Arthritis Prevention... Starting Early is the Key

When dealing with any condition, taking early steps to prevent it is important. When dealing with osteoarthritis it is the key.  There are many signs of early arthritis, the problem is, is that there is no pain associate with it, so it goes unnoticed by people. one of the common symptoms is stiffness, especially stiffness of the joints in the morning.  Though this stiffness tends to go away as the day goes on, it is still important to understand what is happen to ones body. If you, or anyone you may know is worried about arthritis, these are a few step to prevent the on set of osteoarthritis:

 Lose Weight

Lose weight, or at least avoid gaining. Extra pounds are awful on joints: They increase the burden on them, and have a destructive metabolic effect. A chemical related to obesity upsets the balance between the buildup and breakdown of cartilage, meaning the natural degradation of cartilage moves more quickly than the renewal process that's supposed to restore it. The effect is a net loss that, over time, becomes osteoarthritis.

 Low Impact Exercises

Do exercise that doesn't damage joints. That includes low-impact biking and swimming, along with yoga and Pilates, plus walking if it's not too fast, and weightlifting, as long as it's not stressful. If you walk, make sure you have comfortable shoes, and try to walk on surfaces that are relatively flat. Asphalt is better than concrete.

 Bio- Mechanics

Watch your bio-mechanics. How you lift and carry various objects, or perform physical tasks, including playing sports, can make a big difference to the health of your joints. The back is the most obvious part of the body that can be strained, but nearly all joints can be damaged by poor bio-mechanics. For instance, something as simple as gardening can put stress on joints if you dig at the dirt with your fingers instead of using a proper tool. Proper mechanics while playing sports will do far more than improve your athletic performance. It also minimizes strain on joints from head to toe that can manifest later as osteoarthritis. 

Prevent Joint Injuries

 Prevent and treat injuries. Too many ankle sprains, or insufficient treatment following sprains, can put you on the road to arthritis in your ankles. And once you alter the mechanics of your ankles to compensate for that, you can begin a process where the mechanics of other joints are also altered, through your knees up to your hips, etc. So, take care of your injuries, whether to the ankles, knees, or elsewhere.

Take Supplements

Taking supplements is also a potentially useful step. Glucosamine and chondroitin both show evidence of helping cartilage avoid deterioration, at least to a degree. There are also two relatively new supplements that have shown promise in trials: A.S.U (unsaponifiable part of avocado and soybean), and hyaluronic acid (H.A.). A

What is Arthritis and What are the Ealry Symptoms

The word arthritis actually means joint inflammation. The term arthritis is used to describe more than 100 rheumatic diseases and conditions that affect joints, the tissues which surround the joint and other connective tissue. The pattern, severity and location of symptoms can vary depending on the specific form of the disease. Typically, rheumatic conditions are characterized by pain and stiffness in and around one or more joints. The symptoms can develop gradually or suddenly. Certain rheumatic conditions can also involve the immune system and various internal organs of the body.

Types of Arthritis
More than 100 forms of arthritis and related diseases exist affecting approximately 46 million Americans today. A complete listing follows:

Achilles tendinitis Achondroplasia Acromegalic arthropathy Adhesive capsulitis Adult onset Still's disease Ankylosing spondylitis Anserine bursitis Avascular necrosis Behcet's syndrome Bicipital tendinitis Blount's disease Brucellar spondylitis Bursitis Calcaneal bursitis Calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate (CPPD) Crystal deposition disease Caplan's syndrome Carpal tunnel syndrome Chondrocalcinosis Chondromalacia patellae Chronic synovitis Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis Churg-Strauss syndrome Cogan's syndrome Corticosteroid-induced osteoporosis Costosternal syndrome CREST syndrome Cryoglobulinemia Degenerative joint disease Dermatomyositis Diabetic finger sclerosis Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) Discitis Discoid lupus erythematosus Drug-induced lupus Duchenne's muscular dystrophy Dupuytren's contracture Ehlers-Danlos syndrome Enteropathic arthritis Epicondylitis Erosive inflammatory osteoarthritis Exercise-induced compartment syndrome Fabry's disease Familial Mediterranean fever Farber's lipogranulomatosis Felty's syndrome Fibromyalgia Fifth's disease Flat feet Foreign body synovitis Freiberg's disease Fungal arthritis Gaucher's disease Giant cell arteritis Gonococcal arthritis Goodpasture's syndrome Gout

