What Causes Arthritis?

Arthritis is a general term for a group of painful conditions that involve inflammation and stiffness of the joints. The different types of arthritis can occur in any joint in the body, including the hands, shoulders, knees, hips and ankles. As a degenerative condition, it’s the primary cause of disability in the U.S., and more than 50 million adults are affected. The condition develops more often at older ages and in women, but people of any age and gender are susceptible to it. In fact, the U.S. currently has about 300,000 cases of children with some form of the disease.

As a broad classification for diseases that affect the joints, arthritis can be broken down into four different types: degenerative, inflammatory, infectious and metabolic. Degenerative arthritis consists of osteoarthritis, the most common type of arthritis. Inflammatory arthritis includes rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. Infectious arthritis occurs when a joint becomes infected. Reactive arthritis and septic arthritis are two forms of infectious arthritis. In metabolic arthritis, uric acid builds up and creates crystals in the joint, causing a painful condition called gout.

Osteoarthritis involves the deterioration of the cartilage in joints and typically happens due to normal wear and tear that occurs with aging. When this happens, your bones essentially start grinding against each other instead of being cushioned by the cartilage. This causes pain and also reduces the range of motion for the joint. In most cases, osteoarthritis begins gradually, with the severity increasing with age. However, infections and injuries that affect the joint can cause osteoarthritis to develop at a much earlier age than normal.

One of several autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis occurs when your immune system attacks the lining — known as the synovial membrane — surrounding your joints instead of protecting the joints as it should. This causes painful inflammation and stiffness that eventually permanently damages the cartilage and bone as the disease progresses. The exact causes of autoimmune diseases remain a mystery, although most researchers believe that environmental factors trigger autoimmune responses in certain people based on genetics.

If you are experiencing pain, inflammation and other symptoms that lead you to believe you could have any form of arthritis, you need to discuss your symptoms with your doctor. Early arthritis symptoms tend to be more painful than dangerous, but an early diagnosis gives you and your doctor a chance to halt or slow down the progression of the disease instead of just working on options to manage the pain.

The exact course of treatment depends on the type of arthritis you have and the progression of the disease in your joints. Your doctor will probably recommend an over-the-counter analgesic like acetaminophen or a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen to help with the pain and inflammation. Prescription medication options include duloxetine for osteoarthritis and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) for rheumatoid arthritis.