Free Article: Hand Arthritis

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Hand Arthritis – One Of The Many Faces Of Arthritis
By M. A. Fulmar

Arthritis is commonly identified with pain. Since it affects the joints and is degenerative in nature, it causes a lot of inconvenience and despair. Often it starts with a tiny pain jolt in any one of the joints in the body – it could be the wrist, the fingers, the ankle, etc. Sometimes, arthritis is triggered by the weather changes, while other times it is directly caused by trauma.

Hand Arthritis Symptoms

There is no such specific arthritis that is called hand arthritis. However, the pain and swelling of the wrist, hand and fingers is caused by many types of arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis among others. Osteoarthritis has been known to attack the joints of the hand and fingers in particular. You could say that the majority of people who suffer from hand arthritis are patients of this type of arthritis.

The main cause for osteoarthritis is aging. There is loss of water in the joint and hence, friction occurs while moving. This, in turn makes the joint cartilage rub against one another and hence be gradually frizzled. With time, the cartilage is ruptured and the bone is affected causing pain and swelling in the hand – hence, the hand arthritis.

Other causes are hormonal imbalances, lack of vitamins, protein and calcium, and sometimes even a very sedentary life. Overweight tends to aggravate the diseases and often the patient needs to lose weight to alleviate and check the pain and progress of the disease.

It is common with hand arthritis to find that fingers have grown extra bones (called bunions) which are extremely painful. The disfigurement is very common wherever the joints are affected by osteoarthritis. Hand arthritis also causes fingers to fuse together. Such deformations can be corrected only with the help of surgery. Doctors usually advise the patients to exercise the affected part continuously, lest the loss of cartilage would cause bone fusion.

You will find very similar symptoms (to hand arthritis) caused by rheumatoid arthritis as well. This usually affects women more than it usually affects men. A blood test would be sufficient to confirm this diagnosis as it will show antibodies meant to fight alien organs – this is a direct result of the malfunctioning of the immune system. Regular treatment can help checking the progress of this disease; a good diet coupled vitamins and calcium supplements can help a lot.

Normally, doctors prescribe NSAIDs and regular exercise. Yoga and a good number of herbal medicines have been found to be very useful as well in controlling the pain and restoring the capacity to move the joints freely.

Author Details:
M. A. Fulmar, copywriter for various websites including the Health articles on www.naturalcrystaldeodorant.com

Article Source: Simply Top Articles

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