What Causes Shoulder Arthritis
Shoulder arthritis is a painful condition that can affect anyone, and there are different types, as laid down above. In some cases, there is a clear trigger for the disease. In others, it might be very difficult to know what is happening or why it all started.
Among the most likely causes of shoulder arthritis, we should include:
● Trauma and injuries: Most healthy people who develop shoulder arthritis do so after suffering from a fall. This means that the injury was severe enough to damage the cartilage in your joint. The damaged area becomes inflamed as time passes, and the inflammation leads to bone spurs. Eventually, these bony growths become the source of the discomfort that you’re feeling right now. In time, patients develop osteoarthritis because they didn’t find treatment for their condition. This progressive problem is triggered by trauma and made worse by not looking for medical attention.
● Autoimmune disease: Inflammation plays a significant role in rheumatoid arthritis of the shoulder. This is the classic form of inflammatory arthritis of the shoulder, but there are many others, including lupus, gout, pseudogout, and ankylosing spondylitis. What they all have in common is inflammation as one of the primary sources of arthritic damage. This is often triggered by autoimmune reactions against the normal tissue of the articulation.
● Infections: This is known as septic arthritis, and we could include this type as another form of arthritis. However, it is not the most common cause. Infections only happen to people who get surgery in or around this joint. It is not likely that you will ever need this type of surgery if you didn’t have shoulder problems in the first place.
● Neuropathic problems: The nerves do not only give muscle commands and sense pain. They also trigger different reflexes and automatic processes to guard your shoulders and other articulations from damage. When you have a neuropathic problem involving your shoulder, these protective effects of nerves can be lost, and you could experience something known as Charcot arthropathy, a nerve dysfunction that causes arthritis.
● Vascular problems: Similar to nerve tissue, blood vessels are also important to maintain your shoulders. Most people believe that the bone tissue is inert and it is only there to provide support. They would probably be surprised to find out that it has a very rich blood vessel irrigation and needs plenty of blood and nutrients to keep working. This tissue is alive, like the rest of the body, and when the blood flow is cut in this area, the tissue dies, and osteonecrosis is one of the consequences. It is more common in smokers, heavy alcohol users, and people who need to use steroids to control another disease.
● Obesity: This is probably not considered a direct cause of shoulder arthritis, but it is definitely a trigger of the symptoms of shoulder pain. Obesity features excess body weight in the form of fat, which triggers an inflammatory problem in your body because the fatty tissue synthesizes plenty of inflammatory cytokines. So, if you have risk factors to develop inflammatory arthritis of the shoulder, these risk factors will become activated by obesity as a baseline inflammatory problem.
In addition to the reasons mentioned above, other factors can contribute to your shoulder pain. For example, you may also experience problems lifting heavy objects frequently or spending a lot of time playing sports.
If you want to avoid further injuries, it’s essential that you take some precautions. You should always wear protective gear when you work out. And if you do experience any kind of injury, make sure that you get medical attention immediately. Remember that not resolving problems in your joints soon may result in severe issues in the future, and they can be irreversible, as with osteoarthritis.
