Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common degenerative joint diseases worldwide, affecting approximately 27 million adults alone in the United States.¹ Although not as disabling as rheumatoid arthritis, it is seven times more frequent in occurrence in the population. It is also one of the oldest recorded diseases in human history, showing up in the skeletons of Egyptian mummies and European descendants from centuries ago.

I will discuss the overview and treatment of OA in this article. A unique look at diet and lifestyle therapy, along with conventional medical therapy with drugs and surgery will be detailed here.

What is Osteoarthritis?

OA is a joint disorder that damages and destroys joints. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80% of people suffering from OA experience some form of limitation in movement, another 25% are unable to carry out important activities of daily life with this type of arthritis.

OA can occur in any joint in the body that allows free movement. It most commonly occurs in joints of the hip, knee, and spine, but also affects (to a lesser extent) joints of the shoulder, fingers, thumb, and large toe.

The severe pain and dysfunction resulting from OA is the result of a destructive inflammatory process that degrades the cartilage, bone, and tissues comprising the affected joint area.

As you can see in the diagram, a normal, healthy joint is made of two or more bones joining together from opposite sides. The bones are separated by a fluid-filled space called the joint cavity. This cavity contains synovial fluid, which provides for the free-flowing movement of the joint. A thin layer of cartilage covers each end of the bone. Cartilage helps decrease friction upon movement and helps protect the bone by evenly distributing the forces exerted on it by load-bearing activity.

In OA, the cartilage becomes damaged and starts to erode, the underlying bone becomes damaged and starts to develop cysts, and fragments of cartilage are released into the synovial fluid causing inflammation.1Eventually, the bone may become flattened, and the cartilage will become seriously degraded, if any is left at all. Bones will start to rub against one another and cause significant amounts of pain and suffering. This is what you may have heard others refer to as bone-on-bone pain.

OA may become so bad in some individuals that they have to undergo major joint replacement surgery (i.e. knee or hip replacement). This happens after the failure of medication therapy to effectively manage their symptoms when permanent joint damage has developed from their arthritis. After surgery, weeks to months of physical therapy follows. The average cost of surgery itself for knee and hip replacements is approximately $30,000 to $70,000 per surgery.²

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