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Sky's Angel Reese to have wrist surgery Tuesday, be in cast for six weeks - USA TODAY
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What is early arthritis? UAB experts weigh in - University of Alabama at Birmingham
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Evaluating and Adjusting Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment: Adhering to ACR Guidelines for csDMARDs and Advanced Therapies - MD Magazine
Gelsolin alleviates rheumatoid arthritis by negatively regulating NLRP3 inflammasome activation Nature.com
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Gelsolin alleviates rheumatoid arthritis by negatively regulating NLRP3 inflammasome activation - Nature.com
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The association between the aggregate index of systemic inflammation and risk of rheumatoid arthritis: retrospective analysis of NHANES 19992018 -...
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Exploring the Discrepancy Between Patient Perception and Disease Activity Assessments MD Magazine
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Do you have knee pain from osteoarthritis? You might not need surgery. Here's what to try instead ABC News
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Do you have knee pain from osteoarthritis? You might not need surgery. Here's what to try instead - ABC News
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Arthritis and other rheumatic diseases are common conditions that cause pain, swelling, and limited movement. They affect joints and connective tissues around the body. Millions of people in the U.S. have some form of arthritis.
Arthritis means redness and swelling (inflammation) of a joint. A joint is where 2 or more bones meet. There are more than 100 different arthritis diseases. Rheumatic diseases include any condition that causes pain, stiffness, and swelling in joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, or bones. Arthritis is usually ongoing (chronic).
Arthritis and other rheumatic diseases are more common in women than men. They are also often linked with old age. But they affect people of all ages.
The 2 most common forms of arthritis are:
Osteoarthritis. This is the most common type of arthritis. It is a chronic disease of the joints, especially the weight-bearing joints of the knee, hip, and spine. It destroys the coating on the ends of bones (cartilage) and narrows the joint space. It can also cause bone overgrowth, bone spurs, and reduced function. It occurs in most people as they age. It may also occur in young people because of an injury or overuse.
Rheumatoid arthritis. This is an inflammatory disease of the joint linings. The inflammation may affect all of the joints. It can also affect organs such as the heart or lungs.
Other forms of arthritis or related disorders include:
Gout. This condition causes uric acid crystals to build up in small joints, such as the big toe. It causes pain and inflammation.
Lupus. This is a chronic autoimmune disorder. It causes periods of inflammation and damage in joints, tendons, and organs.
Scleroderma. This autoimmune disease causes thickening and hardening of the skin and other connective tissue in the body.
Ankylosing spondylitis. This disease causes the bones of the spine to grow together. It can also cause inflammation in other parts of the body. It can affect the shoulders, hips, ribs, and the small joints of the hands and feet.
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) or juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). This is a form of arthritis in children that causes inflammation and joint stiffness. Children often outgrow JRA. But it can affect bone development in a growing child.
The cause depends on the type of arthritis. Osteoarthritis is caused by the wear and tear of the joint over time or because of overuse. Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and scleroderma are caused by the bodys immune system attacking the bodys own tissues. Gout is caused by the buildup of crystals in the joints. Some forms of arthritis can be linked to genes. People with genetic marker HLA-B27 have a higher risk of ankylosing spondylitis. For some other forms of arthritis, the cause is not known.
Some risk factors for arthritis that cant be avoided or changed include:
Age. The older you are, the more likely you are to have arthritis.
Gender. Women are more likely to have arthritis than men.
Heredity. Some types of arthritis are linked to certain genes.
Risk factors that may be avoided or changed include:
Weight. Being overweight or obese can damage your knee joints. This can make them more likely to develop osteoarthritis.
Injury. A joint that has been damaged by an injury is more likely to develop arthritis at some point.
Infection. Reactive arthritis can affect joints after an infection.
Your job. Work that involves repeated bending or squatting can lead to knee arthritis.
Each persons symptoms may vary. The most common symptoms include:
Pain in 1 or more joints that doesnt go away, or comes back
Warmth and redness in 1 or more joints
Swelling in 1 or more joints
Stiffness in 1 or more joints
Trouble moving 1 or more joints in a normal way
These symptoms can look like other health conditions. Always see your healthcare provider for a diagnosis.
Your healthcare provider will take your medical history and give you a physical exam. Tests may also be done. These include blood tests such as:
Antinuclear antibody (ANA) test. This checks antibody levels in the blood.
Complete blood count (CBC). This checks if your white blood cell, red blood cell, and platelet levels are normal.
Creatinine. This test checks for kidney disease.
Sedimentation rate. This test can find inflammation.
