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.

The problem with this condition is that it affects the bones. The bones are protected with something called the cartilage, but this protective layer wears out as one ages. This means that the older people get, the likelier the chance for the bones at the joints to be exposed to each other.

If 64 out of every 100 patients are women, it means that one is likely to have the challenge by being a female. Actually, while the different forms of this condition are peculiar to the female gender, only Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and gout are known to affect the males more. One can, therefore, conclude from these facts that one's sex is a determining factor and since one cannot control or change his or her sex, it remains a non-modifiable one.

One should also consider hormones when trying to determine the likely causes of this problem. There are certain hormones in the body which make it more pronounced in the females than in males. These hormones affect it to the point that one can say that 70 out of every affected patient will be women having the rheumatoid type. In other words, fewer men are affected by the hormones that can cause this condition.

Another cause of the rheumatoid type is the gene known as human leukocyte antigen (HLA). This suggests that one's likeliness of having the problem is pronounced if it can be proved that either one or both of the parents suffered from the condition. Since a person cannot control the existence of genes in the body, other factors, such as the modifiable ones, must be controlled to such an extent as to balance the effect of the natural ones.

The modifiable risk factors are those factors that individuals can control. For example, a person may choose to be inactive or not in order to control the risk of having joint pain. When people in Russellville AR engage in sedentary lifestyles, their joints become stiffer and the pains can increase with time. It is therefore important to engage in physical activities to reduce the likeliness of having this problem.

Again, the diet one takes plays a major role. Taking foods rich in sodium salts will increase one's chances of having this health problem. On the other hand, taking fruits like bananas will reduce the risk.

Joint pain and inflammation can be worse with people who smoke a lot. Clinical studies prove that smokers are more susceptible to this condition than those who do not engage in the act. As a matter of fact, even when the bones should heal naturally, smoking will prevent this and the condition even becomes worse.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment

GoogleAnalytics