The femur articulates with the pelvic bone via a socket called the acetabulum. This hip joint is lined with cartilage, a connective tissue, that provides protection and cushioning. The wear and tear of this cartilage causes the bones to be more exposed and will cause pain, particularly in large weight-bearing joints.
So the dull ache in my left hip joint was making me walk all stiff and funny, unconsciously shifting more weight on my right... and somehow it turned into something called erosive arthropathy. Turns out erosive arthropathy is just a nice way of saying 'precursor to osteoarthritis'. Hooray for a lifetime of hip pain weather forecasts!
Osteoarthritis??
I'm too young for this! How could this have happened? I drink lots of milk, am turning vaguely French about my fromage, and adorrre yogurt. Ok, so maybe it's not lack of calcium, it's a problem of calcium absorption, lack of Vitamin D? I get plenty of sun, no? With the Mediterranean and all. Oh dang. One year in the wintry depths of hell that is Montreal. Should go stand in the sun and drink milk like Tim told me to... Oh wait. That's osteoPOROSIS. Wrong osteo here.
There is no cure for osteoarthritis, because cartilage cannot just grow back. In the meantime, I'm taking glucosamine, which is a precursor for glycosaminoglycans, major components of connective tissue. Glucosamine has not been conclusively proven to help rebuild cartilage but is said to delay the progression of OA.
In 2005, scientists at Imperial College managed to grow cartilage cells from human embryonic stem cells. Yet another reason to support stem cell research! Will people like Bush and the Catholic Church realise this before all we can do is to wave our canes and wiggle our replaced hip at them?
So the dull ache in my left hip joint was making me walk all stiff and funny, unconsciously shifting more weight on my right... and somehow it turned into something called erosive arthropathy. Turns out erosive arthropathy is just a nice way of saying 'precursor to osteoarthritis'. Hooray for a lifetime of hip pain weather forecasts!
Osteoarthritis??
I'm too young for this! How could this have happened? I drink lots of milk, am turning vaguely French about my fromage, and adorrre yogurt. Ok, so maybe it's not lack of calcium, it's a problem of calcium absorption, lack of Vitamin D? I get plenty of sun, no? With the Mediterranean and all. Oh dang. One year in the wintry depths of hell that is Montreal. Should go stand in the sun and drink milk like Tim told me to... Oh wait. That's osteoPOROSIS. Wrong osteo here.
There is no cure for osteoarthritis, because cartilage cannot just grow back. In the meantime, I'm taking glucosamine, which is a precursor for glycosaminoglycans, major components of connective tissue. Glucosamine has not been conclusively proven to help rebuild cartilage but is said to delay the progression of OA.
In 2005, scientists at Imperial College managed to grow cartilage cells from human embryonic stem cells. Yet another reason to support stem cell research! Will people like Bush and the Catholic Church realise this before all we can do is to wave our canes and wiggle our replaced hip at them?
1 comment:
mmm...j'ai pas compris les mots comme "glyco..blahblah". =P
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