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Arthritis is primarily a condition of the elderly. However, you can reduce your risk of developing this condition later in life. In this article, you will know more about arthritis, its causes, and prevention, especially at early ages.

Arthritis is a joint disorder that causes pain and irritations, making it difficult to move the joints. Arthritis has different types and is very common in older people. However, in some cases, younger people do have arthritis as well.

Arthritis also causes degeneration of the joint. It affects the feet, hips, knees, hands, and lower back. It is a prevalent disease that affects millions of adults and thousands of children yearly.

What Are The Different Types Of Arthritis?

1. Gout: This is a type of arthritis that can occur at any age. It causes severe pain, redness, and swelling in the affected joints. It affects the toe primarily. It can be caused by accumulated urate crystals (which are caused by too much uric acid in the blood) in the joints, leading to irritation and severe pain.
2. Juvenile Arthritis: This is the most popular type of arthritis that affects children under 16. The symptoms include intense pain, stiffness, and swelling of the joints. Juvenile arthritis might affect some children for many years, while some might experience it for a few months. The damages of juvenile arthritis can be severe, leading to growth issues, eye irritations, and joint deterioration.
3. Osteoarthritis: Millions of people worldwide suffer from this type of arthritis yearly. It happens when there is wear and tear of the protective cartilage that pads the ends of the bones. It is most common in the hand, knee, spine, and hip joints.
4. Psoriatic Arthritis: This type of arthritis is common among psoriasis people. Psoriasis is a disease that causes the skin to develop red patches. It is an autoimmune disorder that leads to skin inflammation.
5. Ankylosing Spondylitis: This type of arthritis causes stiffness in some of the bones in the spine over time and is more common in men than women. It could also lead to a hunched posture. In cases where the ribs have gotten affected, the individual might be unable to breathe correctly.

Causes Of Arthritis

There are various causes for each type of arthritis. For instance, juvenile arthritis happens when the body’s immune system attacks tissue and cells. Researchers are unsure why this happens, but environmental and genetic factors also contribute to this type of arthritis. You might develop arthritis if you:

1. Perform activities that put your joints under extreme and persistent stress
2. Have a family background and history of arthritis
3. Are suffering from a particular autoimmune infection or disease

Some risk factors could increase your chances of developing arthritis, such as age (older people), lifestyle choices, e.g. (smoking), weight, e.g. (obesity), gender (most women suffer from some types of arthritis than men). Search for primary care physicians near you if you have a family history of arthritis.

How To Prevent Arthritis

Although some arthritis might not be very preventable, you could lower your risks of developing arthritis through the following:

1. By keeping fit through exercises
2. By staying away from tobacco and cigarettes
3. By protecting your joints from injuries during sports or other physical activities
4. By staying committed to a healthy diet.

Treatment of Arthritis

Although there is no cure for arthritis, you can manage it with various treatment methods.

Depending on the situation, your health care provider might recommend specific treatment methods to help prevent more damages and manage the disease. You can get arthritis treatment in Germantown, MD.

1. Therapy: Your health care provider might recommend some exercises that can enhance your movements. These exercises would help strengthen the muscles that support your joints.
2. Medication: Some medications can treat arthritis. Based on the type of arthritis, your doctor might recommend NSAIDs, steroids, and counterirritants to reduce joint irritation and aid movements.
3. Surgery: If your doctor has considered other types of treatment and seen that they are not working effectively enough, surgery might be the next step. The various types of surgery for arthritis include joint repair, joint fusion, and joint replacement. You can get arthritis surgery near you.

Visit Germantown Primary Healthcare for more information regarding arthritis. You will meet Dr. Lakhvinder Wadhwa to give you preventive tips and treatments if you have already developed arthritis. We are here to provide you with the support you need.

A common condition affecting many people is high blood pressure (hypertension), when the long-term force of blood against your artery walls remains sufficiently high to cause health problems like heart disease eventually. The blood pressure determination occurs by the quantity of blood your heart pumps and the resistance it encounters to the blood flow from your arteries. If you have narrowed arteries and your heart pumps sufficient blood, you become a victim of high blood pressure.

When you have high blood pressure, also called hypertension, the force of blood pushing through your vessels remains too high consistently. This article looks at the basics of hypertension, including its causes and treatment.

What Precisely Is High Blood Pressure?

Narrow blood vessels also called arteries, cause resistance to blood flow. The narrow your arteries, the more resistant they are and the higher they push your blood pressure. Over time your high blood pressure causes health issues, including heart disease. High blood pressure or hypertension is a common issue, and most Americans deal with this problem.

Generally, hypertension doesn’t develop overnight and happens over several years. As a result, you may not have any symptoms of high blood pressure, but the condition continues to damage your blood vessels and organs like your heart, brain, eyes, and kidneys.

Detecting blood pressure early is essential, and getting regular readings can help you and your doctor observes changes. If your blood pressure is elevated, your doctor might recommend checking your blood pressure every few weeks to determine the numbers remain elevated or return to normal. Doctors also recommend prescription medications and healthy lifestyle changes to contain elevated high blood pressure. However, if your condition doesn’t receive any treatment, you could be heading towards health issues like heart attacks and strokes.

Understanding High Blood Pressure Readings

Two numbers are associated with the pressure readings, with the systolic pressure being on the top indicating stress in the arteries when your heart is pumping blood out. The bottom number is diastolic pressure indicating the tension in your arteries between the beating of your heart.

There are five types of high blood pressure readings for adults. They are healthy, elevated, stage I hypertension, stage II hypertension, and hypertensive crisis. Blood pressure readings are taken with a pressure cuff. It is essential to have a correctly fitting cuff to obtain accurate readings because ill-fitting deliver inaccurate results. In addition, children and teenagers have different blood pressure readings. Therefore if you need to monitor your child’s blood pressure, enquire about the healthy ranges for blood pressure with your child’s doctor.

Causes of High Blood Pressure

There are two types of high blood pressure affecting adults.

Primary Hypertension (Essential)

Identifiable causes of high blood pressure haven’t been discovered for adults. Primary high blood pressure, also called hypertension, develops gradually over several years.

Secondary Hypertension

Some people have underlying conditions leading to high blood pressure. Secondary hypertension appears suddenly to cause higher pressure than primary hypertension. You can develop secondary hypertension due to various conditions like obstructive sleep apnea, adrenal gland tumors, thyroid issues, kidney disease, congenital issues, and illegal drugs.

Treatment Available for High Blood Pressure

Different factors allow the doctor providing high blood pressure treatment in Germantown to determine the best suited happy for you depending on the type of hypertension you have and the causes identified.

If you have primary hypertension, you receive help by changing your lifestyle to reduce your high blood pressure. You may obtain a medication prescription if lifestyle changes aren’t sufficient or ineffective.

If you have secondary hypertension, an underlying problem is causing the issue. In such cases, your treatment will focus on treating the underlying causes. For example, if your secondary hypertension results from medications for the underlying problem, Dr. Lakhvinder Wadhwa recommends other medicines that don’t have side effects.

Hypertension is persistent despite treatment provided for its underlying cause. In such cases, your doctor works with you to develop lifestyle changes and prescribes medications to reduce your high blood pressure. Treatment plans for hypertension are evolving, and if a drug proved effective for you initially, it might become less effective over time. Therefore your doctor continues working with you to refine your treatment.

You can also try lifestyle tips and home remedies to lower your risk of hypertension. However, it helps if you remain in touch with your doctor at Germantown Primary HealthCare to stay in optimal shape and control your high blood pressure.

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