I thought I knew what OA was. Now I'm not so sure.

idris

I had understood that in OA, boney growths on the joint damage the cartilage. The conversation I just had with a registrar suggested this was not the case. Unfortunately the appointment had already over-run and there wasn't time to go into the subject.

Have I misunderstood what causes the damage in a joint with OA, or have I misunderstood what the registrar said?

daffy2

The initial damage is to the cartilage which cushions the joint; bony growths may appear later as part of that process, but are not the primary cause of OA. Have a look at the 'Do I have arthritis?' information on the main AC website(dark grey bar at the top of the Forum page) - so no, you probably didn't mishear what the registrar said, but would have been confused if it didn't correspond with what you had previously believed to be the case.

dreamdaisy

As it was explained to me OA begins with the erosion of the cartilage which cushions the joints then, in an effort to help ease the area that is rubbing, bone growths appear in order to spread the load.

I have OA thanks to the joint damage caused by my auto-immune arthritis, TBH no-one truly understands what triggers it, and I think the fact it is so common works against it in terms of understanding what it does, how it does it and the impact it can have on one's life. DD

idris

Thanks.