Senior Citizens Rheumatoid Arthritis, Osteoarthritis, and Arthritis – Causes and Treatments

“Arthritis” does not mean only that someone has stiff, aching joints. Many types of arthritis exist, each with its own symptoms and treatments. Most types are chronic, meaning that they can be a source of discomfort for an extended period of time. Arthritis can afflict joints almost anywhere in the body and may cause changes you can see and feel, including swelling, warmth, and redness in the joints. It can last for a short time but be very painful or continue for a long time with less pronounced results while still damaging the joints.

Arthritis is extremely common in the United States, especially among senior citizens. Still, there are many steps they and those providing care for the elderly can take to relieve the different types of arthritis. The most common types in this population are osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and gout.

Osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis in senior citizens and begins when cartilage, the type of tissue that pads joints, begins to wear away. This can eventually cause all the cartilage between bones to wear away, forming painful rubbing of bones against each other. This type of arthritis is most common in the hands, neck, lower back, knees, and hips.

Symptoms of OA can range from stiffness and mild pain that accompanies exercise or bending to severe pain in the joints even in times of physical rest. OA can also cause stiffness during times in which you haven’t used specific joints in a while, like when you’re on a long car ride, but this stiffness usually goes away when you move your joints again. OA can eventually lead to problems moving joints and sometimes to developing a disability if the areas affected are the back, knees, or hips.

Aging is often the greatest risk factor for developing OA. Other factors depend on the area of the body afflicted-for instance, OA in the hands or hips may be caused by genetic factors; OA in the knees may be caused by being overweight; and injuries or overuse of joints in the knees, hips, and hands may lead to OA.

Rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) differs from OA in that it’s an autoimmune disease, meaning that your immune system attacks and damages the lining of a joint as if it were an injury or disease. RA leads to inflammation of the joints, which causes pain, stiffness and swelling, sometimes in multiple joints at once. It may be severe enough to prevent you from moving a certain joint. Senior citizens with RA may often experience fatigue or fever. You can develop RA at any age, and it’s more common in women.