Want to Understand What Really Causes your Arthritis, Knee Arthritis, and back-pain as you get older?

In this article, we delve into the true underlying causes of knee-osteoarthritis, back-pain and old age arthritis, while offering practical nutrition and lifestyle suggestions to nurture your joints.

Arthritis is Currently one of UK’s most common health conditions:

• 10%–15% OF ADULTS OVER 60 HAVE SOME DEGREE OF OSTEOARTHRITIS

• 2 MILLION PEOPLE VISITED THEIR GP IN THE PAST YEAR BECAUSE OF OSTEOARTHRITIS

• IN 2000, MORE THAN 80 000 HIP OR KNEE REPLACEMENTS WERE PERFORMED

First of All - What IS osteoarthritis:

Osteoarthritis is classified into two groups.

1) the first type is more commonly found in women after the menopause, and can be in one joint or in more than one.

2) The second type has an underlying cause, such as injury, obesity, or inflammatory arthritis.

How do you know you have it:

Generally we say that, if you are over 50(*) and with pain and stiffness in the affected joint(s) which gets worse with activity and relieved by rest. Early morning stiffness is common and tends to last around 30mins.

* But actually, we see tons of people in their 40’s and even younger, so this 50 age bracket is outdated.

Is all joint pain arthritis?

No. There could be many reasons for pain, however whatever the reason, thankfully the nutritional approach often remain the same. As the focus is on making your joints as healthy and resilient as possible, the strategies are simple to adapts to your individual cause(s) for your joint pain.

Traditionally, osteoarthritis was viewed as an inevitable part of ageing! New thinking is emerging however to suggest that the condition may be a result of a variety of environmental (includes diet, lifestyle), genetic, and movement stresses (1).

What is the ‘Joint’

Joint Cartilage is mostly made of water, but also contains a type II collagen (which includes glycosamine which you may be familiar with from supplements) and chondrocytes (which produce chondroitin). These chondroitin cells control the maintenance of the joints. The produce the collagen and hyaloronic acid (which holds water to make things like joints and our skin plump). These cells also need nutrition to maintain and repair, just like we do, receiving their own nutrition from within the joint via the little fluid that exists there. Now importantly, for the nutrition fluid to arrive in the joint, we need joint movement. WHAT THIS MEANS IS THAT, INACTIVITY AND EXCESSIVE SITTING CAN BE BAD FOR YOUR JOINT HEALTH.

Your joints need to continuously repair, in response to ‘impact stresses’ as we exercise or move around. Sadly however, your joints are not easily or quickly regenerated, and this is why osteoarthritis is thought to be irreversible.

The Gut-Joint Connection

Chondrocytes in cartilage may also produce powerful free radicals called Nitric Oxide, which it’s shown to do in response to toxins produced by some gut bacteria! Nitric Oxide may cause inflammation and cause destruction in the joints.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO STRENGTHEN YOUR JOINTS?

Nutrition:

In research studies of knee osteoarthritis, those who has lower levels of vitamin C and vitamin D have been noted to have a higher (threefold) risk. Those who drink alcohol or experience stress (in other words, most people) may have a higher need for Vitamin C, as this vitamin gets used a lot on these scenarios. For those who don’t eat oily fish, supplementing Vitamin D over the winter is generally a good idea. Ideally with Vitamin K if there are concerns about bone and cartilage health.

Because of vitamin K's role in putting minerals back to the bone and tissue, it has potential to be a preventative option for osteoarthritis. In another knee study (tends to be the most common or easiest arthritis location to study), indeed those who had low levels of vitamin K were more likely to develop osteoarthritis (2).

Magnesium coordinates bone and muscle metabolism, inflammation, and pain signalling, and is therefore considered another important nutrient. Studies have shown that lower magnesium was associated with worse pain and function in knee arthritis (3).

Exercise is really important, as a strong joint needs strong muscles around it.

Whilst this article is very much a brief outline of arthritis, we understand that you might want to understand more about what causes your pain.