LYCOS RETRIEVER
Arthritis
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Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease. In RA, that means your body attacks the lining of a joint just as it would if it were trying to protect you from injury or disease. For example, if you had a splinter in your finger, the finger would become inflamed—painful, red, and swollen. RA leads to inflammation in your joints. This inflammation causes pain, swelling, and stiffness that lasts for hours. This can often happen in many different joints at the same time.
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Arthritis is a chronic condition that cannot be cured. Some forms have periods of flare-ups and remission. Treatment plans focus on alleviating pain, preventing further degeneration and maintaining or improving joint mobility. Exercises, physical therapy, occupational therapy and medications may be part of arthritis treatment. In severe cases, surgery may be performed to remove growths or replace a joint (arthroplasty).
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Arthritis has different forms. The most common are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and they occur about three times more often in women then in men. But there are ... other forms, such as gout, ankylosing spondylitis and the one that results from infections.
Arthritis pain and inflammation of joints has many forms. Rheumatoid arthritis can be one of the most disabling types of arthritis. Its course varies, from a few symptoms to severe and painful deformities.
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Arthritis constitutes one of America’s leading chronic health problems in patients over fifteen-years old. In fact, One third of adults in the U.S. endure chronic joint pain or arthritis. It has been dubbed a serious public health problem that is expected to reach around 60 million suffers in the next fourteen years. It’s the second leading cause of work disability, with heart disease as the first. Arthritis and related conditions cost the American economy an excess of 124 billion dollars a year in medical costs and workman’s compensation.
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Arthritis is essentially a disease where beneficial process has gone awry – the inflammatory system that normally acts to clear infected areas turns on the body's own tissue. Excessive inflammation in the joints produces the swelling and pain that characterize arthritis. The root causes of arthritis are unknown, although some studies suggest it can be triggered by certain infections. Primarily a condition of aging, arthritis usually appears in middle age, but it is ... seen in children and younger adults. Treatment typically consists of using aspirin and other analgesics, drugs that modify the immune system, and in extreme cases, surgery of affected joints.
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