You might have heard your grandparents complain about joint pain when you were young. Arthritis is a painful condition that describes the swelling of your joints.
When you were young, you probably thought you’d never get arthritis. But now as you’re older and experiencing painful joints, arthritis seems more real now than ever.
The doctors at Texas Wellness Clinic, located in Richmond Texas, offer treatment options for patients who want relief from arthritis pain. Here we explain four of the most common types of arthritis and what you can do about them.
Each of your joints contains cartilage – a cushion-like tissue that covers the surface of a bone connection to the joint. Cartilage absorbs shocks and provides a low-friction environment for your body during movement.
Years of normal wear-and-tear cause the cartilage to break down, leading to osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis affects over 32.5 million Americans, making it the most common form of arthritis.
Symptoms include:
Osteoarthritis most commonly occurs in the spine, hands, hips, and knees.
Both an autoimmune disease and chronic inflammatory disorder, rheumatoid arthritis occurs when your immune system mistakenly invades your body’s tissues.
Although osteoarthritis affects the wear-and-tear of cartilage, rheumatoid arthritis impacts the lining of your joints, which leads to painful swelling. Over time, this can corrode your bones and lead to joint deformity.
Rheumatoid arthritis affects nearly 1.3 million people with 75% of cases occurring in females.
Risk factors for rheumatoid arthritis include:
Patients with rheumatoid arthritis generally first experience warm, swollen joints. As the disease progresses, it can affect the wrists, knees, hips, and shoulders.
If you’ve had psoriasis before, you probably know the skin disease brings patchy and raised areas of red or white skin. Psoriasis is itchy and generally occurs on the elbows, knees, and trunk of the body.
Between 10-30% of people with psoriasis end up with psoriatic arthritis – inflammatory arthritis with symptoms that include joint pain, stiffness, and swelling. Most people develop psoriasis years before getting psoriatic arthritis, but in some cases, joint problems may come first.
Psoriatic arthritis may occur in joints on one side or both sides of the body.
Uric acid is a chemical your body creates to help break down purines. When your body produces too much uric acid or your kidneys can’t filter it out, it can cause tiny crystals to build up around your joints, leading to gout. Gout is a painful, inflammatory type of arthritis that generally affects one joint at a time – most commonly the big toe.
Symptoms of gout include:
Gout generally comes in an attack, which lasts around 3-10 days. You may go through periods of remission for months or years, but generally, over time, gout attacks become more frequent.
Living with arthritis can be a hard obstacle to face, and even though it isn’t curable, it’s treatable. The team at Texas Wellness Clinic is here to help diagnose arthritis and provide a variety of treatment options to reduce your pain and improve your well-being.
Treatment options depend on the severity of your arthritis and other factors like your age, symptoms, and general health.
The Doctors at Texas Wellness Clinic may suggest:
You don’t have to keep living in pain. Seek help today by calling 361-298-3362 to schedule your consultation, or book online.
