Perhaps you’re thinking that there’s a mistake in the title of today’s post. Everyone knows that arthritis is for “old folks”, right? Wrong!
While arthritis symptoms often do not appear until later in life, the beginnings of arthritis actually occur when you are young – even as far back as childhood in many cases! The causes of arthritis are varied, but for degenerative arthritis, the most common type, the causes can be grouped into just a few categories. Oh and by the way, simply getting older is NOT a cause of arthritis, contrary to popular belief.
The first category of causes for degenerative arthritis is a familiar one to most people: wear and tear. Most people think in terms of traumas to the body when they think of joint damage that leads to arthritis. It is true that traumatic injuries from falls, auto accidents, sports, lifting injuries, etc. will often set the stage for the development of degenerative arthritis.
The arthritic development from a trauma can begin at almost any age. For example, a child who is riding in a car at the time of an accident can have resulting jamming or hypermobility of joints that can lead to severe arthritis many years later, even if they had no pain when the accident occurred. So the joint and soft tissue damage that occurs from traumas to the body can set degenerative changes in motion that may go completely unnoticed for 5, 10, 20, or more years later.
But major accidents and injuries are not the only source of wear and tear. Joint damage can also come from less obvious “micro-trauma”, such as repetetive activites and poor posture. Small amounts of damage when occurring frequently over a long period of time can do as much or more damage than a “major” injury. For example, someone who tends to sit in a slouched position most of the time will often develop arthritic problems in the back, even though they “never had a back injury”.
While too much of the wrong activities can cause the beginnings of arthritis, too little physical activity can cause problems too. This leads to the second category of causes for arthritis, inactivity. The joints and surrounding soft tissues require movement to maintain flexibility and proper lubrication. People who are extremely sedentary can develop arthritis because of a lack of nutrient exchange and removal of tissue wastes that occurs with lack of movement and the consequent lack of circulation to the joints. So, even if you maintain good posture, if you don’t move around much, you are prone to developing arthritic problems.
The next category of causes for arthritis I’ll call consumption causes. That is, things you put in your body, either from eating, drinking, or inhaling. A diet high in refined carbohydrates (sugar, white flour, and foods made with them), Omega 6 fats (found in most vegetable oils), and various pro-inflammatory artificial ingredients lead to overall increased inflammation in the body and participate in the development of arthritis. Soft drinks, “juice drinks” (that are primarily refined sugar), “energy drinks”, caffeinated beverages, and alcohol tend to promote inflammation and dehydration of the joints and other tissues. Of course, the added structural stress of the weight gain from poor eating and drinking choices also contributes to arthritis development. Finally, smoking causes inflammation and also decreases circulation to the joints, depriving them of the oxygen needed for normal regeneration of cartilage.
Finally, there are the deficiency causes of arthritis. Lack of certain nutrients, especially antioxidants and sulfur-containing compounds used to regenerate cartilage will prevent the body from completing the ongoing joint repair activities that would normally take place. While most of these nutrients can be easily obtained from a reasonably healthy diet, many people in the modern world fail to eat reasonably healthy diets. It has been said that the United States and other Westernized nations have the seemingly contradictory problems of overeating and malnutrition. The weight gain that increases joint stress, and the lack of the necessary nutrients for joint repair from the typical American diet provide a “double whammy” to our joints.
As you can see, the causes of arthritis really have nothing to do with age, and in fact, the problems that start the development of arthritis are not only possible at a young age, but usually do occur at a young age.
While not all of the causes of arthritis are avoidable, there is much that can be done to counter these causes and prevent the development of arthritis and thereby maintain healthy joints throughout life. In my next post, I’ll discuss ways to negate or reduce the effects of the unavoidable causes of arthritis and give you tips on preventing the causes that are avoidable.