Hematocrit. This test measures the number of red blood cells.
RF (rheumatoid factor) and CCP (cyclic citrullinated peptide) antibody tests. These can help diagnose rheumatoid arthritis. They can also assess how severe the disease is.
White blood cell count. This checks the level of white blood cells in your blood.
Uric acid. This helps diagnose gout.
Other tests may be done, such as:
Joint aspiration (arthrocentesis). A small sample of synovial fluid is taken from a joint. It's tested to see if crystals, bacteria, or viruses are present.
X-rays or other imaging tests. These can tell how damaged a joint is.
Urine test. This checks for protein and different kinds of blood cells.
HLA tissue typing. This looks for genetic markers of ankylosing spondylitis.
Skin biopsy. Tiny tissue samples are removed and checked under a microscope. This test helps to diagnose a type of arthritis that involves the skin, such as lupus or psoriatic arthritis.
Muscle biopsy. Tiny tissue samples are removed and checked under a microscope. This test helps to diagnose conditions that affect muscles.
Treatment will depend on your symptoms, your age, and your general health. It will also depend on how what type of arthritis you have, and how severe the condition is. A treatment plan is tailored to each person with his or her health care provider.
There is no cure for arthritis. The goal of treatment is often to limit pain and inflammation, and help ensure joint function. Treatment plans often use both short-term and long-term methods.
Short-term treatments include:
Medications. Short-term relief for pain and inflammation may include pain relievers such as acetaminophen, aspirin, ibuprofen, or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications.
Heat and cold. Pain may be eased by using moist heat (warm bath or shower) or dry heat (heating pad) on the joint. Pain and swelling may be eased with cold (ice pack wrapped in a towel) on the joint.
Joint immobilization. The use of a splint or brace can help a joint rest and protect it from further injury.
Massage. The light massage of painful muscles may increase blood flow and bring warmth to the muscle.
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). Pain may be reduced with the use of a TENS device. The device sends mild, electrical pulses to nerve endings in the painful area. This blocks pain signals to the brain and changes pain perception.
Acupuncture. This is the use of thin needles that are inserted at specific points in the body. It may stimulate the release of natural, pain-relieving chemicals made by the nervous system. The procedure is done by a licensed health care provider.
Long-term treatments include:
Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). These prescription medications may slow down the disease and treat any immune system problems linked to the disease. Examples of these medications include methotrexate, hydroxychloroquine, sulfasalazine, and chlorambucil.
Corticosteroids. Corticosteroids reduce inflammation and swelling. These medications, such as prednisone, can be taken orally or as an injection.
Hyaluronic acid therapy. This is a joint fluid that appears to break down in people with osteoarthritis. It can be injected into a joint, such as the knee, to help relieve symptoms.
Surgery. There are many types of surgery, depending on which joints are affected. Surgery options may include arthroscopy, fusion, or joint replacement. Full recovery after surgery takes up to 6 months. A rehabilitation program after surgery is an important part of the treatment.
Arthritis treatment can include a team of health care providers, such as:
Orthopedist/orthopedic surgeon
Rheumatologist
Physiatrist
Primary care doctor (family medicine or internal medicine)
Rehabilitation nurse
Dietitian
Physical therapist
Occupational therapist
Social worker
Psychologist or psychiatrist
Recreational therapist
Vocational therapist
Because arthritis causes joints to worsen over time, it can cause disability. It can cause pain and movement problems. You may be less able to carry out normal daily activities and tasks.
There is no cure for arthritis. But its important to help keep joints working by reducing pain and inflammation. Work on a treatment plan with your healthcare provider that includes medicine and therapy. Work on lifestyle changes that can improve your quality of life. Lifestyle changes include:
Weight loss. Extra weight puts more stress on weight-bearing joints, such as the hips and knees.
Exercise. Some exercises may help reduce joint pain and stiffness. These include swimming, walking, low-impact aerobic exercise, and range-of-motion exercises. Stretching exercises may also help keep the joints flexible.
Activity and rest. To reduce stress on your joints, switch between activity and rest. This can help protect your joints and lessen your symptoms.
Using assistive devices. Canes, crutches, and walkers can help keep stress off certain joints and improve balance.
Using adaptive equipment. Reachers and grabbers let you extend your reach and reduce straining. Dressing aids help you get dressed more easily.
Managing use of medicines. Long-term use of some anti-inflammatory medicines can lead to stomach bleeding. Work with your healthcare provider to create a plan to reduce this risk.
Call your provider if your symptoms get worse or you have new symptoms.