Granulomatous arteritis Hemarthrosis Hemochromatosis Henoch-Schonlein purpura Hepatitis B surface antigen disease Hip dysplasia Hurler syndrome Hypermobility syndrome Hypersensitivity vasculitis Hypertrophic osteoarthropathy Immune complex disease Impingement syndrome Jaccoud's arthropathy Juvenile ankylosing spondylitis Juvenile dermatomyositis Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis Kawasaki disease Kienbock's disease Legg-Calve-Perthes disease Lesch-Nyhan syndrome Linear scleroderma Lipoid dermatoarthritis Lofgren's syndrome Lyme disease Malignant synovioma Marfan's syndrome Medial plica syndrome Metastatic carcinomatous arthritis     Mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) Mixed cryoglobulinemia Mucopolysaccharidosis Multicentric reticulohistiocytosis Multiple epiphyseal dysplasia Mycoplasmal arthritis Myofascial pain syndrome Neonatal lupus Neuropathic arthropathy Nodular panniculitis Ochronosis Olecranon bursitis Osgood-Schlatter's disease Osteoarthritis Osteochondromatosis Osteogenesis imperfecta Osteomalacia Osteomyelitis Osteonecrosis Osteoporosis Overlap syndrome Pachydermoperiostosis Paget's disease of bone Palindromic rheumatism Patellofemoral pain syndrome Pellegrini-Stieda syndrome Pigmented villonodular synovitis Piriformis syndrome Plantar fasciitis Polyarteritis nodos

Polymyalgia rheumatica Polymyositis Popliteal cysts Posterior tibial tendinitis Pott's disease Prepatellar bursitis Prosthetic joint infectio Pseudoxanthoma elasticum Psoriatic arthritis Raynaud's phenomenon Reactive arthritis/Reiter's syndrome Reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome Relapsing polychondritis Retrocalcaneal bursitis Rheumatic fever Rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid vasculitis Rotator cuff tendinitis Sacroiliitis Salmonella osteomyelitis Sarcoidosis Saturnine gout Scheuermann's osteochondritis Scleroderma Septic arthritis Seronegative arthritis Shigella arthritis Shoulder-hand syndrome Sickle cell arthropathy Sjogren's syndrome Slipped capital femoral epiphysis Spinal stenosis Spondylolysis Staphylococcus arthritis Stickler syndrome Subacute cutaneous lupus Sweet's syndrome Sydenham's chorea Syphilitic arthritis Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) Takayasu's arteritis Tarsal tunnel syndrome Tennis elbow Tietse's syndrome Transient osteoporosis Traumatic arthritis Trochanteric bursitis Tuberculosis arthritis Arthritis of Ulcerative colitis Undifferentiated connective tissue syndrome (UCTS) Urticarial vasculitis Viral arthritis Wegener's granulomatosis Whipple's disease Wilson's disease Yersinial arthritis

General Early Symptoms of Arthritis

• Stiffness that tends to follow periods of inactivity
• Morning stiffness that dissipates within 30 minutes of waking
• Swelling, stiffness, pain or tenderness in one or more joints
• Crunching feeling or crackling sound when the joint is used
• Loss of mobility
• Inflammation of the joints
• Stiffness after periods of inactivity that can be eased by stretching and exercise
• Increased joint pain in humid weather
• Joint pain that increases after extensive use of the joint and decreases with rest
• The back (spinal), shoulder, neck (cervical), hip, knee, foot, hand, and thumb are common areas - each have specific early symptoms arthritis and progressed arthritis symptoms     

Arthritis Week here on Pionair Health Watch!

