Arthritis

Arthritis - inflammation of one or more joints, which results in pain, swelling, stiffness, and limited movement. There are over 100 different types of arthritis:

• Achilles Tendonitis - arthritis resulting from problem and overuse of the Achilles tendon
• Acromegaly - chronic metabolic disorder, characterized by excessive growth hormone levels causing the body tissues to gradually enlarge
• Achondroplastic Dwarfism - a rare bone-growth disorder
• Adhesive Capsulitis (Frozen Shoulder) - shoulder arthritis due to shoulder joint inflammation causing greatly reduced movement and stiffness.
• Adult Still's Disease - rare autoimmune disease affecting young people and adults, characterized by fevers, rashes and joint pain
• Ankylosing Spondylitis - arthritis of spine and pelvis
• Anserine Bursitis
• Arthropathy - genetic disease that affects joints
• Avascular Necrosis
• Behcet's syndrome
• Bicipital tendinitis
• Blount's disease
• Brucellar spondylitis
• Bursitis
• Calcaneal bursitis
• Calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate (CPPD)
• Crystal deposition disease
• Caplan's syndrome
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Chondrocalcinosis
• Chondromalacia patellae
• Chronic Arthritis
• Chronic Synovitis - a form of knee arthritis where the synovium membrane is inflammed
• Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis
• Churg-Strauss syndrome
• Cogan's syndrome
• Corticosteroid-induced osteoporosis
• Costosternal syndrome
• CREST syndrome
• Cryoglobulinemia
• Degenerative joint disease
• Dermatomyositis
• Diabetic finger sclerosis
• Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH)
• Discitis - lower back pain caused by bacterial infection that causes disc compression in children and the elderly
• Discoid lupus erythematosus
• Drug-induced lupus
• Duchenne's muscular dystrophy
• Dupuytren's contracture
• Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
• Enteropathic arthritis - arthritis resulting from digestion problems
• Epicondylitis - tennis elbow and general elbow joint problems
• Erosive inflammatory osteoarthritis
• Exercise-induced compartment syndrome
• Fabry's disease
• Familial Mediterranean fever
• Farber's lipogranulomatosis
• Felty's syndrome
• Fibromyalgia
• Fifth's disease
• Flat feet
• Foreign body synovitis
• Freiberg's disease
• Fungal arthritic infections such as blastomycosis
• Gaucher's disease
• Giant cell arteritis
• Gonococcal arthritis
• Goodpasture's syndrome
• Gout
• Granulomatous arteritis
• Hemarthrosis
• Hemochromatosis
• Henoch-Schonlein purpura
• Hepatitis B surface antigen disease
• Hip dysplasia
• Hurler syndrome
• Hypermobility syndrome
• Hypersensitivity vasculitis
• Hypertrophic osteoarthropathy
• Immune complex disease

• Impingement syndrome
• Jaccoud's arthropathy
• Juvenile ankylosing spondylitis
• Juvenile dermatomyositis
• Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (in children)
• Juvenile Still's Disease
• Kawasaki disease
• Kienbock's disease
• Legg-Calve-Perthes disease
• Lesch-Nyhan syndrome
• Linear scleroderma - child disorder affecting parts of skin and bones underneath
• Lipoid dermatoarthritis
• Lofgren's syndrome
• Lyme disease
• Malignant synovioma
• Marfan's syndrome
• Medial plica syndrome
• Metastatic carcinomatous arthritis
• Mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD)
• Mixed cryoglobulinemia
• Mucopolysaccharidosis
• Multicentric reticulohistiocytosis
• Multiple epiphyseal dysplasia
• Mycoplasmal arthritis
• Myofascial pain syndrome - muscle pain problem that worstens over time
• Neonatal lupus
• Neuropathic arthropathy
• Nodular panniculitis
• Ochronosis
• Olecranon bursitis
• Osgood-Schlatter's disease
• Osteoarthritis
• Osteochondromatosis
• Osteogenesis Imperfecta (Brittle Bones) - genetic disease causing weak and brittle bones, resulting in bone deformation and easily broken bones
• Osteomalacia
• Osteomyelitis - bone infection caused by bacteria infestation that can occur in infants, children, and adults
• Osteonecrosis
• Osteoporosis
• Overlap syndrome
• Other bacterial infections (nongonococcal bacterial arthritis)
• Pachydermoperiostosis Paget's disease of bone
• Pagets Disease
• Palindromic rheumatism
• Patellofemoral pain syndrome
• Pellegrini-Stieda syndrome
• Pigmented villonodular synovitis
• Piriformis syndrome
• Plantar fasciitis
• Polyarteritis nodos
• Polymyalgia rheumatica
• Polymyositis
• Popliteal cysts
• Posterior tibial tendinitis
• Pott's disease
• Prepatellar bursitis
• Prosthetic joint infectio
• Pseudoxanthoma elasticum
• Psoriatic arthritis - arthritis that develops from a skin condition called psoriasis
• Raynaud's phenomenon
• Reactive arthritis (Reiter syndrome)
• Reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome
• Relapsing polychondritis
• Retrocalcaneal bursitis
• Rheumatoid arthritis (in adults)
• Rheumatoid vasculitis
• Rheumatic fever
• Rotator cuff tendinitis
• Sacroiliitis
• Salmonella osteomyelitis
• Sarcoidosis
• Saturnine gout
• Scheuermann's osteochondritis
• Scleroderma
• Septic arthritis
• Seronegative arthritis
• Shigella arthritis
• Shoulder-hand syndrome
• Sickle cell arthropathy
• Sjogren's syndrome
• Slipped capital femoral epiphysis
• Spinal Canal Stenosis - compression and narrowing of the spinal canal that puts pressure and pinches the nerves going down to the hips and legs
• Spondylolysis
• Staphylococcus arthritis
• Stickler syndrome
• Stiff Joints (Arthralgia) - reduced range of motion and stiffness of joints
• Subacute cutaneous lupus
• Sweet's syndrome
• Sydenham's chorea
• Syphilitic arthritis
• Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)
• Takayasu's arteritis
• Tarsal tunnel syndrome
• Tennis elbow
• Tertiary Lyme disease
• Tietse's syndrome
• Transient osteoporosis
• Traumatic arthritis
• Trochanteric bursitis
• Tuberculosis arthritis
• Arthritis of Ulcerative colitis
• Undifferentiated connective tissue syndrome (UCTS)
• Urticarial vasculitis
• Viral arthritis
• Wegener's granulomatosis
• Whipple's disease
• Wilson's syndrome - Wilsons syndrome is an inherited disorder in which there is an overproduction or absorbtion of copper in the body, damaging the liver and nervous system
• Yersinial arthritis

