What Is Osteoarthritis? Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common type of arthritis, or inflammation of the joints (where the ends of two adjacent bones meet).
It is also called degenerative joint disease or “wear and tear” arthritis because it most often develops slowly over time, as people age. (1,2)
People with osteoarthritis typically have joint pain or stiffness that’s most often caused by damage to cartilage, the slippery tissue that covers the ends of bones in the joints.
Other common symptoms of osteoarthritis include:
Osteoarthritis can occur in any joint, but it most commonly affects the joints of the hands, hips, and knees, as well as the lower back and neck. (3,4)
Within normal, healthy joints is cartilage — a firm, rubbery material mostly made up of a matrix (a gel-like substance with a high water content) and two types of proteins (collagen and proteoglycan).
Cartilage serves as a shock absorber that allows bones to glide over each other when a joint bends or straightens. Thanks to its water content, cartilage can change shape to absorb impacts when it is compressed.
In people with osteoarthritis, the cartilage loses a lot of its water content (often through normal wear and tear) and deteriorates, reducing its ability to absorb shocks.
Without this cartilage, the bones underneath can rub together, causing pain and inflammation at the joint. Cartilage can undergo some repair when damaged — slowly, since it contains no blood vessels — but the body does not produce new cartilage after injury. (2)
Osteoarthritis is classified as either primary or secondary.
Cartilage breaks down in both types of osteoarthritis; the difference between the two types lies in the underlying cause of this breakdown.
Primary osteoarthritis, which is more common, is the “wear and tear” type of osteoarthritis that develops over time without a specific cause. It affects women more often than men, especially after menopausal age. Most often, primary osteoarthritis affects the fingers, spine, hips, knees, and big toes. (2,5,6)
Secondary osteoarthritis, on the other hand, has a specific cause other than normal wear and tear. For example, young people can get secondary osteoarthritis if they’re athletes who use their joints a lot or if they have jobs that require the same bodily movements over and over.
Causes of secondary osteoarthritis include:
Several factors can lead to the development of osteoarthritis. Risk factors may vary depending on the joint involved.
Older age and being female are common risk factors for primary osteoarthritis. Primary osteoarthritis occurs in equal frequency for men and women younger than age 55, but it is more common in women among adults older than age 55. (8)
Having a close relative with osteoarthritis or a family history of the disease is also a risk factor for primary osteoarthritis. In fact, most people with primary osteoarthritis have family members with the condition. (2)
Risk factors for secondary osteoarthritis include:
There is no single symptom or test that can diagnose osteoarthritis. Diagnosis is based on a review of your symptoms and medical history, a physical examination, and laboratory and imaging tests.
In reviewing your medical history and giving you a physical examination, your doctor will look for signs that indicate osteoarthritis, including:
The physical exam may also reveal various other signs of osteoarthritis, including joint tenderness, joint swelling, crepitation (joint crackling during movement), altered gait, and instability of the joint. (8)
Your healthcare provider may conduct various other tests if he suspects you might have osteoarthritis.
Blood tests and other laboratory tests will not help diagnose osteoarthritis but may help rule out other potential causes of your symptoms, such as inflammatory arthritis.
Imaging tests, including X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, and ultrasounds, are usually not necessary. But they can help rule out other causes of symptoms and show the extent of damage to your cartilage, bones, and ligaments. (8,11,12)
Pain from osteoarthritis can make it difficult to enjoy — or even perform — everyday activities, such as running errands, cleaning house, exercising, or getting good rest. Some research suggests that osteoarthritis symptoms and restlessness from a lack of activity can interfere with sleep. In fact, about 70 percent of people with osteoarthritis have sleep issues. (8,13)
The course of osteoarthritis varies between people and depends on the joints affected. Pain and disability due to hip osteoarthritis usually worsens over time, while osteoarthritis affecting the fingers initially causes intermittent pain and stiffness but fewer symptoms later on. (12)
The disease may rapidly progress if you have:
Osteoarthritis is a long-lasting condition with no cure.
Osteoarthritis is a chronic condition that typically gets worse over time if left untreated.
