Causes of arthritis

Causes of Arthritis

"Arthritis" means joint inflammation - but it is an umbrella over more than a hundred conditions with very different causes. The wear-and-tear arthritis of an older knee and the autoimmune arthritis that attacks a young woman's hands are different diseases that happen to share joints. Knowing the cause changes everything about treatment, per NHS guidance on arthritis.

Wear and Repair Imbalance: Osteoarthritis

The commonest cause. Cartilage - the smooth cushioning surface of joints - thins and roughens over years as repair fails to keep pace with wear. It is not simple "old age": risk climbs with previous joint injury, jobs or sports that load specific joints, excess body weight (every extra kilogram multiplies force across the knee), family tendency, and age itself. Hips, knees, hands and the spine are the usual sites.

Autoimmune Attack: Rheumatoid and Others

In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the immune system mistakes the joint lining for an enemy and attacks it, causing hot, swollen, stiff joints - typically symmetrically, in the hands and feet first. Why the immune system misfires is not fully understood: genetics load the gun (certain HLA gene variants), and environment pulls the trigger - smoking is the strongest known trigger, along with hormonal factors (women are affected more) and possibly gum disease and gut microbiome shifts. Psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and lupus arthritis are cousins in this autoimmune family.

Crystals: Gout and Pseudogout

In gout, uric acid - a normal body chemical - builds up and forms needle-sharp crystals inside joints, classically the big toe. Causes stack: genetics (how the kidneys handle uric acid matters most), purine-rich food and drink (red meat, organ meats, seafood, beer and spirits), sugary drinks, obesity, kidney problems, and some medicines (diuretics, low-dose aspirin). Pseudogout works similarly with calcium crystals.

Other Causes

• Infection: bacteria can invade a joint (septic arthritis) - a hot, red, acutely painful joint with fever is a same-day emergency
• Post-traumatic: a joint injured years earlier can develop early osteoarthritis
• Childhood arthritis (JIA): autoimmune arthritis can begin in children - not just "growing pains"

The Ayurvedic Perspective

Classical texts mapped these patterns with striking instinct: Sandhivata (Vata drying and grinding the joints - the osteoarthritis pattern), Amavata (undigested metabolic residue, Ama, lodging in joints - the rheumatoid pattern, linked to weak digestion and wrong food combinations), and Vatarakta (Vata disturbing the blood - the gout pattern) - Sandhivata in Charaka Samhita, Chikitsa Sthana 28; Amavata in Madhava Nidana, Chapter 25; Vatarakta in Charaka Samhita, Chikitsa Sthana 29. The mappings are interpretive background; the causes above are what modern evidence establishes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is arthritis just part of getting old? Osteoarthritis becomes commoner with age but is not inevitable, and inflammatory types strike at any age - rheumatoid arthritis often begins between 30 and 50, and children get arthritis too.

Does cracking knuckles cause arthritis? No - studies have not linked knuckle-cracking to arthritis. It annoys people, not joints.

Can diet cause arthritis? Only gout has a direct dietary driver, and even there genetics dominates. No food causes osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis - though weight strongly affects osteoarthritis risk and progression.

Is rheumatoid arthritis hereditary? Partly - genes contribute, but most people with RA have no close relative with it. Smoking is a bigger controllable risk factor than family history.