Arthritis Treatment, Causes, Types, Symptoms, Medication And Facts

A common phrase used to describe pain in the most utilized arm or forearm muscles is “tennis elbow”; it describes elbow pain due to over exertion. This condition has nothing to do with tennis players other than it can occur in them often do to the use of the same arm frequently and strenuously.

This condition is triggered by either sudden or gradual damage to the muscle and tendon regions surrounding the outside of the elbow. Tennis elbow specifically targets the point where both the muscle and tendons meet with the outside bony region of the elbow. The medical term for this is “lateral epicondyle”. Another common overuse injury is “golfer’s elbow”, or its medical term, “medial epicondylitis”. This is the same process as with lateral epicondyle(tennis elbow) but it affects the inner portion of the elbow.

Tennis elbow usually affects individuals in the arm that is used for most of the work, for instance, if you are right handed and were to suffer from this condition it will most likely be in your right arm. It is not exclusive to your dominant arm though, and can occur in the non-dominant arm as well as both arms simultaneously.

Some warning signals to tennis elbow may include the following:

• Gradual increase of pain surrounding the outside of the elbow
• Pain becomes exasperated when shaking hands normally or squeezing things
• Pain is again made worse when you are trying to open jars, using tools, or simple lifting. These once simple tasks have become very painful on your arm.

Although tennis elbow affects nearly 50% of tennis players at some point during their careers, it also affects between 1-2 percent of the overall population. It is also more common in men than in women and in ages 30-50. Although it is more common in this age group it is not limited to and can occur at any age.

Other athletes and people whose hobbies or work involve the same movements repetitively in the arm, elbow, or wrist are prone to tennis elbow. For instance, those who work as gardeners, landscapers, carpenters, car mechanics or athletics in the fields of golf, baseball and bowling are susceptible to tennis elbow.

Tennis elbow unfortunately can not be confirmed through any type of blood test or x-ray, rather your doctor will have to rely on your pain descriptions to diagnose this condition. It is important to be as specific as possible when describing your symptoms to your doctor because there are other illnesses that can cause pain around the elbow. That is why it is essential to have a thorough consultation with your doctor.

Treating tennis elbow depends on many different factors. Factors that include age, if you are currently taking other medication, general state of health, medical history and the extent of pain experienced. Tennis elbow is usually successfully treated with cortisone injections.

You can also aide in the healing process by not over exerting yourself by resting and avoiding activity that will inflict pain on the elbow. Also place ice on the painful area as well as taking NSAIDS, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen.

Hip replacement surgery is one of the treatment options available for arthritis patients. This procedure will require the doctor to remove the painful hip joint through surgery and replace it with artificial joint. This is usually a last resort when everything else doesn’t seem to help the patient to get the relief from their hip joint problem.

What To Expect During Hip Replacement Surgery

There are two methods available for hip replacement surgery to take place. It can be done either traditionally or a slightly modern method considered being slightly invasive. The main difference for these 2 procedures will be the size of incision.
Patient will be given general anesthesia as a way to relax their muscle and put them into a deep sleep temporarily during the hip replacement surgery process. This can help them go through the surgery painlessly. There are also cases where the doctor chooses to use spinal anesthetic during surgery.

The hip joint will be exposed after the doctor move the muscle connecting thighbone through a cut along the side of hip. The ball portion for hip joint will be cut from thighbone using a saw. It will be replaced by an artificial joint by using cement so that everything will stay attached with the new joint.

Next, the doctor will prepare the hipbone surface by getting rid of any damaged cartilage and attaching the replacement socket part to hipbone. After that, the new ball part of thighbone will be inserted into the part where the hip has a socket. The will be closed after the muscles are reattached after any fluid caused by this surgery process is drained.

Most surgeries that are performed nowadays are done through standard technique where there will be 8 to 10 inch cut done to the hip area. Years ago, doctors will have to perform minimally invasive technique and made one or two cuts about 2 to 5 inches. The exact procedure will be carried out through these small cuts.

