Osteoarthritis Research Paper

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Osteoarthritis
DT is an 88 year old female; she is 4’9 and 152 pounds. She recently retired from Wal-Mart in January of this year and was living at home with her husband up until her recent admission to the hospital. She presented to the emergency room with right knee pain and was admitted to the medical surgical unit. Her knee was swollen and she was unable to walk on it due to the pain it was causing her. She had synovial fluid drained from her knee and there were no signs of any organisms, but many white blood cells. Before her discharge they decided that the swelling and pain was due to inflammation arthritis due to her osteoarthritis. DT also has diagnoses of hyperlipidemia, hypertension, history of nephrolithiasis, and an arrhythmia …show more content…

Osteoarthritis can be called osteoarthrosis or degenerative joint disease; it is the most common arthritis and is a major cause of disability in adults in the United States. The joints have something called articular cartilage, sometimes called hyaline cartilage. Articular cartilage is composed of 65% to 80% water, along with proteoglycans, collage, and chondrocytes, which form a matrix. As you age the enzymes break down the articular matrix. Normally your cartilage is a bluish white, translucent color, but in the early stages of osteoarthritis it changes to an opaque and yellowish brown color. As the arthritis continues to get worse the bone beneath the cartilage begins to wear away leaving narrowed joint spaces where bone spurs can occur. As osteoarthritis progresses the cartilage will thin and inflammatory cytokines increase the corrosion. The rapid corrosion is too much for the body’s normal repair process to keep up with. Ultimately pieces of bone and cartilage break off and begin to float in the arthritic joint causing pain and stiffness and eventually lead to reduced mobility and muscle atrophy. (Ignatavicius & Workman, …show more content…

Most often it’s the bearing joints such as the hips and knees, the vertebral column and the hands that are affected because they endure the mechanical stress of the body’s weight and movements and after many years of use they wear out. Obesity is a significant risk factor of osteoarthritis especially in the knees. Being obese makes more weight for the knees to bear which can lead to joint degeneration which then can lead to osteoarthritis. Smoking is also a significant risk factor in that smoking causes loss of knee cartilage. There is also a secondary osteoarthritis that can occur, which results from musculoskeletal conditions and heavy manual occupations. (Ignatavicius & Workman, n.d.) My client had inflammation in her knee from the osteoarthritis and her risk factors were that she was heavier than she should have been for her body mass index. Although smoking is a risk factor my patient stated that she never smoked. My patient also worked at Wal-Mart for many years, she just retired in January. Working there she was on her feet for many hours a day putting stress on her joints especially her knees. After work she would then come home and make supper for her husband and do things around the house and never really resting her

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