Introduction
Arthritis is a general term which is applied to a number of painful conditions affecting the joints and bones. There are about 100 different types of arthritis.
Arthritis is normally associated with older people, but it can affect people at any age, even children. This is called Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis.
There are some forms of arthritis which are inherited, but most are not. Some forms of arthritis show very strong tendencies to be inherited, others show a weak tendency and some based on the available evidence are not inherited.
Symptoms
The main symptoms of arthritis are stiffness and pain of particular joints. There may also be some restrictive movement of the affected joints along with some swelling and redness over the joints in a number of cases. The specific symptoms again will depend upon what type of arthritis youre suffering from although the vast majority of types of arthritis all include problems created by the inflammation and swelling of joints.
Causes
The cause of arthritis is not fully known, however, some factors which may contribute to arthritis are obesity and jobs which...