What is the difference between arthritis and osteoarthritis?
Many people confuse names because they do not know the difference.
These diseases are characterized by damage to the joints, but there is a significant difference between them.
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What a difference
Arthritis can affect any joint. In many cases, this disease is the result of arthritis damage. This is one of the consequences of improper, timely treatment of osteoarthritis.
To better understand both diseases, the differences are specific to each of them:
- Arthritis involves various inflammatory changes in the joints;
- A more correct name for the second disease is osteoarthritis. It differs in that the lesion acts on cartilage tissue.
2 Mechanism of disease progression
Arthritis - Classification of varieties
Arthritis is the name of a specific group of diseases of the joints.
It is characterized by swelling, inflammation. The inflammatory process leads to the production of enzymes that have a detrimental effect on the joint and eventually destroy it. In addition to inflammation, a sticky substance - fibrin - appears in the joint.
This is pain for the rest and can be relieved through exercise. Getting out of bed in the morning makes a person feel disobedient, to dispel this feeling you need to disperse. Most often, the disease affects the upper and lower extremities.
There is a division of the disease: degenerative or inflammatory. This classification is based on the nature of the disease.
The disease in which the articular cartilage suffers is called degenerative arthritis. Cartilage is used to connect and move bones.
There are several types of:
- osteoarthritis;
- Traumatic arthritis.
Inflammatory course of the disease is characterized not by cartilage but by connective tissue damage. Inflammation occurs in the inner space of the joint capsule.
Divide into the following types:
- caused by infection;
- rheumatic;
- Reactive plan;
- goiter.
To understand the difference between arthritis and osteoarthritis, it is important to understand how osteoarthritis is not similar to other diseases included in the concept of arthritis.
Stages of arthrosis progression
Osteoarthritis, but more accurately and more accurately it is called osteoarthritis, it is a chronic damage to the joints that deforms it over time. The main cause of deformity is irreversible damage to cartilage tissue. The specificity ofdisease is that destructive processes affect the cartilage tissues, leading to a violation of their integrity.
Arthrosis is a disease in which mechanical abrasion of cartilage occurs in the joint until it disappears completely. The bones are subjected to and are already being rubbed.
The disease is long-lasting, chronic.
There are 2 stages of its development:
- Primary, detected in 42% of patients. This happens not due to joint damage but due to excessive physical exertion or hard work. Men who have worked by hand for a long time are sick of this.
- In the secondary, it develops in more patients than in the primary stage and is associated with the consequences of trauma, on the basis of which the mechanism of destructive processes is activated.
Causes and Differences
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Causes of Arthritis
The main preconditions of the disease can be located:
- Excessive exercise or work;
- various infectious processes, including latent;
- any type of allergic reaction;
- permanent damage to the same joint;
- Metabolic disorders;
- lack of vitamins;
- Immune system disorders;
- posttraumatic syndrome;
- Hereditary predisposition.
Root causes and main signs of osteoarthritis
The basis of this disease is not well understood. Only people of retirement age are sick. The disease is affected by age characteristics.
Trauma is considered another version of arthrosis. Joint treatment should be given to him. If this does not happen, then after a few years there are signs of osteoarthritis damage.
Clinical presentation and differences in symptoms
Let us turn to a more detailed examination of the symptoms accompanying joint diseases.
Pain symptom. At the initial stage, arthrosis is not characterized by a persistent strong manifestation of pain. It occurs only with intense load or joint movement. When the load is reduced or the movement is stopped, the pain disappears.
People do not attach importance to such manifestations, which leads to an increase in symptoms and disease progression. Pain even begins with a load of light. Decreases if the person assumes a comfortable posture.
Systemic excruciating pain occurs in the affected joints. This can be associated with prolonged walking, exercise or physical activity.
Pain is sometimes felt in the affected joint after prolonged rest. If it is arthritis, then the pain manifests itself both at rest and during physical activity.
This disease torments a person in the previous hours. Severe pain occurs from 3 to 5 p. m.
crackling sound. Dry crisis is associated with osteoarthritis. Bone friction begins as soon as the cartilage tissue ruptures. The voice becomes rougher and louder, which is manifested by a slight movement of the diseased joint.
Demonstrate motion strength. Arthritis severely restricts the movement of both affected joints and is marked by a decrease in overall mobility of the entire skeleton.
Disorder of diseased joint shape. Both arthritis and arthrosis can deform a joint. But the deformation process itself takes place in different ways. With osteoarthritis, there is no redness or inflammation. The joint is not hot to the touch. Deformation is also called cold. Swelling may manifest during exacerbation of the disease accompanied by excruciating pain.Arthritis changes the joint, causing fever, redness and swelling. The pain is acute, occurs on palpation of the affected area, palpation of nodular formations may occur.
