What is Osteoarthritis?

Common Names : Osteoarthritis. Arthrosis, Degenerative Joint Disease
Osteoarthritis is a very common diseases of middle and old aged people all over the world. In a simple words it is a wear and tear effect to your Joints which bears pressure of your body. As the wear and tear effects increases it damages the Joint surfaces and produces inflammation. Thus a disease which causes inflamation of joint bones is called Osteoarthritis.
Below figure is taken from Arc.Org.Uk a premium website providing information and support to arthritis patients and is very simple figure that can help you anatomy of joints and structures that takes part in active movement of joints.

The none ends are usually covered by slippery glister like material called Cartilage. This cartilage has very important role in pressure bearing and even distribution of pressure along with lubrication of joint for painfree movement. Knee Joint has extra pairs of cushion to protect your joints called Meniscus..

The synovium is very thick membrane like structure surrounding cartlage and produces lubricant called synovial fluid that keeps joint surface slippery and provides easy movements.

Supporting structures for joints are capsule of joint and ligaments that bnds to capsule and bones. Also tendons of muscles provides useful strength to Joints and prevents it from displacing.

In osteoarthritis basic pathology strats with roughening of cartilage which initiates the inflamation and bone starts becoming thick. Very often bones at the outer surface starts growing outside called Osteophytes. Also synovium starts growing bigger and producing more and more fluid to fight with the inflamation. Which in turn causes swelling and redness of joint. On long term caosule, ligaments and muscles also starts becoming weaker and Joints lose their balance and may slip often. Whole of this process is basically a repair procedure and the symptoms usually starts slowly and increases slowly. It is a chronic condition and may disturb ons day to day life with severe pain and reduced mobility in long term basis.

In severe osteoarthritis, whole of the cartilage may get damaged and osteophytes are so severe that deformity may develop. Other commonly felt complications are Chondrocalcinosis and PseudoGout.