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Factors That Can Cause Arthritis

By Anthony Martin


Certain health conditions are caused by risk factors that are both modifiable and not modifiable. It is worse when the factors cannot be modified since they are natural and bound to occur. For instance, in the case of arthritis, some modifiable risk factors for it include diet, inactivity, smoking, joint injuries, and occupation. On the other hand, one cannot control things like hormones, age, sex and one's genetic makeup. This is why these factors are termed non-modifiable.

Age is not a modifiable risk factor because one cannot control it. As long as one grows, there is every tendency that the joints would become stiff due to stress or prolonged inactivity. The cartilage also wears out as one grows up, leaving the bones to interact with each other thereby causing pain and inflammation.

If 64 out of every 100 patients are women, it means that one is likely to have the challenge by being a female. Actually, while the different forms of this condition are peculiar to the female gender, only Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and gout are known to affect the males more. One can, therefore, conclude from these facts that one's sex is a determining factor and since one cannot control or change his or her sex, it remains a non-modifiable one.

Hormones, which are natural chemical substances in the body, have been discovered in clinical studies to be the major factor affecting the occurrence of this condition. As a result, about 70% of women suffer more of this than men. That means that if you are a woman, you are already naturally predisposed to suffering from the rheumatoid type than you would have been if you were a man.

Just like some diseases are hereditary, the same is also applicable to this one. People who have the gene known as human leukocyte antigen (HLA) are more likely to have the problem, and pass the risk on to the younger generation through child bearing. Anyway, HLA is not always responsible for this, but it cannot be denied that it has caused the condition more often than not.

The modifiable risk factors are those factors that individuals can control. For example, a person may choose to be inactive or not in order to control the risk of having joint pain. When people in Russellville AR engage in sedentary lifestyles, their joints become stiffer and the pains can increase with time. It is therefore important to engage in physical activities to reduce the likeliness of having this problem.

One also has to take note of the food that is taken. Some foods increase the chances of having this sickness than others. For example, foods containing a lot of sodium salts will do nobody any good if the intention is to prevent this condition. Instead, bananas and taking a lot of water should be rather encouraged.

Smoking is also bad for the bones. It makes the condition to get worse and retards the healing processes of the bones. Even though the exact way this happens is not yet known, scientists are quite convinced that smoking does not help people with bone problems. It is therefore advisable to quit smoking in order to remain healthy.




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