What is Osteoarthritis ?
Osteoarthritis is the most common chronic joint disease in Australia and one of the leading causes of pain and disability. In Australia there are currently over 2 million people with osteoarthritis or about 1 in 8 people who have osteoarthritis. The problem of osteoarthritis is expected to increase to 1 in 4 people with an ageing population and obesity being factors contributing to this. Osteoarthritis commonly affects the hands, spine, hips, and knees and is more common in females.
How you view osteoarthritis and understanding the definition of osteoarthritis is important. We know osteoarthritis is a disorder that can affect any movable joint of the body. It should be viewed as a ‘whole of joint’ disease that affects all the structures of the joint including joint capsule, ligaments, muscles as well as the cartilage on the ends of our bones. Osteoarthritis is a lifelong disease that may commence without any obvious reason. It is important to understand that there are biological processes that occur in the joint such as the breakdown of cartilage that are abnormal. It is possible to make the joint healthier and reduce pain and improve function with exercise and weight loss. Osteoarthritis occurs when there is an imbalance between cartilage degeneration and cartilage regeneration. There are certain factors that make people more likely to developing osteoarthritis such as genetics, other joint problems like rheumatoid arthritis, past injury to our joints or previous heavy physical activity and being overweight or obese. Some of these risk factors we can modify or change and some we cannot.
Regeneration and Degeneration of Cartilage in Osteoarthritis
It is important we do not describe osteoarthritis as “ wear and tear “ or “bone on bone” as there are things we can do to improve our pain and function. Understanding that your joint is capable of repair and that exercise plays a key role in making your joint healthy again is important. Osteoarthritis is an active condition that will respond to the stimuli or load we place on it- generally speaking this is why the right amount of exercise or load will make your pain in your joint feel better rather then worse.