What can a blood test tell you? Arthrosis blood rates do not change. An increase in the number of leukocytes and a sharp increase in ESR are signs of inflammation that are observed during arthritis. An increase in leukocytosis indicates that the body is susceptible to infection and inflammation occurs inside.
Biochemical blood test for arthritis, increased number of inflammatory markers and they do not change significantly during arthrosis.
Location ofpathology. Osteoarthritis affects large joints in the body. These will be the elbows, the hip joints, and the spine. The names of the disease come from: gonarthrosis (damage to the knee joint), coxarthrosis (hip joint acting), spondyloarthritis (pathology localized in the spine).
Arthritis, called rheumatoid arthritis, lack of mobility in the morning (poor) is one of the signs of rheumatoid arthritis. Upon awakening, the person feels tightness in the area of the hands. It acts on the wrist joints at the same time and both. With rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis, signs of inflammation in the joints of the fingers may appear - swelling (edema) and redness.
There are many other signs that you can diagnose arthritis.
If the finger on the upper or lower limb becomes swollen and red, arthritis may be suspected. Arthritis presents with severe pain in the knees and ankles. The pain may also be in the fingers of the big toes.
is accompanied by joint swelling and redness. Pain symptoms occur regularly, increase suddenly, and then disappear. Arthritis of infectious origin is accompanied by a rise in body temperature, general fatigue, the person relieves sweating, chills, bones and pain.
Inflammatory processes affecting the joints negatively affect important internal organs, the heart, kidneys and liver.
Additional signs of osteoarthritis:
- Aseptic necrotic sites;
- strong muscle tension;
- Partial immobilization of affected joints;
- Slow resorption of cartilage tissue, bones, including friction;
- Inflammatory processes in the areas of tissue surrounding the painful joint.
Influence of patient sex and age on the presence of joint disease
![A woman with arthritis at the doctor's appointment](/images/article/315/A%20woman%20with%20arthritis%20at%20the%20doctor's%20appointment.jpg)
Who suffers from arthritis
The percentage of arthritis cases is low, accounting for 2% of the total population.
"35-50 year old" women are more sensitive to it.
Affects small joints more often.
Who's better than the disease
Osteoarthritis does not spare the elderly, it does not matter if it is a woman or a man. Retirees get sick after retirement. The total number of cases is about 20% of all the inhabitants of the earth.Different Diseases - Different Methods
Specialists responsible for treatment are called orthopedic trauma surgeons. Arthritis requires treatment from different specialists.
Osteoarthritis and how to deal with it
Painful sensations are relieved for a short time with the help of anti-inflammatory drugs. But they have no effect on the course of the disease.
The main goal of treatment is cartilage tissue regeneration. The main drugs that promote this are chondroprotectors.
With the help of these drugs it is possible to deal with inflammation of the joints, regulate muscle metabolism and repair damaged areas.
If conservative treatment does not provide positive dynamics, arthroplasty may be used.
Its essence is that surgery is performed in exchange for a diseased joint. Osteoarthritis is a serious and incurable disease because the ongoing processes are irreversible.
The patient should follow the doctor's recommendations on proper nutrition and fitness exercises - this is a mandatory stage of treatment. In gymnastics, medical treatment, therapeutic measures - all this leads to a positive effect.
What medications and prescriptions does the doctor give the patient?
For uncomplicated conditions, the recipes will be as follows:
- Hormone therapy;
- Medications designed to relieve inflammation;
- analgesics;
- Manual therapy, massage sessions;
- set of exercises;
- Physiotherapy - with the help of ultrasound waves and thermal methods.
The complex course of the disease requires additional medication. Sometimes doctors require surgical removal of the problem.
Who needs surgeon services? Patients who have a completely destroyed joint that cannot be repaired need a complete replacement. Depending on the degree of joint destruction, both complete and partial replacement is used.
Treatment of arthritis
It all depends on what form the disease took. The methods of therapy will be different, they can be combined, changed, choose what will give the desired result in the treatment.
Lifestyle Recommendations:
- Adequate nutrition,
- Avoid alcohol
- Reduce physical activity.
Antibiotics are prescribed from medications and anti-inflammatory drugs are taken into the joint.
Moderate exercise and physical therapy are helpful for treatment.
The key to treatment is to remove the inflammatory process and improve the body's resistance. They use vitamin preparations, dietary foods. It includes seafood, dairy products and poultry.
Arthritis is a direct contraindication to sunbathing. Wearing shoes with large heels can worsen the course of the disease, excluding them from the wardrobe.
The disease imposes its prohibitions: alcohol, physical activity must become a thing of the past. Health is too expensive to ignore doctors ’recommendations!
