Risk factors for osteoarthritis from the perspective of official medicine. Let’s look at it through the eyes of a patient.

A. The problematic issue.

Medicine is needed so that it can solve medical problems. Unfortunately, and very often, medical literature does not clarify a specific medical problem, and sometimes confuses not only ordinary patients, but even doctors.

B. About risk factors.

Here is what official medicine says about the risk factors due to which osteoarthritis can occur.

The main risk factors:

1.Age.
2.Heredity.
3.Mechanical disorders.
4.Physiological features.
5.Overweight.
6.Metabolic disorders.
7.Lifestyle.

It must be said that medicine divides these factors into two groups: uncontrolled and controlled.

Group 1: uncontrolled risk factors for osteoarthritis:

1.Age. With age, the likelihood of osteoarthritis increases. This is especially true for people over 60 years old. But can age be considered a parameter that inevitably leads to this disease? Most likely, no, since there is a lot of evidence that there are many people who are even over 100 years old, who have healthy joints.
2.Heredity. We can agree with this factor. If the patient has a congenital anomaly or a hereditary disease, then nothing can be done about it. We need to adapt.
3.Physiological features. Women are more susceptible to osteoarthritis than men.

Group 2: controllable risk factors for osteoarthritis:

4.Mechanical disorders. Medicine believes that excessive, prolonged and intense mechanical effects on the joint can lead to osteoarthritis. We can agree with this. Here it is important to understand that it often depends on the person himself, in what conditions the person places his joints. For example, if a person begins to engage in strength sports, then he must understand that his joints will experience increased loads. These loads do not fall on him from the sky: he himself takes on such obligations. Therefore, it is good when an athlete takes care of how to reduce the effects of increased stress on the joints. This applies to any type of activity where the joints experience high stress.
5.Overweight. Obesity is not a reward that is given to a person from birth. It is the result of some disorders within the body. And in most cases, excess weight is the result of a careless lifestyle. That is, by and large: it is worth changing your lifestyle, then you can get rid of obesity. At the same time, it should be remembered that obesity is not such a simple topic.
6.Lifestyle. It has already been said before that lifestyle can lead to obesity. In addition, lifestyle can worsen our joints in other ways. For example, a sedentary lifestyle, prolonged and incorrect body position can also worsen the condition of our joints.
7.Metabolic disorders. They can greatly disrupt the condition of the joints. For example, the same type 2 diabetes affects small arteries, hence this can greatly worsen the nutrition of the joints. Also, with diabetes, immunity suffers greatly.

B. Public awareness of risk factors.

Osteoarthritis is characterized by severe consequences. And a person begins to think about something seriously if the situation begins to greatly affect his life.

Here are some statistics on osteoarthritis:

In the world in 2020, 595 million people suffered from osteoarthritis, which corresponds to 7.6% of the population. At the same time, there has been an increase in the incidence of osteoarthritis by 132.2% since 1990. (according to: GBD 2021 Osteoarthritis Collaborators. Global, regional, and national burden of osteoarthritis, 1990-2020 and projections to 2050: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021. Lancet Rheumatol. 2023 Aug 21).

That is, while everything is relatively good, a person does not pay attention to minor problems in his health. It is also not worth relying on a doctor who is sitting at a reception of patients. A practicing doctor is often overloaded with a bunch of different problems, where the task of educating patients about disease prevention is simply drowning in a pile of this doctor’s affairs. It would be good if the state paid more attention to the necessary education of patients. Social advertising is quite effective for this.

G. Conclusions.

Still, the patient himself needs to take responsibility for his health. Fortunately, now there are many sources of useful information: books, YouTube, blogs and others.

Be healthy!