Arthritis 101 – 2 min read

Want to know how arthritis works in the most simplistic way possible?

You’re in the right place.

Before discussing arthritis, let’s first talk about inflammation.

Inflammation occurs when there is stress on a joint. 

Although any joint in your body can undergo stress, let’s examine the lower neck joint as an example. 

Now, IF the base of your neck has a lot of stress on it, it will become unstable over time. 

And, your body will want to stabilize it by inflaming it with water, blood cells, proteins, and other cells. 

This “inflammation” can only stabilize your neck to a certain degree. 

There becomes a point in time when the stress on your neck is too much and your body says we need something stronger than just inflammation to stabilize the joint.

So… the body will coordinate the stealing of calcium from other bones in your body, commonly your arm bones, by dragging the calcium up your arm, through the spine and into the neck to REPLACE the inflammation.

The longer this goes on, the more calcium will build up and then we name it “arthritis”.

If your doctor mentions that you have bone spurs, or that your neck is fusing together, this is the EFFECT of arthritis.

The benefits of a neck joint with arthritis is that the area is very stable and can withstand a lot of stress.

Yet the limitation is no range of motion. You can’t move it. The bone spurs may close down on the nerve holes and you get the radiating pain. 

This is also why you notice certain people have a large lump at the base of their neck. and they also may look hunchback.

It’s all related.

If you know someone with arthritis please share this information with them, and know that NUCCA is a great place to start for relief of the arthritic symptoms one may face.