With reference to Osteoarthritis and Osteoporosis describe the effects of ageing on skeletal tissue.
With reference to Osteoarthritis and Osteoporosis describe the effects of ageing on skeletal tissue.
Many changes occur in the body as we age. Changes happen amongst the bones, joints and muscles, and two results of this are Osteoarthritis and Osteoporosis.
Osteoarthritis doesn’t have any genetic link nor it is an autoimmune disease. In a person with Osteoarthritis, the normally very smooth surface at the cartilage of the joints become rougher and therefore making the joint movement more difficult and can be very painful. Some degeneration of the joint happens in everyone as they age so therefore nearly everybody over sixty has some degree of roughening of the cartilage in their joints. Howe ever the degree of roughening in people does vary as some may only have very mild symptoms. This term ‘Osteoarthritis’ is normally only used when the degradation of the cartilage has become so bad that there is significant pain and loss of mobility. With Osteoarthritis changes occur in the collagen and the glyco-proteins that help to give resilience of the cartilage, so that these gradually break down. Normally the replacement of cartilage is the same as the breakdown however this disruption caused the breakdown to be faster then the replacements. This results in the loss of cartilage at the joints and surface of the bones along with the reduction in flexibility. It becomes increasingly painful and in extreme cases the movement of the joint is lost. The joints that are most common to Osteoarthritis are those in the hands, knees and hips. Suffers tend to be those who played a lot of sports or dance in their earlier life as this has repeated vigorous bending of the joints such as, the knees. Another reason for Osteoarthritis is those who have joints that have been twisted, and if people are overweight due to the strain put on the joints.
