Osteoarthritis is among the most common forms of arthritis which results from the breakdown of cartilage, a protein substance of joints. This disease is characterized by pain, swelling, tenderness and stiffness of the joints. Various joints such as fingers, hands, feet, spine, knees and hips can get inflamed by this disease. The symptoms of osteoarthritis may vary from patient to patient and may range from mild or severe.

Each person may experience different symptoms of osteoarthritis depending on the organ involved. Usually, weight-bearing joints like hips, knee and spine are more susceptible to this disease. The symptoms may arise from aging, obesity, joint injury, congenital joint abnormalities and some other diseases such as diabetes and gout. In early stage, the symptoms may not occur or they may be mild. As the disease progresses, there may be inflammation of joints due to degeneration of cartilage. Patient with osteoarthritis may experience pain, discomfort, swelling and stiffness in the joints especially early in the morning. Some people can experience contraction in the tendons and muscle spasm. In chronic and severe condition of this disease, there may be development of some deformities in the joints leading to restriction in mobility.

Because of loss of cartilage or formation of bony spurs around the joints, there may friction between the bones which can lead to a creaking noise. Grinding or cracking noise within the joint is one of the significant symptoms of osteoarthritis. In hip osteoarthritis, there is pain in the inner thigh, groin or buttock. The knee osteoarthritis features the catching or grating sensation while moving the knee. Besides this, patient suffers from swelling, redness and tenderness in the finger joints which are enlarged and create a gnarled appearance due to the bony growth. In addition to that, osteoarthritis of spine can lead to slow deterioration of disks between the bones along the spine which results in pain and stiffness in neck and back.

Because of rapid breakdown, the cartilage breaks into tiny pieces and floats inside the synovial fluid. It can cause an irritation to other soft tissues which is referred as chondrolysis. Some possible complications of osteoarthritis are stress fractures, osteonecrosis (bone death), infection in the joint, bleeding inside the joint, deterioration of ligaments and tendons, pinched nerve, sacroillitis, ganglion cysts, spinal stenosis, water on knee, bunions, Hammer toe and Herberden’s and Bouchard’s nodes.

These complications can reduce person’s ability to perform daily activities which makes the person physically and mentally depressed. The complications such as depression, anxiety, limits on daily activities, job limitations, feeling helpless and loss of everyday family joys can affect the lifestyle of patient.