Daily Health News Blog

Brushing your teeth, buttoning your shirt, opening a jar -- these are routine daily activities that most people take for granted. But if you have arthritis and it affects your hands, performing these and other basic tasks can be challenging. Fortunately, "exercising" your hands can help reduce the pain, improve your range of motion and, ultimately, enable you to perform more easily the various tasks of daily living.   Where does it hurt?  Arthritis of the hands manifests differently depending on what kind of arthritis you have.  Osteoarthritis.  The most common cause of hand arthritis is osteoarthritis (OA). In osteoarthritis, the protective cartilage that covers the ends of your bones gradually deteriorates due to wear and tear or, in some cases, to injury. If your hand pain is caused by osteoarthritis, the affected joints are painful and may swell or develop hard bony nodules. The joints most likely to be affected in hand osteoarthritis are the trapezio-metacarpal (ba

ARTHRITIC BASICS Arthritis signals people in a variety of ways. Joints might crack suddenly, like knees upon standing. Other joints may be stiff and creak. Maybe pain occurs, like when trying to open a jar. What’s it all about? Let’s look at the basics and learn more. Arthritis actually means “joint inflammation” and has over 100 related conditions or type / forms of disease. Left untreated, it can advance, resulting in joint damage that cannot be undone or reversed. So early detection and treatment are important. The two most common types of arthritis are osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Although both have similar symptoms, both happen for different reasons. When joints are overused and misused, the results can be OA. What happens is that the cushioning cartilage that protects the joint breaks down, resulting in the bones rubbing together. This generally happens in the knees, but can be found in the hips, spine and hands often, too. And only in later stages wi