In this section
- Collagen Aids Fight Against Osteoarthritis - Go Healthy, Autumn, 2004
- My knee is so much better - Woman, August 16, 2004
- Take supplements - Woman's Weekly, July 6, 2004
- How a collagen pill can beat arthritis - Daily Mail, Tuesday, August 5, 2003
- Nutritional Intervention for Joint Health - Berlin, Germany, October 17, 2003
- Impact of Collagen Fragments on the Extracellular Matrix Metabolism - Steffen Oesser, PhD, Surgical Research Department of General Surgery and Thoracic Surgery, University of Kiel, Germany
- The Role of Nutrition In Joint Health - Kristine Clark, PhD, RD, FACSM, Director of Sports Nutrition, Penn State Orthopedics, The Pennsylvania State University
- Joint Health and Osteoarthritis: The Facts.
- New highlights from research on gelatine - Natural prevention of osteoarthritis possible - Eberbach, Germany, April 22, 2003.
- Champneys Magazine Ad - Summer 2004
Joint Health and Osteoarthritis: The Facts
Healthy Joint Function
A normal joint is where one bone moves on another. Ligaments hold the two bones together, and work like elastic bands to keep the bones in place while muscles lengthen and shorten to make the joint move.
Definition
A coating of cartilage covering the bone surface stops the bones from running directly against each other. This helps the joint to work smoothly.
The joint cavity contains fluid, which provides nutrients to the joint and cartilage.
Degenerative Joint Disease
Osteoarthritis is a progressive, degenerative joint disease characterised by a breakdown of the joint’s cartilage, causing bones to rub against one another, which may lead to loss of movement and pain.
The hands and weight-bearing joints such as spine, knees and hips are most affected.
Causes
- Wearing away of the cartilage with increasing age
- Being overweight
- Acute or chronic trauma to the cartilage or tissue surrounding it (e.g. repeated and significant mechanical stress)
- Mal-aligned joints
- Infectious, metabolic, endocrine or neuropathological changes
- Congenital joint abnormalities
- Genetic factors
- Disease processes that alter normal structure of the cartilage (e.g. gout)
Symptoms
- Pain when beginning a movement (“warm-up pain”)
- Pain upon exercise
- Restricted movement
- Feeling of tension and stiffness in the joints, particularly in the morning
- Swollen joints
- Tension in muscles and tendons
- Grinding of the joints
- Increasing instability in the joint with local pain
Epidemiology
- Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis, especially among older people.
- Almost all people by age 40 have some pathological changes in their weight bearing joints.
- By the time people reach age 70 almost all individuals show signs of mild osteoarthritis.
- Osteoarthritis affects nearly 21 million Americans, mostly after age 45; women are more commonly affected than men
- 80% of people with OA report some form of limitation in movement or activities.
Diagnosis
- Symptoms of the disease
- Joint degradation confirmed by X-ray
Osteoarthritis is currently incurable. Treatments focus on reduction of pain, inflammation and improving joint movement to delay by a variety of interventions. For example:
Treatment
- Weight reduction
- Rehabilitation to keep joints flexible and improve muscle strength
- Optimisation of overall physical fitness via exercise (range of motion, postural, strengthening, stretching)
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS)
- Aspirin and analgesics for anti-inflammatory effect
- Heat and ice treatment for temporary pain relief
- Steroid injections into the joint to reduce inflammation
- Surgical intervention to relieve pressure on joints or replace
- Natural products like collagen hydrolysate
Additional Information
WHO has declared this decade (2000 – 2010) the “Bone and Joint Decade” in an effort to focus resources on addressing the epidemic of osteoarthritis and other major conditions affecting this area.