Arthritis and other rheumatic diseases cause pain, swelling, and limited movement in joints and connective tissues in the body.
Arthritis and other rheumatic diseases can affect people of all ages. They are more common in women than men.
Symptoms may include pain, stiffness, swelling, warmth, or redness in 1 or more joints.
There is no cure for arthritis. The treatment goal is to limit pain and inflammation and preserve joint function.
Treatment options include medicines, weight reduction, exercise, and surgery.
Visit link:
Arthritis | Johns Hopkins Medicine
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis (OA) is by far the most common type of arthritis. It can damage almost any joint but mainly occurs in the hands, spine, hips and knees. OA was once considered a wear-and-tear disease in which cartilage the protective layer on the ends of bones wore down after years of use. But with further research, the thinking about OA has changed. Doctors now know that OA is a disease of the whole joint, not just cartilage. Bones in affected joints become weaker, the connective tissue that holds the joint together deteriorates and inflammation damages the joint lining. Contrary to decades of belief, inflammation plays a key role in OA, just as it does in most other types of arthritis.
Theres also a growing consensus that inflammatory OA is one of several subtypes of osteoarthritis. Other subtypes include OA associated with:
Although the prevalence of OA tends to increase with age, its not an inevitable part of growing older. You can help prevent joint problems by staying active, maintaining a healthy weight and limiting foods that stoke inflammation like red meat, highly processed foods and sugar. Better bets? Berries, leafy greens, wild salmon, whole grains and olive oil.
If you already have mild to moderate joint pain and stiffness, regular physical activity, hot and cold therapies, judicious use of over-the-counter pain relievers and assistive devices may help manage your symptoms.
When joint symptoms are severe, causing limited mobility and affecting quality of life, you may want to discuss a surgical solution with your doctor.
Autoimmune Inflammatory Arthritis
A healthy immune system is protective. It generates inflammation to clear infections and heal injuries. But in inflammatory arthritis, the immune system is overactive, attacking healthy tissue, including joints in the spine, hands and feet. In some people, inflammation becomes systemic, damaging the eyes, skin, heart and other organs. Many, but not all types of inflammatory arthritis are considered autoimmune diseases because the immune system loses the ability to distinguish self from not-self and attacks the body its supposed to protect.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common form of autoimmune inflammatory arthritis. Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), gout and juvenile arthritis are less common and can be more challenging to diagnose.
Its not known what causes inflammatory arthritis in every person, but the general consensus is that something in the environment a virus, stress or smoking, for examples can trigger it in people who are genetically predisposed. Recent research has also highlighted the complex and critical role of gut microbes in immune-related inflammatory diseases like RA and PsA.
The trillions of mostly friendly bugs that live in your gut, skin and mouth, collectively called the microbiome, regulate immune cells throughout the body and shape how the immune system functions in various diseases. When these vast microbial communities get out of balance due to poor diet, antibiotic treatment, stress or some other factor, they may no longer regulate the immune response in a normal way. This is thought to be one of the key contributing factors to RA and other autoimmune-related inflammatory conditions.
With autoimmune and inflammatory types of arthritis, early diagnosis and treatment are critical. Slowing disease activity can help minimize or prevent permanent joint damage as well as reduce pain and improve function and quality of life. Remission (defined as little to no disease activity) is always the goal, but low disease activity may be a more realistic target for some people.
This is usually best achieved with a combination of medications and a healthy lifestyle regular exercise, restful sleep, healthy food choices and less stress. The medication depends on the type of arthritis, the severity of symptoms and how well someone responds to a particular drug. For some people, the first medicine tried may not be the best fit. And some arthritis drugs can have unpleasant side effects or lose their effectiveness over time. It may take a few tries to find the right medication.
Infectious Arthritis
A bacterial, viral or fungal infection triggers infectious arthritis. It usually starts when an infection from another part of the body travels to a joint, usually the knee. Symptoms like swelling, pain and fever can be sudden and intense, but treatment with antibiotics or antifungals usually clears the infection pretty quickly. Most viral infections last a week or two and go away on their own. Some people with infectious arthritis may need to have their joint fluid drained to remove infected synovial fluid, reduce pain and inflammation and prevent joint damage.
Gout (Metabolic Arthritis)
Metabolic or gouty arthritis commonly known as gout results from a buildup in joints of painful uric acid crystals. These are a byproduct of the breakdown of purines substances normally found in human cells and many foods, especially red meat, organ meats, some seafoods and alcohol. Normally the body gets rid of excess uric acid, but when it doesnt, it can accumulate in joints, causing sudden and intense bouts of pain, especially the big toe.