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Predicting disease outcomes
Diseases differ in their possible endings.
Arthritis can be completely cured if its cause is eliminated.
Osteoarthritis is a chronic sluggish disease that does not give a chance for a full recovery.Simple folk remedies
In addition to drug treatment, it is helpful to use reliable prescriptions of traditional medicine. Often, even doctors advise their patients to combine traditional medicine with folk medicine. This will speed up the healing process.
When treating arthritis it is important to review your daily regimen and diet. These two important pillars of lifestyle, if properly organized, have a significant impact on the healing process.
Here are 6 rules you can follow to help your patient:
- Follow a proper diet. Review the menu so that it is possible to normalize the amount of nutrients, vitamins and microorganisms consumed per day.
- In order to normalize the diet, it is useful to saturate the daily menu with fresh vegetables and fruits, it is better to exclude salty foods altogether, or use a little salt during cooking.
- Avoid hot spices in ready meals and home dishes.
- Refuse to eat foods from which, in a particular case, a certain person quickly gains excess weight. These foods include foods that are rich in carbohydrates.
- Weight correction is important. If you are overweight, then it is useful to get rid of it as soon as possible, because it with a heavy load adversely affects the lower extremities.
- Avoid alcohol as it is negative for the body and promotes the rapid development of drug rejection.
Among folk remedies are especially effective recipes:
- The use of birch buds is useful in the treatment of arthritis. They are poured boiling water and the resulting mixture is boiled, wrapped in a warm cloth and boiled. Take half a cup three times a day before meals.
- crushed barberry root, put in a jar and pour vodka. Insist in a dark place, shaking the contents of the container regularly. The resulting solution is smeared at the site where the pain is strongest.
Home remedies and eating habits
In osteoarthritis, it is useful to saturate the daily menu with oily fish. Its omega 3 acids quickly eliminate the inflammatory process, relieve pain. Alternatively, we recommend using fish oil, which is no less effective than oily fish.
Milk and dairy products are good for you, but low-fat foods are best. Cheese and cottage cheese should be sufficiently saturated with calcium. The daily diet should include enough fresh fruits and vegetables.
During osteoarthritis, make sure your body is getting enough vitamins. To do this, it is useful to drink a course of vitamins. Preference should be given to drugs that are difficult to take. Some vitamins promote the rapid absorption of others. There are complexes on sale that take into account the given moment. This promotes the rapid absorption of vitamins and does not cause salt deposits in the joints.Proper nutrition, weight management and constant monitoring of the condition of the skeletal system will help to cope with the disease, but rule out recurrences in the future.
Traditional medicine offers ways to fight the disease:
- Exercise and exercise regularly. You do not need too much strain, the sport should be moderate and only their work brings pleasure.
- It is useful to go swimming or just do different exercises in the water.
- compresses are effective. With the development of the inflammatory process, warm options are beneficial and cold ones, such as ice, are suitable for relieving pain.
- Therapeutic baths with anti-inflammatory process are especially useful in the fight against this disease. Suitable for them are medicinal plants such as eucalyptus, calendula, sandalwood oil, St. John's wort.
Recommended orthotics
Knee pads are used to fight these diseases. Patients who used them noted that they really helped to resolve painful sensations along with other methods of resolving the disease.
The choice of devices is varied, so choose a model that is suitable for a particular patient, taking into account the course of his disease.
Each model has its own specific purpose. If you make a mistake in your choice, then the device will not bring results because it will simply be impossible to wear it.
A closed knee brace is a device that covers the lower limb around it. They are made of elastic material, some models provide an additional layer of insulation. The option is good when the pain is constantly happening in different places. They are aimed at the entire roundness of the knee part of the foot. Provides significant relief while walking.
Open models have a cup cut. They help to walk, relieve pain when bending the leg. They are useful for those who need to climb stairs. The models have a rigid frame, they are made of elastic material. These devices help maintain the shape and position of the foot.
Disease Prevention
As a preventative measure, it is beneficial to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Moderate exercise on a regular basis is beneficial. Quitting smoking, consuming alcohol will significantly reduce the likelihood of developing these serious diseases.
It is much easier to prevent the development of any disease than to spend time, effort and money on its treatment. If we talk about arthritis and osteoarthritis, timely treatment of all kinds of infectious diseases is useful for prevention, and fully, inappropriate treatment of these diseases in the near future can lead to the development of serious problems of the lower extremities.
Make sure your body is supplied with a sufficient amount of a variety of vitamins. Avoid hypothermia, wear weather. Make sure the funds are loaded to the allowable size. It should not be superfluous. People with excess weight. It is generally better to get rid of extra pounds as soon as possible, as they negatively affect the condition of the whole organism.
Diets should be planned so that the body is supplied with sufficient nutrients.