Factors That Can Cause Arthritis

By Anthony Martin


Pains and stiffness around the bones can lead to their inflammation. Unfortunately, this affects up to 50 million people in America today. The causes of the over 50 million cases can be attributed to some modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors. Among the modifiable causes of arthritis are inactivity, occupation, diet, smoking and joint injuries while the non-modifiable ones include hereditary, hormones, sex, and age.

The problem with this condition is that it affects the bones. The bones are protected with something called the cartilage, but this protective layer wears out as one ages. This means that the older people get, the likelier the chance for the bones at the joints to be exposed to each other.

Your sex also determines the likeliness that you will have this condition. Even though both male and females are predisposed to this, females are more likely to have it than men. In fact, studies show that 64 out of every 100 people suffering from this are women. Also, the female gender has more forms of the illness than the males. It is only Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and gout that one can see more in men than in females.

Hormones, which are natural chemical substances in the body, have been discovered in clinical studies to be the major factor affecting the occurrence of this condition. As a result, about 70% of women suffer more of this than men. That means that if you are a woman, you are already naturally predisposed to suffering from the rheumatoid type than you would have been if you were a man.

Many health conditions are hereditary and the same applies to this one. The gene called human leukocyte antigen (HLA) can cause this problem when passed from one generation to another. Although there are many other causes of it, this particular gene is quite responsible for a number of well-known cases.

Modifiable risk factors refer to those ones that an individual can control. An example of modifiable factors is activity (or inactivity). This means that one can choose to be active or inactive, and the result of the decision taken can have an effect on the occurrence of this condition. If people are more active, the bones are more flexible and the problem will be less common.

If you know a person who has joint pains/inflammation and still consumes a lot of sodium salt, that person should be educated on the likeliness of worsening his or her condition. It is better for the person to avoid sodium salts and take more of water and fruits like bananas. Feeding plays a major role in determining if one will have the condition or not.

Joint pain and inflammation can be worse with people who smoke a lot. Clinical studies prove that smokers are more susceptible to this condition than those who do not engage in the act. As a matter of fact, even when the bones should heal naturally, smoking will prevent this and the condition even becomes worse.




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