Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, and affects mainly people of middle age and older. The sites usually involve are the neck, lower back, knees, hips and joints of the fingers. The big toe may be affected by osteoarthritis, but this should not be confused with gout. Nearly 70 percent of people over the age of 70 have evidence of osteoarthritis that can be seen on an x-ray.
However, only half of these people develop symptoms of the disease. In addition to developing in ageing joints, osteoarthritis may occur in joints that have been previously injured or subjected to prolonged heavy use, and in joints that have been damaged by prior infection or inflammatory arthritis. People who suffer from osteoarthritis will experience pain and loss of function of the affected joints.
Is it hereditary? Some kinds of osteoarthritis are known to be hereditary, including the common form causing enlargement of the first finger joint as these outgrowths are known as Heberden’s nodes, after the British doctor who first identified them. Here a specific genetic abnormality, which may be passed from mother to daughter, in particular, has been found. This abnormality causes a change in one of the amino acids which is the basic building blocks of all proteins, which causes cartilage to deteriorate prematurely.
Current research focuses on this genetic abnormality as well as new methods of studying cells, chemistry and the function of the cartilage. In this severe case of arthritis of the knee, an x-ray shows that the cartilage lining of the thigh bone, or femur, and the tibia has been eroded. It is also possible for the bone itself to start to erode. Here, a fragment of bone, which is at the left of the femur, appears to have broken away.
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