Don't miss our offers
Arthritis is a general term defined as inflammation of the joint. Joint inflammation is characterized by redness, warmth, swelling, and pain within the joint. There are over a hundred different types of arthritic joint pain, but the most common are osteoarthritis (OA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and gout.
Sedimentation rate, or erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), is a blood test that can reveal inflammatory activity in the body, and it is one of the tests used to determine arthritis. However, there are other tests which will determine the specific type of arthritis.
OSTEOARTHRITIS (OA)
Osteoarthritis is a form of arthritis involving the deterioration (wear and tear) of the cartilage that cushions the ends of bones.
Cartilage is a firm tissue that covers the ends of bones in normal joints. Its main function is to reduce friction in the joints and serve as a “shock absorber”.
Osteoarthritis can occur in almost any joint in the body but it affects mainly the weight-bearing joints, such as the spine, knees, hips and sometimes the fingers, thumb, neck, and large toe especially where there was a previous injury or excessive stress involved.
RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS (RA)
Rheumatoid arthritis is caused from inflammation of the joints especially in the wrist; fingers and knees but it can also affect the neck, shoulders, elbows, ankles and feet. It typically occurs in joints on both sides of the body and this helps distinguish rheumatoid arthritis from other types of arthritis. It is manifested as red, tender, warm, swelling, pain and stiffness especially in the morning and fever. In addition to affecting the joints, rheumatoid arthritis may occasionally affect the skin, eyes, lungs, heart, blood, or nerves. Damage can become severe and deforming thus causing great discomfort.
When the synovial membrane is inflamed, it becomes swollen, enlarged, soft and spongy and fluid builds up in the joint. This causes the joint to become stiff and the cartilage wears away. Eventually the bones of the joints may fuse and this can become very painful.
GOUT
Gout is a metabolic disorder in which uric acid builds up in the blood and forms crystals in the joints and other places, especially the big toe.
Uric acid comes from the breakdown of purines, a type of protein that occurs naturally in the body as well as in a number of foods.
SYMPTOMS OF ARTHRITIS
- Pain, stiffness, soreness in affected joints especially with movement (OA)
- Pain after overuse of joint or after long periods of inactivity (OA)
- Bony enlargements in the middle and end joints of the fingers (which may or may not be painful) (OA)
- Swelling around the joint, pain and tenderness, restricted joint movement (OA)
- Enlarged distorted finger joints, crackling noise of affected joint (OA) Morning stiffness (OA, RA)
- Fatigue (RA) Nervous overexcitement, depression, muscle pain, excessive sweating (RA)
- Fever (RA, Gout) Painful, stiff, swollen, deformed joints (Gout, RA)
- Decreased urine (Gout)
- Itching or peeling of affected skin (Gout)
- Sensitivity to cold
- Poor appetite and cravings for clay, ice, or starch
CAUSES OF ARTHIRITIS
- Its caused by acidic body – Dehydrated body drink atleast 8 glasses of water
- Lack of pure air (Oxygen) – Do exercise both Swimming and Rebounder
- Minerals deficiency – Avoid night shade foods such as Cayenne pepper, Papprika pepper, white potatoes, Cooked spinach, managu, bell pepper, Egg plant, Tomatoes, Okra.
Discard the following acid forming foods;
- Meat and its products such sausages
- Caffeine (coffee and tea) should be avoided especially in the case of Gout as it is of the purine family and it transforms into uric acid in the body.
- Animal milk
- Crystalized Sugar
- Chocolate
- Tobacco
- Wheat and its products such as cakes, pizza, maandazi, bread, chapati etc
- Table Salt
- Avoid the use of alcohol, especially beer as this impairs the ability of the kidneys to excrete uric acid, thus causing it to increase in the body and this is one of the leading factors to Gout.