint movement.

The oetoarthritis will become worse when bits of
cartilage or bone splinter off into the synovial fluid
( joint lubricating fluid ), thus irritating the membrane
that lines the joints .... and causing more pain and
swelling.

Knowing how osteoarthritis came about will
certainly help in coping with this problem.