Treatments aim to reduce pain and other symptoms, improve joint function, slow the progression of the disease, and maintain quality of life. (1)
Common treatments for osteoarthritis include:
The American College of Rheumatology and Arthritis Foundation produces guidelines and recommendations for the treatment of hip, knee, and hand osteoarthritis. In their latest guidelines, published in February 2020, the experts strongly recommended the following treatments: (15)
Various medications may play a role in osteoarthritis treatment, including: (1,15)
Recent research suggests various other medications may soon be available to treat osteoarthritis. These include:
Various alternative and complementary therapies may be used in conjunction with standard treatments to reduce osteoarthritis. These include:
Speak with your doctor before trying any alternative and complementary treatments for osteoarthritis, as many of them lack clear evidence of benefit and may carry risks. For example, the American College of Rheumatology and the Arthritis Foundation do not recommend TENS, glucosamine, or chondroitin, but conditionally recommend (on a case-by-case basis) yoga. (15)
RELATED: Natural Remedies for Osteoarthritis Pain
Since most cases of osteoarthritis are caused by normal wear and tear on the joints, it’s not possible to prevent it. But you may be able to reduce your risk of getting osteoarthritis with these measures:
Osteoarthritis can be debilitating. If it’s not treated, your movement may become limited over time.
Complications of osteoarthritis can vary depending on the severity of the condition and the joint involved.
Potential complications and related disabilities include:
Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disorder in the United States, but the prevalence of osteoarthritis varies slightly from one scientific study to another.
In the United States, nearly 27 million adults have clinical osteoarthritis, according to a study from 2008. (25) A more recent study, from 2015, found that an estimated 30.8 million U.S. adults (13.4 percent of the adult population) had osteoarthritis between 2008 and 2011. (26)
Estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) place the prevalence of osteoarthritis at more than 32.5 million adults. (4) Worldwide, it affects an estimated 302 million people and is a leading cause of disability among older adults. (15)
The knee is the joint most commonly affected by osteoarthritis. Approximately 14 million people have symptomatic knee osteoarthritis, according to a 2016 study. More than half these people are younger than 65. (27)
Research suggests that people who are overweight or obese are 2.5 or 4.6 times, respectively, more likely to have knee osteoarthritis than those who are “normal” weight. (28)
Other studies have shown that knee osteoarthritis has doubled in prevalence since the mid-20th century, but this increase cannot be explained by increased longevity and body mass index alone. (29)
Hand osteoarthritis is also fairly common.
While the lifetime risk of developing symptomatic knee osteoarthritis is 45 percent, one study found that the lifetime risk of systematic hand osteoarthritis is about 40 percent. Nearly 1 in 2 women and 1 in 4 men have an estimated lifetime risk of developing hand osteoarthritis by age 85.
Comparatively, the lifetime risk of developing hip osteoarthritis is 25 percent. (30)
Several different types of arthritis exist. Aside from osteoarthritis, other common types include rheumatoid arthritis (RA), gout, and lupus. (11)
Osteoarthritis and RA affect the body differently.
In osteoarthritis, which is most often a mechanical (wear and tear) disease, the cartilage that covers the ends of the bones in a joint is damaged by multiple different causes.
But in RA, the joint lining becomes inflamed and eventually erodes the joint.
This disease is considered an autoimmune condition because the immune system mistakes joint linings for foreign objects and attacks them, resulting in inflammation.
Additionally, unlike osteoarthritis, RA develops because of a combination of genetic and environmental factors, such as tobacco exposure. (11,31)
Learn More About Rheumatoid Arthritis vs. Osteoarthritis Joint Pain
The available evidence on the correlation between race and ethnicity and osteoarthritis is conflicting, and more research is needed on outcomes for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities in the United States.
Some Asian populations have a lower risk of osteoarthritis, according to the CDC. And while some studies suggest that Black American women are more likely to develop knee osteoarthritis than Black men and white people generally, other studies have found no such connection. (4,10)
Osteoarthritis can be primary or secondary.
Cartilage breaks down in both types; the difference between primary and secondary lies in the underlying cause. Primary osteoarthritis is from wear and tear that develops over time, without one specific cause. It is more common, and it affects women more often than men, especially after menopause. (2,6,11)
Secondary osteoarthritis has a specific cause other than normal wear and tear. For example, young people can get secondary osteoarthritis if they’re athletes who use their joints a lot or if they have jobs that require the same bodily movements over and over. Specific causes of secondary osteoarthritis, which are listed in the Primary vs. Secondary Osteoarthritis section, include obesity, injury, and having other types of arthritis. (2,3,7,8,9,11)
©2025 sitename.com All rights reserved