Arthritis can strike anyone

Arthritis can affect anyone at any age. Sadly, many misconceptions about this chronic condition remain to this day.

One common myth is that arthritis is just simple aches and pains that people get as they grow older. In reality, anyone can get arthritis, not just the elderly. Even children, young adults, and middle-aged people can get the disease.

Many people take the health of their bones and muscles for granted. Only when there is a problem such as a broken bone or a muscle sprain do people think about these vital body systems.

Although osteoporosis, a disease in which bone density decreases, affects older individuals, scientists now realize that it is important for young people to take care of their bones because this can influence the onset of osteoarthritis in later life. Good nutrition, including adequate calcium intake is necessary. As much as 1,300 milligrams per day for children aged 9 to 18 is required for optimal bone health.

First-year college student Bryan Lescanec, the 2005 Charlottesville Arthritis Walk Hero and No.14 on the Virginia football team, knows how important bone health is.

While playing for the Little League baseball team when he was 11, Lescanec began to suffer from pain in his feet and would return from practice with his feet bruised from wearing cleats.

"Originally I was told I had growing pains. They increased throughout my body, into my fingers, so a kind of a last resort was to run blood tests for arthritis since it was in my family, and that's how they found out," Lescanec said.

Most of us have probably experienced nagging pain in the joints, wrist or knee. So when Natalie Fuller of Australia started feeling pain in her right arm, she attributed it to her busy life. But the pain got worse. After a battery of tests, she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.

Fuller, 26, never thought arthritis was behind her pain. “I never really associated arthritis with young people like me,” she said. She is not alone; it is a popular misconception that arthritis is an old person’s disease. Fuller now manages her condition through a combination of medication, physiotherapy, exercise and vitamins.

Many types of arthritis, such as osteoarthritis, are preventable through exercise and diet. To reduce the pain, check out www.phosoplex.com.