You’ve all heard of rheumatoid arthritis I’m sure. But what exactly is it?
Well let’s start at the start shall we? The term arthritis is a title rather than an individual condition and it actually refers to over 200 types of inflammatory joint disorders, all of which restrict movement and generally cause chronic pain if left untreated for a long period of time. There are a huge range of methods of treatment for arthritis but for the most part the condition can’t be cured and sufferers will often be stuck with it for the rest of their lives. Whereas you might assume that only the elderly suffer from arthritis, up to a quarter of the global population of arthritis sufferers are under the age of 65 and a good proportion of them are children. Having arthritis for the rest of your life means quite a lot more to a child of 8 than it does to a person of 88 and this is where the disease can get truly debilitating.
Rheumatoid arthritis is slightly different from the rest of the 200 or more in that it’s caused by the body itself. It’s an autoimmune condition which means that it’s actually caused when the body’s own immune system goes haywire and attacks parts of the body. In the case of rheumatoid arthritis the immune system the cartilage lining found in the joints. The body’s reaction to what it deems as a foreign entity causes swelling which inflames the joint and makes it incredibly painful to move. This pain can lead to patients not moving the joint in question and that joint slowly becoming immobile over time. In this way rheumatoid arthritis can completely strip a sufferer of their independence.
There are all sorts of ways to treat arthritis and though the condition generally never goes away fully, it’s also rare that it totally strips someone of their mobility as it once would have.
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