Osteoarthritis Concerns Everyone

Joints are there to join our bones together, thus, enabling a range of motion which is almost unbelievable, furthermore, they bear weight, which is many times as much as our body weight. Concerning osteoarthritis – wear and tear of our joints – our joints lose these functions more and more. The mechanical reason for this is as follows: the articular cartilage thins out more and more, and is, therefore, incapable of shock absorbance. This leads to pain and loss of mobility. The biological explanation is as follows: mediators of our immune system, such as Interleukin-1, are responsible for the degenerative changes of the articular cartilage. As a matter of fact, the earlier the treatment occurs, the better the treatment outcome becomes.

Osteoarthritis Expressed through Numbers
Arthritis may involve each and every joint, but, most of all, it affects the knee and hip joint. Experts assume, that 50 % of the population over the age of 50 show signs of arthritis in their x-rays. About 100% of the population over 70 will be affected by arthritis. Besides the degenerative changes occurring in this population, other problems, such as joint deformity, excessive wear and tear, being overweight, injuries and genetic disposition also lead to arthritis and its progress.

The protein Interleukin-1 damages cartilage cells