But osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis. It’s often the cumulative result of wear and tear over the years. But being overweight, middle-aged or older and having a joint injury also increases your risk of developing it.

More than 27 million Americans of all races and ethnicities suffer from osteoarthritis. It commonly targets the weight-bearing joints of the hips, knees and lower back. It can also affect the neck, finger joints, base of the thumb and the big toe.

What causes the pain? Osteoarthritis breaks down the cartilage in your joints, which is the primary shock absorber covering the ends of our joints. When the cartilage breaks down from excessive wear or injury, bone rubs on bone, leading to pain and permanent damage. Most hip and knee replacements result from osteoarthritic joint destruction.

Osteoarthritis is the buildup of several stages of injury:

 - First, the cartilage cushion loses elasticity and is more easily damaged from injury or use.

 - As the cartilage wears down, the underlying bone thickens and develops boney growths or spurs. At this stage, bits of bone and cartilage float in the joint.

 - The joint lining then becomes inflamed and releases compounds that further damage the cartilage. The normal lubricant fluid also deteriorates, further exposing the joint surfaces to injury.

 - Eventually, the joint becomes so painful and stiff that joint replacement may be the only option.

Many former competitive athletes are afflicted with osteoarthritis. Runners tend to get it in the hips and knees. Gymnasts are susceptible in the hips, wrists and hands. Divers, especially platform divers, may develop it in their necks, and baseball catchers in their knees and catching hand.

Interesting enough, women tend to wear out their knees differently than men. First, women are more likely to tear the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), one of the key knee ligaments. Female college basketball players are up to eight times more likely to sustain an ACL injury than male players. The resulting knee instability increases the chances for developing arthritis in the affected knee.

Women also are more likely to wear down the outer sides of their knees. Their broader pelvis forces the leg to angle inward at the knee rather than straight down.

The most common signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis are:

 - Joint soreness after overuse or inactivity

 - Joint stiffness that gets better with activity, morning stiffness

 - Joint pain that gets worse during the day with activity

 - Changes to posture or walking due to pain or stiffness

Where You Feel It the Most
If you have osteoarthritis of the hips, you may feel pain in the groin, inner thigh or buttocks. The discomfort may radiate down to the thigh or knee, which can force you to limp while walking. Osteoarthritis of the knees usually causes pain, grating or catching of the joint during movement. You may really feel it when climbing up or down stairs.

Osteoarthritis is common in the fingers too. Affected joints may swell and be painful. They may develop boney outgrowths, and the hand may lose grip strength or fine motor skills, such as picking up small items or holding a pencil.

Osteoarthritis of the back is also quite common. Repetitive stress on the spinal discs that cushion the vertebrae can cause them to break down. And like other joints, boney spurs may develop and place pressure on the nerves exiting the spinal canal. Osteoarthritis of the back can lead to stiffness and pain in the neck and lower back; pinched nerves that can cause weakness in the arms and legs; and pain in the neck, shoulder, arm, lower back and legs.

Treating Joint Pain
Your physician may want to get more tests, such as a complete blood count, joint X-rays and possibly a joint MRI. Sometimes he or she will want to remove some of the fluid from the joint to examine it for signs of deterioration and to distinguish osteoarthritis from other causes of arthritis because the treatments are often different.

Early diagnosis and treatment are the keys to managing your osteoarthritis. We can’t reverse the clock, but we can minimize the damage and maintain joint function. The goals of any treatment plan should include controlling pain and swelling, improving daily function and slowing progression of the disease. Often treatment includes weight management (very important), exercise, physical therapy and medication.

Traditional medications include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs), such as aspirin, ibuprofen (Motrin) and naproxen (Aleve); analgesics, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol); topical analgesics, such as creams and rubs containing wintergreen oil or camphor; injectable steroids, and viscosupplements, such as Synvisc, that are injected into the knee by a doctor to supplement the joints’ normal lubricant fluid.

Supporting the joint with fitted braces can also help relieve some of the stress and reduce damage over time. Arthroscopic surgery may be necessary to clean up the joint, trim worn or torn cartilage and remove debris.

For advanced osteoarthritis, you may need a total joint replacement. Partial joint replacement systems (often called joint resurfacing) repair only the damaged area, allowing the patient to retain more of the original joint.

Alternative treatments – like glucosamine with chondroitin sulfate and methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) – can help, often in combination with conventional methods. Among the most popular treatments are.

Glucosamine is a type of sugar that seems to play a role in the formation and repair of cartilage. In one study of supplemental glucosamine, osteoarthritis patients, particularly those suffering from mild to moderate arthritis, experienced a 50% success rate reducing pain. Glucosamine may cause mild stomach upset and higher blood glucose levels. Don’t take it if you are allergic to shellfish.

Chondroitin sulfate is part of a protein that gives cartilage its elasticity. It may mprove the shock-absorbing properties of cartilage and helps cartilage retain water. Chondroitin can produce gastrointestinal side effects similar to those of glucosamine.

Glucosamine and chondroitin have been used for many years in Europe to manage joint pain. A study of the combination published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2006 showed that the supplements were more effective in combination, but had little effect on mild pain. But people with moderate to severe pain did experience significant benefit.

Methylsulfonylmethane or MSM, a naturally occurring sulfur compound found in fruits, vegetables and grains, may also reduce pain and inflammation of arthritis, but there are no controlled trials to substantiate this claim. But a pilot study of 50 men and women with osteoarthritis showed that MSM improved pain symptoms and physical function without major side effects.

Before you add a nutritional supplement to your treatment regimen, check with your doctor.

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