Knee Arthritis

What is Knee arthritis?

Osteoarthritis (OA), rheumatoid arthritis, and trauma-related arthritis are the most common causes of joint damage. Click here to read more about the trauma-related arthritis.

There are three basic types of arthritis that affects the knee.

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis  is the most common form of knee arthritis. OA is usually a slowly progressive degenerative disease in which the joint cartilage gradually wears away. It affects mostly middle-aged and older people.Osteoarthritis is still not completely understood and there is no cure. Different factors may play a role in Osteoarthritis , including age, weight, trauma or overuse. The disease, which is common in people older than 60, at younger ages. Osteoarthritis causes the normally smooth joint surfaces to wear away. This results in:

Bone-on-bone contact

Pain
Stiffness 

If you have OA, everyday activities can be extremely painful or even impossible. Simple things like walking, can drive, lifting, standing, and exercise will cause you extreme pain. It may even hurt when lying down to sleep or rest.

OA is a progressive disease. Although early treatment can slow things down, affected joints in general continues to worsen.
 

Early in the disease, joints may hurt after physical work or exercise.
When OA ( Knee Arthritis Pain ) will become serious and cartilage wears away, the bones begin to rub together, causing pain, swelling, and loss of motion of the joint.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis  is an inflammatory type of arthritis that destroys the joint cartilage. RA can occur at any age. RA affects generally both knees.

Post-traumatic Arthritis

Post-traumatic arthritis can develop after an injury to the knee. This type of arthritis is similar to osteoarthritis and may develop years after a fracture, ligament injury, or meniscus tear.