There are opinions saying these small cuts will lessen blood loss and cause lesser pain during surgery procedure. This in effect will allow the patient to go home earlier and suffer lesser scar appearance on their hip area.

There are risks associated with hip replacement surgery though as it need to be done only by doctors who is highly skilled using the technique. You also should consider donating blood before the surgery as there will be blood loss and there’s a high chance that you’ll need blood transfusion during your surgery.
What To Expect After Hip Replacement Surgery

Most patient will have to stay at least 4 days in the hospital before they can move around. They’ll have to put wedged shaped cushion between legs to ensure the new hip joint will stay on its location.

In treating arthritis, a lot of options are involved and these vary on the type or the form of arthritis that a patient has. There are common group of drugs available that could guide you in choosing with the help of a doctor and these medications can either be purchased through over-the-counter or through doctor’s prescription or direction.

First is the administering of Topical Pain Relievers. Topical pain relievers or topical creams could be used as an alternative to oral medications for everyone who is trying to alleviate an arthritis pain. These are over-the-counter drugs and can provide faster relief especially on joints like the hand or the knee as long as the pain isn’t that severe.

Second group would be the Anti-Inflammatory Painkillers. Mostly every person who has arthritis has taken or is taking one of these drugs. They are called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and are used primarily to treat inflammation or swelling of the joints, mild to moderate pain, stiffness, and fever. These drugs are available either over-the-counter or through prescription.

Third are the Narcotic Pain Relievers. They are another strong pain reliever variety which contains narcotic drugs which are combined most of the time with acetaminophen (Tylenol) or an NSAID to improve effects. When taking narcotics drugs, the patient might have a risk of developing addiction or dependence on the drugs. And also, these drugs can cause drowsiness, dry mouth, constipation and difficulty urinating.

Next are the Corticosteroids which are also known as “Steroids”. Steroids can treat many forms of arthritis like rheumatoid arthritis and other forms of inflammation like vasculitis and if given within proper guidelines, these drugs can be very effective.

Albeit the capability to treat, side effects become apparent and discovered especially if high doses are administered over prolonged periods of time.

Fifth group of drugs are the Hyaluronan Injections. This drug is used to treat osteoarthritis of the knee and is also called viscosupplementation. They are injected directly into the knee joint which may complement the joint’s natural synovial fluid, alleviating the ability to use the knee, and relief of pain is achieved. Thus, it allows a person to do daily activities and making him move freely without pain.

Sixth would be the Disease-Modifying Anti-rheumatic Drugs. They are group of drugs used as a line of defense against some forms of inflammatory arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis and related conditions. By modifying or suppressing the immune system in some way, DMARDs makes the disease process slow. However, like most drugs, DMARDs also has side effects.

It would take weeks or even months for these drugs to take effect and they are not designed to give immediate relief that is why they are often combined with NSAID or steroids to alleviate pain.

Seventh type of medication is the Biologic Therapy. Administered through intravenous infusion, these drugs have been one of the advances in treating inflammatory arthritis and these include psoriatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. They are called biologic response modifiers or biologics and they act by modifying or inhibiting specific components of the immune system that attacks the joints.

Eighth are the Chemotherapy Medications. Customarily, chemotherapy is used to kill or slow the quick reproduction of cells and decreases certain products made by these cells that cause an inflammatory response to occur. Thus, this is used to treat cancer and also people with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. However, rheumatic and autoimmune conditions have lower doses of medication than that used for cancer treatment.

Last would be Gout Medicines. Elevated levels of uric acid in the bloodstream is a sign of gout, that is why these drugs are used for the relief of pain, swelling, inflammation and the lowering of uric acid levels caused by this disease.

Arthrodesis is a term referring to joint fusion or bone surgery. Arthrodesis is done to help the patient to relief themselves from arthritis pain and restore the skeletal ability for those who is suffering advanced arthritis.

It is important to know not everyone who suffers arthritic joints should undergo this joint fusion procedure. It is commonly done on areas like wrists and ankles on other areas such as spine and hip as well.