However, most people with high uric acid levels never develop gout and many gout patients have normal uric acid. Some research suggests that certain factors in addition to uric acid might trigger gout. Possible culprits include damage from OA, disruptions in the microbiome and even white blood cells in the fluid inside joints.
Some people experience only one gout attack, or flare, and never have other symptoms. They dont typically require medication. People who have more than one gout flare or severe symptoms are typically prescribed uric acid-lowering drugs. Those drugs can have serious side effects (and may not address the real problem), so in addition to taking medication, patients are advised to adopt a mostly plant-based, low-purine diet, rich in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, olive oil and low-purine fish.
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What Is Arthritis? | Arthritis Foundation
Procedure to Surgery for Arthritis Is Recommended After First Failed Non-Operative Therapy DocWire News
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Procedure to Surgery for Arthritis Is Recommended After First Failed Non-Operative Therapy - DocWire News
Sarcopenia, an age-related loss of muscle mass and depletion of strength and performance, is significantly more common in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) when compared with controls when assessed using the updated European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP2)criteria. Further, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH)definition showed a higher proportion of participants with sarcopenia in individuals with high body mass index (BMI) and fat mass, regardless of RA diagnosis, according to a study published in Rheumatic & Musculoskeletal Diseases.1
Currently, no consensus definition for sarcopenia exists, investigators explained. However, all definitions proposed recently include the assessment of muscle mass and muscle strength, yet different thresholds are being applied to determine these parameters. Hence, the existing data on the prevalence of sarcopenia vary, depending on the definition used and the respective population studied. However, it is well known that sarcopenia increases with advanced age. Whereas the amount of sarcopenia is found to be around 15% in 65 years, it rises up to 40% in 85-year-old healthy ambulatory subjects.
The single-center, cross-sectional study, performed at the CharitUniversittsmedizin Berlin, included 289 adult patients with RA. Appendicular lean was measured via dual x-ray absorptiometry and muscle function, including chair rise time, gait speed, and grip strength was assessed. EWGSOP2 and FNIH assessed the prevalence of sarcopenia. Patients with RA were then compared with a cohort of healthy controls (n = 280).
The mean age of patients in the RA cohort was 59 years, 80% were women, the median disease duration was 9 years, and most had a low disease activity score. Among patients with RA, 4.5%, (59.411.3 years) were affected by sarcopenia, compared with 0.4% of controls (62.911.9 years) by EWGSOP2 definition. Of those with RA, body weight (odds ratio [OR] 0.92, 95% CI 0.86 to 0.97), BMI (OR 0.70, 95% CI 0.57 to 0.87), disease duration (OR 1.08, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.36), current medication with glucocorticoids (OR 5.25, 95% CI 2.14 to 24.18), cumulative dose of prednisone equivalent (OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.05), C reactive protein (CRP) (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.10), and Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) (OR 2.50, 95% CI 1.27 to 4.86) were associated with a sarcopenia diagnosis.
However, when using the FNIH definition, 2.8% of patients with RA and 0.7% of controls were affected by sarcopenia. In these participants, smaller body height (OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.64 to 0.88), higher BMI (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.41), higher CRP (OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.11), and higher HAQ (OR 2.77, 95% CI 1.17 to 6.59) were linked to sarcopenia.
The cross-sectional design of the study, which did not allow for the determination of a causal relationship between sarcopenia and contributing factors, limited the study. Applying the same criteria to a control group without inflammatory disease showed that patients with RA are more likely to be affected by sarcopenia, low lean mass, and poor muscle function. However, it could not be determined whether patients with joint pain or joint destruction, caused by RA, impacted grip strength. Therefore, assessments may have been influenced by factors unrelated to muscle function. Future studies should evaluate the influence of pain and erosive lesions. Other studies are needed to determine risk factors and cut-off values for muscle mass and muscle function.
This research is a first step towards a deeper understanding of defining low muscle mass by using different muscle mass indices, investigators concluded. The 2 definitions were found to respond differently to the anthropometric characteristics of the cohort, resulting in different rates of prevalence. This shows the importance of a common definition of sarcopenia and the need for reliable methods to determine low muscle mass and the inclusion of muscle function.
Reference:
Dietzel R, Wiegmann S, Borucki D, et al. Prevalence of sarcopenia in patients with rheumatoid arthritis using the revised EWGSOP2 and the FNIH definition.RMD Open. 2022;8(2):e002600. doi:10.1136/rmdopen-2022-002600
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Higher Prevalence of Sarcopenia Reported in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis - Rheumatology Network