To kick off our week long segment on arthritis... here are a few statistic you might not have known:

Arthritis Facts

Number of Americans with arthritis or chronic joint symptoms:

• 1985 - 35 million
• 1990 - 37.9 million
• 1998 - nearly 43 million (1 in 6 people)
• 2006 – 46 million (nearly 1 in 5 adults)
• Arthritis is one of the most prevalent chronic health problems and the nation’s leading cause of disability among Americans over age 15.
• Arthritis is second only to heart disease as a cause of work disability.
• Arthritis limits everyday activities such as walking, dressing and bathing for more than 7 million Americans.
• Arthritis results in 39 million physician visits and more than a half million hospitalizations.
• Costs to the U.S. economy totals $128 billion annually.
• Arthritis affects people in all age groups including nearly 300,000 children.
• Baby boomers are now at prime risk. More than half those affected are under age 65.
• Half of those Americans with arthritis don’t think anything can be done to help them.
• Arthritis refers to more than 100 different diseases that affect areas in or around joints.
• Arthritis strikes women more often than men.

Overall arthritis:

• Women - 24.3 million of the people with doctor-diagnosed arthritis
• Men - 17.1 million of the people with doctor-diagnosed arthritis

Former President Clinton is a Vegan!

Former President Bill Clinton is known for a great many things, and one of those things is his appetite for very unhealthy food... or so we thought. In a interview with CNN's Sanjay Gupta, the former President talks about his move from being an omnivore to a vegan.

Germs Are Literally Everywhere– Kill Them With Hand Sanitizer

No matter what time of year it is, germs are everywhere and anywhere a person could visibly investigate with their eyes. And even more could be lurking where they don’t check or can’t see. For those who frequently leave the home or for busy families, the chances of being exposed to these germs increases greatly. Germs never take a day off, and they never go on vacation, so anyone looking to avoid germs should not let down their guard for even a second if they want to avoid getting sick.

Believe it or not, the places that people most assume are festering with germs, such as public toilets and Port-a-Potties, are actually the places you would find the least problems. At least, in comparison other areas. Elevator buttons, ATM machines, playground equipment, door handles, etc. are actually some of the prime places to find germs on the surfaces, even though they can’t be seen with the naked eye.

Figuring out how this could be so is not difficult. In the case of public bathrooms, they are frequently disinfected by janitors and cleaning crews, so germs never stay for long, or at least stay small in numbers to the point that they could do little harm. Playground equipment is never cleaned, and is often touched by children and others who don’t wash their hands and may be suffering from a sickness. Another offender in germ count is picnic tables. Birds and other animals may leave their waste and bits of food behind, leaving the area very insanitary. Food should never be eaten directly on a picnic table unless some kind of cloth is placed on top of it. Library books are also notable germ carriers, considering how many different places they’ve been and how many different people have checked them out.

It may seem overwhelming, but taking care to avoid getting sick is not challenging at all. A cautious person should never put their hands in their mouth after touching a questionable surface. Even rubbing their eyes or simply placing a finger on their nose should be actively avoided if they want to make it through the season without falling ill. Food, especially fruits and vegetables, should be washed before the process of cooking or eating them. Use shoes or elbows to flush public toilets, just to be sure.

And when getting to a bathroom to wash your hands is not possible, hand sanitizers are the way to go. They can come in either cloth or liquid form, and with smaller, portable versions they may be stored in purses, diaper bags, backpacks, briefcases, pockets, etc. for quick and easy access. Use them to wipe down surfaces before using them or to clean your hands before eating or after handling something suspected to be germ-infested. With hand sanitizers you can’t go wrong, and they’ll help kill germs on the spot.

 

 

 

Warran. "Germs Are Literally Everywhere– Kill Them With Hand Sanitizer." Web log post. Http://www.handsanitizerstore.com. Web. 23 Aug. 2011. <http://www.handsanitizerstore.com/blog/bottled-sanitizer-gel/germs-are-literally-everywhere-kill-them-with-hand-sanitizer/>.

Watch Us on the Nutritional Living with Dr. Ward Bond

10 Health Benefits of Cinnamon

 

http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/10-health-benefits-of-cinnamon.html