Factors That Can Cause Arthritis

By Anthony Martin


Certain health conditions are caused by risk factors that are both modifiable and not modifiable. It is worse when the factors cannot be modified since they are natural and bound to occur. For instance, in the case of arthritis, some modifiable risk factors for it include diet, inactivity, smoking, joint injuries, and occupation. On the other hand, one cannot control things like hormones, age, sex and one's genetic makeup. This is why these factors are termed non-modifiable.

One cannot control the aging process. As long as one doesn't want to die, the other option is to grow old and face the challenges of old age. At old age, the cartilage may have been exposed to more wear and tear, exposing the bones to grind against themselves. As this happens, inflammation occurs and the pains are strongly felt.

Being a male or a female also says a lot about one's likeliness of having this bone inflammation. It has been discovered that more women have it than men. Statistics say that 64% of women have it more than the men. Of all the types of bone stiffness and inflammation that exist, only Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and gout are more common in men. The other forms of this condition are more pronounced in women.

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.

Just like some diseases are hereditary, the same is also applicable to this one. People who have the gene known as human leukocyte antigen (HLA) are more likely to have the problem, and pass the risk on to the younger generation through child bearing. Anyway, HLA is not always responsible for this, but it cannot be denied that it has caused the condition more often than not.

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.

In the same vein, smoking does not help at all. In fact, it is one of the major causes of bone degradation and will cause any natural healing process of the bones to be carried out slowly. Although the exact way by which smoking affects bone healing is not exactly known, studies have shown that it actually happens. It is, therefore, necessary to stop smoking if you want to reduce your chances of having joint pain or inflammation.




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