What are some general characteristics of hip arthritis? What are its usual manifestations?
Arthritis simply means “inflammation of a joint,” and itself is a very general term. Many of the more than 100 different conditions that cause joint inflammation also go on to cause permanent destruction of the weight-bearing surface of the hip, which is called cartilage. If you have ever eaten a drumstick, you have seen cartilage: it is the white (or slightly yellow) smooth surface capping the end of the bone (see figures 3 and 4). The surface of normal human cartilage is much more slippery than a hockey puck sliding on ice. In contrast, arthritic cartilage may be cracked, thinned, or worn completely through to the bone. (see figures 5 and 6). If a doctor has told you that you have “bone-on-bone,” he or she means that the cartilage has completely worn away. Damaged cartilage (and certainly a bone-on-bone situation) does not glide well. As a result, a severely arthritic joint may be stiff, and it may feel like it grinds, catches or locks with attempts at motion. However, the main sympt