This procedure will join 2 bones together on each end where the joint was eliminated. It is normally replaced with screw fixation or bone grafting. The bones will be locked in certain axis but it will lose their original motion.

Who should consider doing Joint Fusion Surgery?
Joint fusion surgery is an option for patients who are experiencing erosion on their joints. It probably was destroyed because of their arthritis condition. It could happen to anyone with rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis.

For those who is experiencing arthritis on their spine area, they can proceed with joint fusion treatment to relief the back pain caused by tumor or herniated disc.

Joint Fusion Surgery Steps And Procedure
There are several things that need to be put into consideration before the patient is going through joint fusion surgery.
* Bone will be acquired from other body part or bone bank, this particular bone is known as bone graft and it will be placed between two bones that are about to be fused. Bone graft play an important role because it is essential to stimulate the fusion to take place.
* Metal plates, wires or screws will be implanted to seal the joint and ensure the bones will be positioned closely together. The bone graft is very important because the body will gradually use that as the medium to heal the bones and allow them to become one.

Risks of Doing Joint Fusion Surgery
Like any type of treatment out there, joint fusion surgery has its own set of risks too. The risk will vary and depend largely on the patient’s age, health condition and how the procedure is being performed.
* Infection
* Slight pain on bone fusion area
* Implant get damaged or unsuccessful fusion operation
* Injured nerve

The Benefits of Doing Joint Fusion Surgery
Fused joint might not have plenty of flexibility but it is stronger and allows the patient to stand more stable and able to bear heavier weight and help to get rid of the arthritis pain.

There are a number of treatments available for arthritis sufferers’ in order to help control pain levels. Depending on the type of arthritis you have and its severity your doctor may prescribe one or more treatment method. Implementing an exercise regimen, or physical therapy, prescription drugs and in severe joint damage surgery may be recommended. Although a 100% cure is yet to be created these procedures help relieve the pain caused by osteoarthritis but the disease may persist. The same was true for rheumatoid arthritis but medical research in recent years has proven that you can stop the progression and even terminate joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis when it is detected and treated in its early stages.

There is a common 3 phrase procedure to treating pain in arthritis. It includes prescribed medication for pain relief and anti-inflammation drugs; the person’s ability to rest in order to heal, and physical exercise to regain strength and mobility.

Protecting Your Joints

It is essential to learn how you can protect your joints in order to prevent further damage. A physical therapist can introduce new and less painful methods of getting your regular, day-day activities done. For instance, you must learn positions that will avoid putting strain on your joints, using your stronger joints more often will save the weaker ones from damage.

Your physician may multi-prescribe treatments that involve pain relievers as well as exercise, physical therapy, rest and deep heat applications to help sooth the joints.

Medicating Arthritis

In order to tame the pain and inflammation that comes along with non-severe rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis you doctor may prescribe a number of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs “NSAID”, like ibuprofen.

Of course, each individual case is different and your doctor should tailor your treatment plan according to your needs. In more severe cases of arthritis your doctor may prescribe strong anti-inflammatory injections in the joint areas known as corticosteroid. These injections help will keeping the pain levels in check. Depending on the individual they may have short or long term pain suppressing affects. Another method for controlling pain is the use of gel-like solutions in these joint injections in the attempt to provide cushioning within the joint liquid itself, minimizing pain. These gel-like solutions include names of Hyalgan, Synvisc, Supartz, and Orthovisc.

Managing the Pain and Alternative Medicine

One of the most challenging aspects of this disease is the pain that comes along with it. Many doctors are introducing cognitive therapy which helps a person learn about pain management. Studies have shown that using both education and behavioral techniques right along with relaxation methods can be a great route to elevating the pain associated with arthritis. Programs that include cognitive therapy may focus on helping a patient improve their emotional as well as psychological welfare. They do this by teaching relaxation methods as well as how to realistically manage their day to day routines with this new illness without getting overwhelmed. Techniques that include planning your activities ahead, distraction methods, and creative problem solving strategies are just a few of the helpful techniques taught in these programs.