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Rheumatoid Arthritis: Degenerative Joint Disease

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Arthritis is broadly defined as painful inflammation of the joints, however there are approximately 100 different types of arthritis, including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that is the most chronic joint condition and affects approximately 33 million people. It results from the overuse of joints, is associated with aging, may be the consequence of demanding sports where may be injured, or obesity (Guilak, 2011). Osteoarthritis is most common in joints that bear weight, such as the spine, hips, knees and feet. Symptoms associated with osteoarthritis are localized pain while symptoms such as feeling ill and fatigue or tiredness are typically not present as other …show more content…
Rheumatoid arthritis, or RA, is an autoimmune disease, meaning the immune system attacks parts of the body, typically the joints (Cooney et al., 2011). Overtime, chronic inflammation may lead to severe joint damage and deformities, possibly resulting in lumps on the patient’s skin, often over joints that receive pressure such as knuckles, elbows or heels. These lumps occur in approximately one in five patients and are called rheumatoid nodules. Unlike osteoarthritis, symptoms of RA include more severe pain, fatigue, loss of appetite and stiffness in hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, knees, ankles, feet, jaw and neck. Typically RA pain occurs in multiple joints at one time (Cooney et al., 2011). Similarly, these pains tend to be observed in a symmetrical patters, for example, if the left knee is inflamed, the right knee will also be inflamed. Over a period of time, joint pain will accumulate numerous joints and become warm to the touch. This pain may also interfere with activities such as opening a jar, if joint swelling is persistent (Cooney et al., 2011). As the patient with RA becomes elderly, stiffness on arising in the morning may last for hours or even most of the day rather than just as a temporary nuisance. The fatigue associated with RA may become debilitating while the inflammation may cause reduced appetite and …show more content…
Psoriatic arthritis affects only approximately 3% of the population, however those that do have this form of arthritis, present with patchy, raised, red and white areas of skin inflammation with scaling (Coates et al. 2010). PsA causes sausage-like swelling of fingers and toes along with pitted or discoloured fingernails. Contrary to the other two types of arthritis mentioned above, PsA often has joint pain in only one, or few joints. For example, fingers and toes may be affected or just the spine or knee. Combinations of numerous joint pains are uncommon. The skin disease associated with psoriatic arthritis, often appears separately from the arthritis and usually develops between the ages of 30 and 50 (Coates et al.

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