Osteoarthritis

It is an active disease process that involves deterioration of the chemical composition and structural integrity of the articular cartilage. This deterioration impairs the viscoelastic properties of articular cartilage and its ability to minimize friction between bones moving against one another

age and obesity

• Pain with activity that relieves with activity, lasts less than 30 minutes daily
• Joint swelling is generally minimal
• Heberden and Bouchard nodes (bony proliferation at the distal and proximal interphalangeal joints)
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• Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is an often asymptomatic form of osteoarthritis that causes significant radiographic changes similar to those associated with degenerative spondylosis or ankylosing spondylitis
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• Ossification of anterior longitudinal ligament with or without osteophytes is the primary pathology
• Should involve four contiguous vertebral bodies
• More common in Caucasian males aged 50-75 years

According to the American College of Rheumatology’s clinical criteria, osteoarthritis of the knee can be diagnosed if knee pain is accompanied by at least three of the following features: age greater than 50 years, stiffness lasting less than 30 minutes, crepitus, bony tenderness, bony enlargement, and no palpable warmth.