4 major contributing factors to osteoarthritis

If you're worried about being diagnosed with osteoarthritis, then consider these four major contributing factors. Improving in just one of these areas could help to reduce your risk of osteoarthritis.

Wisdom isn't the only thing that increases with age. So does your waistline.

Carrying around extra weight puts constant stress on your joints, eventually damaging the cartilage. This is particularly true for the weight-bearing joints: the knees and the hips. If you're overweight, losing those extra kilos (or pounds) is one of the most effective of all osteoarthritis treatments available.

A study that followed women of different weights over 36 years found that the heaviest women (those in the upper 20 percent by weight) were more than three times likelier than women in the bottom 20 percent to develop severe osteoarthritis of the knee. This was the first study showing that OA (osteoarthritis) may be prevented.

When the bones of a joint aren't bound tightly to each other, they can bang together and damage their protective cartilage. Such "joint instability" is now recognized as a major cause of the pain and early-morning stiffness that may occur long before cartilage damage has begun. (Young, "double-jointed" women, whose flexibility makes them talented ballet dancers, often feel such symptoms.)

As a preventive measure, people with loose joints may be advised to avoid activities that could increase their risk of developing osteoarthritis prematurely.

Certain jobs increase a person's risk for developing osteoarthritis.

For example, OA of the knee is common among miners, dockworkers, people that must sit in a squat position over many years, as well as others who must constantly bend their knees or do heavy lifting. People in those professions are at risk of developing osteoarthritis of the knee.

In 1990, after studying a family whose members developed osteoarthritis in many of their joints at a very early age, researchers reported on the first "osteoarthritis gene." They traced OA to a gene responsible for making the collagen in cartilage. A mutation in this gene causes the production of defective collagen, which is thought to weaken cartilage and cause it to break down prematurely.

Genes seem to influence osteo­arthritis in particular joints as well. In 1944, researchers reported that OA involving the end joints of the fingers was an inherited trait.

In this condition, small bony knobs known as Heberden's nodes (named after the 18th century British physician who first described them) form on the top of the finger joints. Heberden's nodes are more common in women, particularly after menopause. Genes may also influence OA in other joints.

In 1998, researchers studying 616 pairs of identical and fraternal female twins over age 40 concluded that genetic factors may be responsible for half of all cases of OA of the hip.

If you take up one of these major contributing factors to improve upon, you could help reduce your risk of osteoarthritis.