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I thought that over the next few days I would put up some posts about arthritis. My wife has settled with arthritis for years and not a lot has helped. There are of course a lot of pills on the market notably Vioxx and Celebrex (which my wife did take) the problems with these drugs is that the Cox-2 inhibitors have been linked to heart problems.

Arthritis

Arthritis is a general name for over 100 conditions and diseases that affect the joints of the bones. Many people with arthritis do not have any symptoms in the early stages, Later, there may be joint pain, swelling, and stiffness. The muscles surrounding the joint may be sore, too. Some common forms of arthritis are osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, tendinitis, and gout.

While not all of the causes of arthritis are known, several factors that may contribute to a person’s risk of developing the condition have been identified, including:

• Age: Arthritis can occur in people of all ages, including children, but it affects a large number of seniors.
• Heredity: Family history may determine the shape of the bones or whether there is weak cartilage in the joints.
• Being over: Extra puts stress on the joints, especially knees and hips.
• Injury and disease: Joints may be injured when doing the same activity repeatedly, such as sports injuries. Infections in the joint may also cause harm.
• Lack of physical activity: Activity is important in strengthening the muscles that support the bones, for helping joints move, and controlling body .
• Stress: Arthritis pain may flare during times of emotional stress.

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis, It can occur at any age, but usually develops after the age of 45 in both men and women.

Osteoarthritis usually affects the joints that carry our body -the hips, spine, knees, and feet-but it often affects the fingers, too.

In a healthy joint, the ends of the bones are covered by a smooth, tough material called cartilage that absorbs shock when we move and allows the bone ends to glide easily over each other. Osteoarthritis occurs when cartilage wears down and becomes thinner. This exposes the ends of the bones, and small bumps (spurs) of new bone might grow on them. The spurs decrease the space in the joint cavity, and this limits movement. Bits of cartilage may break off and cause pain and swelling (inflammation). Over time, the cartilage might wear away completely, and then the bone ends grind together. This grating sound can sometimes be heard when the joint moves.

The symptoms of Osteoarthritis usually develop slowly over time. The joint may be painful, swollen or stiff. Pain is often worse after exercise. Resting helps to control it. Sometimes there is more joint pain in rainy weather.

If the disease gets worse, the muscles that hold the joint together might get weak from lack of use. Other times, the joint loses its shape and may not work.

Everyone likes to have shortcuts to losing weight. Although as we all know the important things really are to have a good diet and to get exercise.

Having said this though there are times that you can make a real difference quite easily. Some people make such incredibly poor decisions that they can turn things around pretty easily. So for these people here we go.

1. Stop smoking – Smoking lowers the amount of oxygen that your body can get to your muscles. In fact if you quit smoking the amount of oxygen in your system will increase even within the first day. Some people smoke in the bizzare thought that by smoking you will eat less and although it is hard to eat with a smoke in your mouth, this will be counteracted by the fact that you will not have the energy to exercise and keep yourself healthy.

2. Don’t drink – Drinking alcohol will lower your metabolism and force your body to store more fat. I do not know the details of this but if you go about having a couple of beers every night then cutting these beers out will make a huge difference to how you feel, your outlook on life, and your chance to be motivated to workout in the evening.

3. Cut out Deep Fried Food – Deep fried food is the worst kind of food that you can eat in two ways. Deep frying radically increases the amount of fat in any food, and deep frying destroys any nutrients in the food before it gets to your mouth. Look for instance at a piece of chicken, A deep fried chicken breast has 28 grams of fat compared to only 8 grams of fat in a oven baked breaded chicken breast. Do the math, that chicken breast will go from 260 calories to almost double at 460 calories.

4. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables – Fruits and begetables on Weight Watchers and most other dits are almost free calories. The reason that ist is easy to eat lots of fruits and vegetables on any diet is again due to two things. The high water level in fruits and vegetables create more fullness for less calories and secondly fruits and vegetables are high in vitamins, minerals, and many antioxidants that will help you get healthier in the long run. Eat lots of fruits an vegetables and you will surely not have room for all of those crappy foods that call you by name.

As I mentioned earlier you may already know these things and follow them. If this is the case then please email this article to someone that can use it. These are really easy tips and will make a monumental change to your health just by applying them.