The only nationwide non-profit organization dealing with the control of arthritis through making of strenuous efforts leading to better control as well as prevention and possibly finding a cure for arthritis is known as the Arthritis Foundation. It is dealing with America's number one cause of disability and has more than five hundred thousand volunteers as well as one hundred fifty service points spread throughout the country. The Arthritis Foundation has a number of programs as well as services that it offers to anyone wishing to control their arthritis condition.

Cutting Edge Research

You can also get written information on the disease from the Arthritis Foundation in the form of detailed booklets as well as books about how best to cope with and in fact, live with arthritis. They also publish a magazine called Arthritis Today that is issued twice in a month. The Arthritis Foundation came into existence in 1948, and it has put in more than three hundred million dollars (it is believed) in research as well as for supporting its over two thousand scientists and other health professionals who are responsible for conducting cutting edge research on arthritis.

The Arthritis Foundation is also there to ensure public policy as well as to advocate efforts to support its mission of bettering the lives of those that are affected by arthritis. It is believed that this would help the, it is believed, seventy million Americans that have been affected by arthritis as well as chronic joint problems, of which there are included about three hundred thousand children affected.

It is also believed that 8.4 million young people between eighteen years and forty-four have arthritis and there are many more millions at risk of being affected by this condition making arthritis the number one disease that results in Americans becoming disabled. There is no other organization except the Arthritis Foundation that has its mission and stated goal to control, prevent as well as possibly find a cure for arthritis as well as its associated diseases.

There is little doubt that arthritis has a deep impact on society and it may cost, it is believed, as much as more than eighty billion dollars each year, and such costs can be categorized into direct costs, indirect costs as well as intangible costs. The direct costs relate to medical costs including paying physicians, while indirect costs refer to things such as lost wages due to disabilities. Intangible costs too add up and consist of such things such as wanting a spouse or relative to care for you as also spending money to remodel your home to suit your changed needs.

It is to take charge of the problem of arthritis that organizations such as the Arthritis Foundation come in handy, and it is serving a very special need for arthritis patients as well as for the handling of the disease itself.