How Will You Identify Arthritis?

By Dr. Ramneek Mahajan in Orthopaedics & Joint Replacement

Nov 08 , 2020 | 1 min read

One of the leading causes of disability seen amongst people is Arthritis. It worsens with age. Moreover, it is associated with 120 different diseases that can affect muscles, joints and other tissues.

Age related arthritis is the most common, which is often experienced around the knee (called as osteoarthritis of knee). The known forms are:

Osteoarthritis (OA)
Fibromyalgia and
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)

Orthopaedic Specialists say that the damage to the bone begin two years after the disease is detected. It is essential to identify the symptoms and complications to be able to seek medical help.

Check out Lower Back Pain Due to Spinal Arthritis Non-surgical Pain Management Options

Few FAQs will help you to know how you can manage arthritis:

How does one know if he/she has arthritis?

Some of the common symptoms of people suffering from arthritis include:

Swelling
Pain
Stiffness
Decreased range of motion

These symptoms can be mild, moderate or severe. They may stay about the same for years, or may progress or get worse over time. Severe arthritis can result in chronic pain, inability to do daily chores.

How can it be treated?

Your arthritis treatment depends on the clinical evaluation of your doctor. Depending on the severity and some basic tests and diagnosis tests like X-ray, CT scan or MRI, your doctor would carry out the treatment modality.

Primarily, osteoarthritis is treated with a combination of exercise, physical therapy, medications, joint injections and surgery. In early stages arthroscopic surgeries or cartilage prevention and unicompartment surgeries are performed. Only in late cases knee replacements are performed.

There are different stages of arthritis and your doctor can guide you the about the stage of the disease that you are suffering from and further plan a treatment.