Top Sports Person Suffering From Arthritis

There are several top sports persons who suffer from arthritis, yet still go on to achieve great successes in their careers. Kristin Armstrong, Sandy Koufax, Earl Campbell, Harry Kewell, David Wells and Dara Torres to name a few of them. Here are the celebrities and the treatments that helped to ease their arthritis symptoms.

Kristin Armstrong, Gold medal winner with osteoarthritis

Athlete Kristin Armstrong was able to display an impressive show of physical stamina as she cycled to gold medal victory...with arthritis. Armstrong also held other athletic achievements such as 3 world championship medals. diagnosed with osteoarthritis, she self treated with ice packs and anti inflammatory medications until her health care provider recommended Vioxx. Armstrong went on to compete and succeed in several cycling events that led her to achieve her national and Olympic victories in cycling.

Sandy Koufax, former baseball pitcher
Sandy Koufax one of the greatest baseball pitchers in 1964 retired with traumatic arthritis caused by the repetitive movement required of pitchers. He suffered swelling in the elbow to the extreme of turning black. A combination of prescribed drugs and ice were used to treat the condition at that time.

Earl Campbell NFL Hall of Famer and Heisman Trophy winner
Earl Campbell's osteoarthritis of the knees does not leave him sidelined. He uses a walker but still plays golf and reports that he has gained strength from a combination of two knee replacements, regular workouts and a line of new medications to combat the arthritis. He is currently a representative for the Arthritis Foundation and is a speaker to motivate those with arthritis to seek help to improve their conditions as he has.

Harry Kewell, Australian Footballer
Harry Kewell was diagnosed with septic arthritis which was caused by a bacterial infection. This type of infection began with the infection and continued on to cause tenderness and joint pain. Urgent joint pain treatments are generally required for this type of infection which involved draining the infected fluid from around the joint to prevent more damage from occurring.

David Wells, NY Yankees left handed pitcher
David Wells suffers with a common form of arthritis known as gout. This occurs when high amounts or uric acid are present in the blood and when they leak into the bloodstream, there is a tendency for them to settle into a particular joint. They crystallize into tophi, which are condensed groupings and cause swelling, redness, warmness to the touch and pain in the joint. Prolonged episodes cause erosion to the surface of the joint which generally results in arthritis pain.

Dara Torres, Olympic swimmer with severe arthritis
Dara Torres, winner of 12 Olympic medals suffered from severe arthritis and found relief from
Olympic swimmer Dara Torres, who has won 12 medals in five Olympic games, including 3 silver medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, has recently undergone a cutting edge procedure on her knee to repair severe arthritis. She suffered chondral injury which does not spontaneously heal. Autologous chondrocyte implantation is the procedure that improved flexibility for her as it resulted in the growth of cartilage cells and bring relief and healing to the arthritis in her knee. There are two additional procedures routinely used to address this issue as well. They include microfracture and oseochondral autograft. Torres' case has shown that there is effective help available to aid in the re-growth of cartilage cells.

Conclusion
There are many top sports persons who have endured the symptoms of arthritis joint pain. Many of them have shown that with proper treatment, there are remedies available that can bring a significant relief to not only the pain and discomfort, but also an improvement in the condition by addressing the underlying causes. There are effective treatments available for arthritis. While some of them were able to go on to achieve more sports victories, others were forced to retire from their respective sports. Those who seemed to be the most successful at recovering some of their mobility were those with positive attitudes who sought treatment as early as possible. Early treatment can help to lessen the damage that is done to the joints by degenerative arthritis. It can also provide effective ways to reduce the pain and other symptoms that are associated with arthritis.