American Medical Association Family Medical Guide - American Medical Association [16]
A joint with osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis causes cartilage to wear away inside the joint. Pieces of bone (spurs) grow out from the edges of the bones that meet in the joint. The bones may begin to rub together, and moving the joint can cause pain and stiffness.
Osteoarthritis affects different people in different ways. In some people, the disease progresses quickly; in others, the process of joint degeneration takes years. The exact cause of osteoarthritis is unknown, but heredity seems to play a role in 25 to 30 percent of cases. A combination of factors—including aging, being overweight, injuring a joint, and stress placed on the joints during work-related or sports activities—probably work together to produce the wearing away of cartilage that is characteristic of the disease.
Exercise and Osteoarthritis
Although exercise may seem like a bad idea when your joints are stiff and painful, regular exercise can actually benefit joints affected by osteoarthritis. Regular exercise lessens pain, improves mobility, strengthens surrounding muscle, and increases flexibility. Exercise also improves your overall fitness and helps control your weight, relieving some of the pressure on overtaxed joints.
To avoid injury, it’s important to begin your exercise program slowly. Start with stretching exercises that increase your range of motion and enhance flexibility (see page 8). Then perform strength-conditioning exercises (see page 9).
You don’t have to go to a gym to lift weights—buy some handheld weights to use at home. Add walking, swimming, or bicycling to your routine. Gradually building up your endurance will enable you to exercise longer, and soon you will be stronger and more active and in less pain.
Water exercise is a good choice for people with osteoarthritis because the water supports the body, reducing stress on the hips, knees, and spine. Another good choice is yoga (see page 94), which gently increases joint flexibility as it tones and strengthens the surrounding muscles. Other types of exercise that can benefit people with osteoarthritis include t’ai chi and even jogging. Ask your doctor what exercises are best for you.
Where does osteoarthritis develop most often?
Osteoarthritis occurs most often in the joints of the fingers, at the base of the thumbs, and in the neck, lower back, knees, and hips.
The Warning Signs of Osteoarthritis
• Steady or intermittent joint pain
• Joint stiffness after getting out of bed or sitting for a long time
• Swelling in a joint
• A crunching sound when bone rubs on bone
Hot, red, or tender joints are usually a sign of another form of arthritis, called rheumatoid arthritis.
Exercise is good for your joints
Regular physical exercise such as walking is good for people with arthritis. It keeps the joints working as it strengthens the surrounding muscles and ligaments. Exercise can also reduce joint pain, although it can take 4 to 8 weeks of regular exercise before you experience significant pain relief.
Heart Disease
Your heart beats steadily 24 hours a day to pump oxygen-rich blood throughout your body. But if the arteries leading to your heart become clogged with a fatty substance called plaque, they become narrowed, reducing the supply of blood to the heart and causing heart disease. If a plaque ruptures, blood clots can form, blocking the artery and causing a heart attack. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of both men and women in the US, but many women do not realize they are at risk. The good news is that you can reduce your chances of developing heart disease by adopting the heart-healthy lifestyle described here.
Risk Factors for Heart Disease
Some of the factors that can increase your chances of developing heart disease, such as family history, are not under your control. Many other risk factors, however, can be controlled.
Risk factors you cannot control
• Age In men, the risk of heart disease increases after age