About 21 million adults have osteoarthritis -- the wear-and-tear condition that causes achy joints and may eventually lead to can't-get-up-from-the-sofa pain.
"A third to half of doctor visits deal with musculoskeletal issues. They're one of the most common health problems," says Sharon Kolasinski, M.D., an associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Depending on risk factors, joint pain can affect anyone, though osteoarthritis mostly starts as our bodies begin to show the effects of aging.
In women, it occurs more frequently after age 50; in men, it's more likely before age 45. Also, sites of joint pain are different. Women are more likely to develop osteoarthritis in their hands, knees, ankles, or feet, while men are more likely to develop it in their wrists, hips, or spine.
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But just because a condition is prevalent doesn't mean it's inevitable, or that you can't do a number of things to either prevent or control it. Here are the basics of how your joints function and how to keep them moving smoothly.
There are various kinds of joints; shoulders have a ball-and-socket-type construction, while knees work more like door hinges. Still, all joints have the same basic anatomy and function: They connect one bone to another to give us the ability to bend, twist, or win dancing contests.
Inside a joint, similar features reside. There's the connective tissue -- the ligament, which essentially serves as a bridge from one bone to the other via your muscles. There's also cartilage -- a fibrous and somewhat elastic tissue that acts as a cushioning material between joints. Cartilage acts as a shock absorber to prevent bones from grinding against each other.
Osteoarthritis appears when we start to lose that cushioning, and a number of factors contribute cumulatively to the loss.
Aging: "Cartilage thins as we age," says David Felson, M.D., professor of medicine at Boston University, who specializes in bone and joint problems. "That makes it easier to damage." Over time, the surface of cartilage can change from smooth to fissured. That's when erosions in cartilage begin to appear.
Previous injuries: Seemingly minor joint injuries (an unlucky twist here or there) when you were younger can be a factor. "Even people who don't remember injuries see areas of damage with age," Felson says.
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