Easing Joint Pain: What You Should Definitely Know

Joint pain is a complex issue that often manifests after years in the making. There's no one way to approach the problem because there could be multiple underlying causes as to why you're having joint pain.

While younger folk can also experience severe joint pain, this issue is most common in aging people. The projected number of people suffering from chronic joint pain in the US by 2040 is 78.4 million. Due to inadequate treatment options, this pain can often impair people and prevent them from leading full, healthy lives.

Osteoarthritis is one of the most common causes of joint pain in senior citizens. Read on for a detailed breakdown of what you should know about it.

Why Osteoarthritis Could Be Responsible

Many people don't know that there are many different kinds of arthritis, with Osteoarthritis being the most common one. It’s caused when the cartilage in the joints breaks down, and undergoes a repair process via the tissue network that can cause structural changes to the joint, resulting in pain.

This complicated bit of information means that over time, the layer of a flexible bone-like structure called the cartilage can become thin. Our body then tries to repair it, but the repair process leads to changes in the joint's structure. This change causes joint pain.

These changes can be the formation of surplus bone, over-stretched tissues, and thickening of the joint lining that causes inflammation.  

Treating Osteoarthritic Pain

The issue with OA is that the condition tends to worsen over time. What starts with a slight stiffness can turn into severe chronic pain. Symptoms of OA include pain and stiffness, but also tenderness, decrease in flexibility, bone spurs, swelling, and a grating feeling when you try to move the joint.