Osteoarthritis facts for kids

X-ray of a knee with osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis is a common condition that mostly affects older people. It happens when the natural "cushion" in your joints, called cartilage, starts to wear away. Imagine your joints like hinges on a door; cartilage is the smooth, slippery coating that helps them move easily. When this coating wears down, bones can start to rub against each other, which can be painful.

What Happens in Your Joints?

Inside a healthy joint, the ends of your bones are covered with smooth, slippery cartilage. This cartilage helps your bones glide past each other without friction when you move. It also acts like a shock absorber.

When someone has osteoarthritis, this cartilage slowly wears down. As it wears away, tiny pieces can break off. These pieces can irritate the joint lining, causing it to produce extra fluid. This makes the joint swell and feel stiff.

Over time, if the cartilage wears away completely, the bones themselves can rub directly against each other. This can cause pain, stiffness, and make it hard to move the joint.

Signs and Symptoms

If you have osteoarthritis, your joints might feel stiff, especially after you've been resting or first wake up. They can also be painful, and sometimes they might look a bit swollen.

The pain often gets worse when you use the joint a lot, like after exercise or a long walk. It might also become harder to bend or straighten the affected joint fully.

How Doctors Help

Doctors can diagnose osteoarthritis by looking at your symptoms and sometimes by taking X-rays. X-rays can show if the space between your bones in a joint has become narrower, which is a sign of cartilage loss.

There are many ways to help manage osteoarthritis. These include:

• Exercise: Gentle exercises, like walking or swimming, can help keep your joints moving and strengthen the muscles around them. This can reduce pain and stiffness.
• Pain Relief: Doctors might suggest medicines to help with pain and swelling.
• Physical Therapy: A physical therapist can teach you special exercises to improve joint movement and strength.
• Healthy Weight: Keeping a healthy weight can reduce stress on your joints, especially in your knees and hips.

Images for kids

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  Osteoarthritis most often occurs in the hands (at the ends of the fingers and thumbs), neck, lower back, knees, and hips.

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  Some kinds of exercise recommended in OA.

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  Severe osteoarthritis and osteopenia of the carpal joint and 1st carpometacarpal joint.

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  MRI of osteoarthritis in the knee, with characteristic narrowing of the joint space.

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  Histopathology of osteoarthrosis of a knee joint in an elderly female.

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  Histopathology of osteoarthrosis of a knee joint in an elderly female.

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  In a healthy joint, the ends of bones are encased in smooth cartilage. Together, they are protected by a joint capsule lined with a synovial membrane that produces synovial fluid. The capsule and fluid protect the cartilage, muscles, and connective tissues.

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  With osteoarthritis, the cartilage becomes worn away. Spurs grow out from the edge of the bone, and synovial fluid increases. Altogether, the joint feels stiff and sore.

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  Bone (left) and clinical (right) changes of the hand in osteoarthritis

See also

In Spanish: Artrosis para niños