What is Inflammatory Arthritis?

Posted on 21. Jul, 2011 by Annie in Arthritis, Featured, Joint Pain, Neck Pain

Inflammatory arthritis is the term used to describe a range of conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). These are autoimmune diseases, in which the body’s immune system attacks the joints and causes them to become inflamed. You should note that inflammatory arthritis DOES NOT include “osteoarthritis”.

Parts of body affected

Inflammatory arthritis can affect almost any joint: often the hands and feet, and also knees, shoulders, elbows, hips, the neck and other joints. It can also affect other parts of the body.

Cause of inflammatory arthritis

It is not known exactly what causes a person to develop inflammatory arthritis. Various factors may be relevant, including the environment, infection, trauma and a person’s genetic make-up.

There are other risk factors that increase the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, such as smoking, obesity and prior blood transfusion. Gender is also one important risk factor as around 387,000 adults in the UK have rheumatoid arthritis, the most common form of inflammatory arthritis. It affects around three times as many women as men.

Symptoms & complications

Inflammatory arthritis is usually a progressive condition. Its pattern and progression vary greatly between individuals, and it is impossible to predict the impact it may have on any one person’s life. For a small minority of people, inflammatory arthritis remains relatively mild, or may even go into ‘remission’ for a period of time. For others it causes damage to a number of joints, which can be severe. Many people experience disabling pain, stiffness and reduced joint function, which has a huge impact on quality of life for them and for their families. It can affect other organs as well as the joints, and severe inflammatory arthritis significantly shortens life expectancy Inflammatory arthritis, particularly rheumatoid arthritis, can shorten life expectancy by around 6-10 years, which equates to the impact of diabetes, Hodgkin’s disease, strokes and triple vessel coronary artery disease). This has a direct economic effect on society as well as affecting the individual and their family.
What are the treatment options?

There is strong evidence that early treatment improves the long-term outlook for people with inflammatory arthritis. While medical drug therapy and surgery are commonly considered options, they have their own drawbacks and limitations such as high rate of side effects, increased risk of complications and high costs involved. Furthermore, in most cases, patient is never able to be complete cured.

Many people wait too long before considering the option of herbal therapy. In reality, you can (and you should) start safe and effective herbal therapy as early as possible. Provailen is one of such herbal supplement that works in a number of different ways to help you end the
suffering of inflammatory arthritis and joint related pain. For example,

• Provailen improves your sleep
• Provailen improves your joint pain and stiffness
• Provailen also increased your body’s natural immune response
• Provailen also improves your joint flexibility

Tags: arthritis, inflammatory, information, what is