Risk Factors Associated With Arthritis

By Anthony Martin


Pains and stiffness around the bones can lead to their inflammation. Unfortunately, this affects up to 50 million people in America today. The causes of the over 50 million cases can be attributed to some modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors. Among the modifiable causes of arthritis are inactivity, occupation, diet, smoking and joint injuries while the non-modifiable ones include hereditary, hormones, sex, and age.

One cannot control the aging process. As long as one doesn't want to die, the other option is to grow old and face the challenges of old age. At old age, the cartilage may have been exposed to more wear and tear, exposing the bones to grind against themselves. As this happens, inflammation occurs and the pains are strongly felt.

Your sex also determines the likeliness that you will have this condition. Even though both male and females are predisposed to this, females are more likely to have it than men. In fact, studies show that 64 out of every 100 people suffering from this are women. Also, the female gender has more forms of the illness than the males. It is only Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and gout that one can see more in men than in females.

For every 100 patients affected by certain hormones in the body that are responsible for causing the rheumatoid condition, it has happened persistently that about 70 of them are women. This statistics is consistent with what is obtainable in Russellville AR. Hence, it can be concluded that hormones are also part of the risk factors for this condition. Women are therefore supposed to be more attentive to their daily lifestyle and moderate their activities in order to be more exposed to having the condition.

Just like some diseases are hereditary, the same is also applicable to this one. People who have the gene known as human leukocyte antigen (HLA) are more likely to have the problem, and pass the risk on to the younger generation through child bearing. Anyway, HLA is not always responsible for this, but it cannot be denied that it has caused the condition more often than not.

Modifiable risk factors refer to those ones that an individual can control. An example of modifiable factors is activity (or inactivity). This means that one can choose to be active or inactive, and the result of the decision taken can have an effect on the occurrence of this condition. If people are more active, the bones are more flexible and the problem will be less common.

One also has to take note of the food that is taken. Some foods increase the chances of having this sickness than others. For example, foods containing a lot of sodium salts will do nobody any good if the intention is to prevent this condition. Instead, bananas and taking a lot of water should be rather encouraged.

In the same vein, smoking does not help at all. In fact, it is one of the major causes of bone degradation and will cause any natural healing process of the bones to be carried out slowly. Although the exact way by which smoking affects bone healing is not exactly known, studies have shown that it actually happens. It is, therefore, necessary to stop smoking if you want to reduce your chances of having joint pain or inflammation.




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