Osteoarthritis of the hands is a process of wear and aging on joints and starts at the articular cartilage. It affects both men and women, but between 55 and 65 is more common in women.
Under normal conditions, cartilage has the ability to replace their cells as these are worn. However, in older adults the rate of removal is not sufficient to maintain the thickness articular cartilage so it thins and can begin to be contact between the bones devoid of cartilage, causing joint inflammation, pain and limits range of motion. As such, age and menopause are two factors to take into account women.
Osteoarthritis can cause pain, difficulty moving the fingers and deformity following result from prolonged repetitive activity in the joints (as in manual labor, for example), the wear of the passage of time or for reasons hereditary , in which cases the disease recurs (and to the affected area) from generation to generation. In addition to these causes, any joint that has suffered a fracture or inflammation for a long time may develop post-traumatic osteoarthritis.