| Arthritis can affect anyone at any age. Sadly, | | | | on the Virginia football team, knows how |
| many misconceptions about this chronic condition | | | | important bone health is. |
| remain to this day. | | | | While playing for the Little League baseball team |
| One common myth is that arthritis is just simple | | | | when he was 11, Lescanec began to suffer from |
| aches and pains that people get as they grow | | | | pain in his feet and would return from practice |
| older. In reality, anyone can get arthritis, not just | | | | with his feet bruised from wearing cleats. |
| the elderly. Even children, young adults, and | | | | "Originally I was told I had growing pains. They |
| middle-aged people can get the disease. | | | | increased throughout my body, into my fingers, |
| Many people take the health of their bones and | | | | so a kind of a last resort was to run blood tests |
| muscles for granted. Only when there is a | | | | for arthritis since it was in my family, and that's |
| problem such as a broken bone or a muscle | | | | how they found out," Lescanec said. |
| sprain do people think about these vital body | | | | Most of us have probably experienced nagging |
| systems. | | | | pain in the joints, wrist or knee. So when Natalie |
| Although osteoporosis, a disease in which bone | | | | Fuller of Australia started feeling pain in her right |
| density decreases, affects older individuals, | | | | arm, she attributed it to her busy life. But the pain |
| scientists now realize that it is important for | | | | got worse. After a battery of tests, she was |
| young people to take care of their bones because | | | | diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. |
| this can influence the onset of osteoarthritis in | | | | Fuller, 26, never thought arthritis was behind her |
| later life. Good nutrition, including adequate calcium | | | | pain. “I never really associated arthritis with |
| intake is necessary. As much as 1,300 milligrams | | | | young people like me,” she said. She is not |
| per day for children aged 9 to 18 is required for | | | | alone; it is a popular misconception that arthritis is |
| optimal bone health. | | | | an old person’s disease. Fuller now manages |
| First-year college student Bryan Lescanec, the | | | | her condition through a combination of medication, |
| 2005 Charlottesville Arthritis Walk Hero and No.14 | | | | physiotherapy, exercise and vitamins. |