The main symptom of arthritis is swelling around the joints, which leads to pain and difficulty in moving. To date, just over 100 different forms of the disease have been identified. The most common form of which is osteoarthritis, which affects around 3.8% of the world’s population. Around 0.24% of people suffer from rheumatoid arthritis. Gout, psoriatic arthritis, and lupus are other forms of arthritis that you may have heard of.
Women are twice as likely to suffer from this condition than men. It is thought that this is because the immune system of women is more reactive. That makes them more vulnerable to autoimmune response diseases like arthritis.
In some cases, it is general wear and tear that leads to the edges of the bones that are in contact with each other wearing away or deforming. This leads to swelling and later deformity of the joint. People who have physically demanding jobs, especially those involving repetitive movements are particularly vulnerable to those types of arthritis. A lot of factory workers, craftspeople and builders suffer from hand pain that is due to their joints being inflamed after years of heavy use.