Why Arthritis Happens

• An autoimmune disease (the body attacks itself because the immune system believes a body part is foreign)
• Broken bones
• Part of the aging process
• General "wear and tear" on joints
• Infection (usually caused by bacteria or viruses)

People with arthritis experience:

• Joint pain
• Joint swelling
• Reduced ability to move the joint
• Redness of the skin around a joint
• Stiffness, especially in the morning
• Warmth around a joint

Arthritis Treatment

Treatment depends on

• Which joints are affected
• Severity of the pain and deterioration
• Hw the condition affects your daily activities
• Age
• Sometimes occupation

If possible, treatment will focus on eliminating the underlying cause of the arthritis. However, the cause is NOT necessarily curable, as with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Treatment, therefore, aims at reducing your pain and discomfort and preventing further disability.

It is possible to greatly improve your symptoms from osteoarthritis and other long-term types of arthritis without medications. Making lifestyle changes without medications is preferable for osteoarthritis and other forms of joint inflammation.

Exercise and Arthritis

Exercise is necessary at all time, and specially for arthritis patients to maintain healthy joints, relieve stiffness, reduce pain and fatigue, and improve muscle and bone strength. A therapist might help you tailor your exercise program to deal with your individual condition. A typical routine includes:

• Low-impact aerobic activity
• Exercise to increase core strength
• Yoga, tai chi, geritonics, or pilates
• Range of motion exercises for flexibility
• Strength training for muscle tone

Additional treatments may include

• Heat and cold treatments
• Water therapy
• Ice massage
• Transcutaneous nerve stimulation (TENS)

Rest is just as important as exercise. Sleeping 8 to 10 hours per night and taking naps during the day can help you recover from a flare-up more quickly and may even help prevent exacerbations. You should also:

• Avoid holding one position for too long
• Reduce stress
• Apply capsaicin cream to the skin over your painful joints
• Avoid positions or movements putting extra stress on your affected joints
• Adjust home activities to make them easier
• Try meditation
• Clucosamine and chondroitin to help form the building blocks of cartilage

Diet Considerations:

• Get plenty of fruits and vegetables rich in vitamins and minerals, especially antioxidants like vitamin E
• Get selenium from Brewer's yeast, wheat germ, garlic, whole grains, sunflower seeds, and nuts
• Omega-3 fatty acids from cold water fish (like salmon, mackerel, and herring), flaxseed, rapeseed (canola) oil, soybeans, soybean oil, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts

Medications to Help with Arthritis

At first, patients may try anti-inflammatory drugs available without prescription like Aspirin, Ibuprofen, or Naproxen. However, they have many potential risks, especially if used for a long time. They should not be taken in any amount without consulting your doctor. Potential side effects include heart attack, stroke, stomach ulcers, bleeding from the digestive tract, and kidney damage. Tylenol can provide significant relief of arthritis pain without many of the side effects of prescription drugs.

Prescription Medications to Help with Arthritis

• Biologics - medications administered by injection that can dramatically reduce pain
• Corticosteroids (steroids) - medications injected into painful osteoarthritic joints that suppress the immune system and symptoms of inflammation. Steroids are used to treat autoimmune forms of arthritis but should be avoided in infectious arthritis. Steroids should be taken in small doases as they have multiple side effects:
  • Upset stomach
  • Gastrointestinal bleeding
  • Increased blood pressure
  • Thinning of bones
  • Cataracts
  • Weaker immune system and ncreased infections
• Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors - medicines haveing an inflammation-promoting enzyme called COX-2. However, numerous reports of heart attacks and stroke have prompted the FDA to re-evaluate the risks and benefits of the COX-2s. These medicines should only be prescribed rarely and in minimal amounts
• Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs - these have been used traditionally to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune causes of arthritis. More recently, methotrexate has been shown to slow the progression of rheumatoid arthritis and improve your quality of life. Methotrexate itself can be highly toxic and requires frequent blood tests for patients on the medication
• Immunosuppressants - drugs like azathioprine or cyclophosphamide, used for serious cases of rheumatoid arthritis when other medications have failed

Surgery to Help with Arthritis

If exercise, therapy or medications are no longer effective, surgery to rebuild the joint (arthroplasty) or to replace the joint may be an option. As the last step before surgery, a doctor may inject the arthritic joint with fluids that help lubricate the arthritic joints. The synthetic fluid may postpone the need for surgery at least temporarily and improve the quality of life for persons with arthritis.

Chronic and Severe Arthritis

Chronic arthritis is a condition when the inflammation does not go away or there is long-term pain and deformity. Osteoarthritis is the most common type of chronic arthritis and is more common in the older population.