Many people know that arthritis means painful, swollen joints.
Arthritis means, medically, inflammation of the joints. X-ray evidence of the disease in can be found in 85 percent of those older than 70, although not everyone will have symptoms. DJD involves the gradual deterioration of the impact-absorbing cartilage and adjacent bone in certain joints, usually in the neck, lower spine, hips, knees, thumbs and fingers. Osteoarthritis is seen in all animals with bones, except bats and sloths, which both spend most of their time hanging upside-down. It has been found in dinosaurs and even water-supported whales and dolphins.