Some Arthritis Risk Factors You Should Know

By Anthony Martin


Pains and stiffness around the bones can lead to their inflammation. Unfortunately, this affects up to 50 million people in America today. The causes of the over 50 million cases can be attributed to some modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors. Among the modifiable causes of arthritis are inactivity, occupation, diet, smoking and joint injuries while the non-modifiable ones include hereditary, hormones, sex, and age.

Age is not a modifiable risk factor because one cannot control it. As long as one grows, there is every tendency that the joints would become stiff due to stress or prolonged inactivity. The cartilage also wears out as one grows up, leaving the bones to interact with each other thereby causing pain and inflammation.

Your sex also determines the likeliness that you will have this condition. Even though both male and females are predisposed to this, females are more likely to have it than men. In fact, studies show that 64 out of every 100 people suffering from this are women. Also, the female gender has more forms of the illness than the males. It is only Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and gout that one can see more in men than in females.

For every 100 patients affected by certain hormones in the body that are responsible for causing the rheumatoid condition, it has happened persistently that about 70 of them are women. This statistics is consistent with what is obtainable in Russellville AR. Hence, it can be concluded that hormones are also part of the risk factors for this condition. Women are therefore supposed to be more attentive to their daily lifestyle and moderate their activities in order to be more exposed to having the condition.

Another cause of the rheumatoid type is the gene known as human leukocyte antigen (HLA). This suggests that one's likeliness of having the problem is pronounced if it can be proved that either one or both of the parents suffered from the condition. Since a person cannot control the existence of genes in the body, other factors, such as the modifiable ones, must be controlled to such an extent as to balance the effect of the natural ones.

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.

Again, the diet one takes plays a major role. Taking foods rich in sodium salts will increase one's chances of having this health problem. On the other hand, taking fruits like bananas will reduce the risk.

Smoking is also bad for the bones. It makes the condition to get worse and retards the healing processes of the bones. Even though the exact way this happens is not yet known, scientists are quite convinced that smoking does not help people with bone problems. It is therefore advisable to quit smoking in order to remain healthy.




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