Most arthritis is caused by use and the slow gradual compromise of the joint tissues due to chronic inflammation. This type of arthritis is termed osteoarthritis and generally occurs at an older age. There are other causes of arthirits including autoimmune arthritis like rheumatoid arthritis, septic arthrits from infections, and gout arthritis to name a few that can happen earlier in a patient's life.
Arthritis Causes & Risks
Risk factors for arthritis vary depending on the type, but in general, genetics and lifestyle are the dominant causes. Any kind of excessive stress or injury to the joints may increase your risk, affecting people who are overweight or who play sports. The risk for some types of arthritis increase with age. Women are more likely to have arthritis of the hands and knees, while men are more likely to have arthritis of the hips, knees and spine.
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Dr. Grant Cooper, MD , Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, answered
People who are obese have a significantly increased risk of developing arthritis, because obesity is an important source of chronic microtrauma to the cartilage. Joints are designed for carrying, properly distributing, and cushioning body weight. They are also capable of taking on temporary excess loads. For example, stress on the joints is greatly increased when we carry groceries, lift weights, bend over, or run up stairs. However, joints do have limits.
Each step you take while walking involves temporarily transferring your weight primarily onto one joint. When you factor in momentum, biomechanics, and gravity, your knees and hips experience up to three times as much pressure as your body weight with each step. If you weigh 140 pounds, your knee joints may experience as much as 320 pounds of weight with each step. When you walk down a flight of stairs, your hip and knee joints may experience as much as a six-fold increase in weight, so that same 140-pound person experiences as much as 640 pounds across the knees and hips.
In other words, every pound you gain punishes your joints up to six-fold. Research clearly bears this out; overweight men are five times more likely to develop arthritis, and overweight women are four times more likely to develop it than are their non-overweight counterparts. For every 10 pounds of excess weight gain, the risk of developing arthritis increases by 40 percent. Every time you take a step, the extra weight places increased pressure on your weight-bearing joints, because the load is too great for your muscles, ligaments, and tendons. The joints shift under the weight and, ultimately, they are overwhelmed, resulting in repetitive microtears in the cartilage. Additional stresses are taken up by static portions of your bone, creating friction. Your bone responds by trying to build new bone, but the new bone is weaker than the original bone, and the process of arthritis is well on its way. -
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Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD , Cardiology (Cardiovascular Disease), answeredArthritis is about 50% hereditary. Learn more about arthritis in this video with Dr. Oz.
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Dr. Michael Roizen, MD , Internal Medicine, answeredSee All 2 Answers
Cracking your knuckles makes you sound like a bowl of Rice Krispies and never goes over well in church. While it's painful for everyone around you to hear, you're not doing any harm to your joints, bones, or muscles when you crack-unless it hurts when you crack them. It's just caused by the high-pressure suction of gas being expelled when your joints move apart. If it hurts when your knuckles or knees crack, you need to see your doctor to assess what kind of joint damage you may have.
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Dr. Christopher W. Hodgkins, MD , Orthopedic Surgery, answered on behalf of Baptist Health South FloridaBig toe arthritis is a degenerative condition that affects the joint at the bottom of the big toe, called the metatarsophalangeal joint. When cartilage wears down in the metatarsophalangeal joint, the raw bone ends can rub together. The condition, big toe arthritis, can result from many factors, including differences in foot anatomy that increase the stress on the joint, such as fallen arches, rheumatoid arthritis and past injuries that may have damaged the articular cartilage.
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Regular exercise decreases the likelihood of developing arthritis-related disabilities. For those with arthritis, not exercising can make consequences of the disease worse. A major survey of 3,554 men and women aged 53 to 63 discovered that regular exercise decreases the likelihood of developing arthritis-related disabilities by 10% among arthritis suffers. Further, inactive arthritis sufferers showed a 37% increase in disabilities as compared with 29% and 27% for those who exercised. And respondents who engaged in 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity five days per week reported increased relief of functional decline related to arthritis. -
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Dole Nutrition Institute answeredMost saturated fats trigger an inflammatory reaction in the body, which exacerbates arthritis symptoms. Many doctors recommend that arthritis patients limit their consumption of whole-dairy products (such as whole milk, cheese and ice cream) and animal products (such as red meat and poultry), and replace them with healthier choices, like cold-water fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Doctors who recommend fish to alleviate joint pain and stiffness say the benefits are maximized when other animal fats are minimized. In addition, in a 2004 study published in Arthritis & Rheumatism, British researchers identified a high level of red meat consumption as an independent risk factor for rheumatoid arthritis after finding that the subjects who ate the most red meat were twice as likely to develop the disease as those who limited their intake to less than an ounce per day. -
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Dr. Grant Cooper, MD , Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, answered
Some types of arthritis are autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, shoulder tendonitis or bursitis, gouty arthritis, and polymyalgia rheumatica. In these diseases, inflammation is caused by an inappropriate response by the immune system in which the white blood cells attack joint tissue.
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Joint injury can lead to osteoarthritis. People who experience sports or occupational injuries or have jobs with repetitive motions like repeated knee bending have more osteoarthritis. Avoid joint injury to reduce your risk of developing osteoarthritis.
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Dr. Grant Cooper, MD , Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, answered
The causes of primary arthritis are not as well understood. In contrast to secondary arthritis, primary arthritis occurs without any directly identifiable cause. Primary arthritis tends to occur after the age of 45, and it becomes more common with advancing age. Arthritis tends to run in families, and most experts believe that it may have a genetic component. It seems reasonable that primary arthritis results from some combination of repetitive microtrauma to the joint, impaired or suboptimal biomechanics, and other unidentified factors, such as a potential genetic predisposition or environmental factors.