Osteoarthritis is one of most common ailments which is affecting many people in the world today. Many who suffer from this debilitating disease are middle aged women. Osteoarthritis is a disease which affects the joints in different parts of the body because of the wearing out of the cartilage tissue in the joints .This is one disease which an be called as a hereditary disease because if you find either of your parents or your grandparents suffering from this disease then most surely you are also going to affected by it if not now then maybe in the near future.

If you find yourself having pains in any of the joints in your bones then it is advisable that you go visit your doctor for an early diagnosis. Diagnosing osteoarthritis by   Doctors has been always done in the most traditional methods like patient history, physical examinations, imaging tests like X-rays, MRI Scans, and ultrasound tests. Testing of blood has not shown any conclusive results when it comes to diagnosing osteoarthritis in patients.

First the doctor finds out if the patient has any pain in the joints especially if they suffer from stiffness of bones and joints early in the morning. They determine if the patient is able to move around freely with much pain and if the patient is suffering from accumulation of water in the knee joints. The doctors also sense for tenderness of the areas by touch to determine osteoarthritis.

Certain imaging tests like MRI Scans, X-Rays and ultrasound tests are also conducted on patients for diagnosing osteoarthritis. Here X-rays which are taken of the affected joints will help the doctor to determine the extant of the disease. The X-rays will show to what extent the joints have been affected and how much of bone content has been lost and if there are formations of bone spurs. Even people who do not exhibit any of the external symptoms of osteoarthritis can be diagnosed using X-rays

MRI scans which are extremely sensitive tests are used for diagnosing osteoarthritis in their early stages even before the patient has any symptoms of the crippling disease. Ultrasound helps to detect water effusions especially in the knees.

A non-invasive imaging method has been developed very recently for diagnosing osteoarthritis in patients by researchers in New York and Tel Aviv Universities. This is the latest method which is being explored by the medical world today for diagnosing osteoarthritis.