2. The disease

Osteoarthritis is one of our most common national diseases.  People commonly say "joint wear".  This is misleading since in most cases osteoarthritis as a disease does not depend on mechanical wear. The word "wear" can also send the patient wrong signals.  Many can be led to believe that they should rest, so as not to subject the affected joint to more loading and "wear". This is wrong – on the contrary, it is very important to go on being physically active at a suitable level (see section on » treatment). The best thing is to call the disease "osteoarthritis" and get information on what this involves.

Osteoarthritis can affect all joints in the body.  The commonest site is the outermost joints of the fingers, followed by the thumb and the base of the big toe.  The commonest large joints to be affected are the knee and the hip.  In what follows only osteoarthritis in the hip joint will be discussed.