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Understanding Arthritis


Arthritis generally refers to inflammatory diseases that occur in human joints and surrounding tissues and are caused by inflammation, infection, degeneration, trauma, or other factors. It can be divided into dozens of types. There are more than 100 million arthritis patients in our country, and the number is increasing. The clinical manifestations are redness, swelling, heat, pain, dysfunction, and joint deformities of the joints. In severe cases, it can cause joint disability and affect the quality of life of patients.

Cause

The etiology of arthritis is complex, mainly related to factors such as autoimmune reaction, infection, metabolic disorders, trauma, and degenerative diseases. According to the etiology, arthritis can be divided into bony, rheumatoid, tonic, reactive, gouty, rheumatic, purulent, etc.

classification

Many diseases can cause arthritic lesions. The common clinical arthritis are as follows:
  1. Osteoarthropathy (OA): also known as degenerative joint disease and osteoarthritis. It is more common in middle-aged and elderly people, and the onset process is mostly slow. The main reason is that the cartilage on the surface of the joint is worn away, which causes the cartilage layer to become thinner, and the joint space becomes smaller, which is likely to cause abrasion to the cartilage, resulting in a series of problems:
  • The abraded cartilage will be broken down into inflammatory substances in the joints, causing inflammation in the joints, causing joint swelling, pain, and joint deformation.
  • In order to protect this part of cartilage and stimulate the proliferation of the periosteum, human bones gradually form lip-like bony protrusions on the edges of the bones. This is called bone spurs. The proliferation of bone spurs is often painful and impaired.
    But age is not the only factor that causes bone spurs. Now patients with bone spurs are showing a trend of getting younger and younger. Students, white-collar workers, drivers, and other occupations that need to maintain a posture for a long time, due to incorrect posture, lead to a certain part of the burden. Excessive pressure can cause bone spurs over time.
    The lumbar spine, cervical spine, and knee joints are the areas with high incidence of bone spurs. This is closely related to the high frequency of use of these three areas and excessive weight bearing. Therefore, if the lumbar and cervical spine are very sore after sitting for a long time At this time, you must pay attention, you can not maintain a posture for a long time, it is best to stand up and walk around to relieve the pressure on the lumbar and cervical spine.
  • Lumbar disc protrusion
    Similar to the symptoms of bone hyperplasia, although it is also caused by the accumulation of injuries on the basis of degeneration, the causes are not the same, and they are two different diseases. Lumbar disc herniation is the rupture of the fibrous annulus of the intervertebral disc under the action of external forces, which then protrudes, stimulates and compresses the lumbar nerves, resulting in a series of clinical symptoms such as lumbar pain, numbness and pain in one or both lower limbs.
  • Rheumatologic arthritis VS rheumatoid arthritis(RA)
    Rheumatologic arthritis  is one of the main manifestations of rheumatic fever. It is a common acute or chronic inflammation of connective tissue, with a rapid onset, including sore throat, fever, and leukocytosis. Clinically, it is characterized by migratory swelling, redness, and pain in joints and muscles. Large joints of the lower extremities such as knee and ankle joints are most commonly affected, and carditis is often complicated. Its incidence is related to group A hemolytic streptococcus infection, and cold, humid and other factors can induce this disease. In short, it is infectious. It commonly involves large joints (knee joints, elbow joints, etc.) and does not cause joint deformities. There are also symptoms of ring erythema, chorea, and carditis. The treatment of Rheumatologic arthritis is mainly to eliminate streptococcal infections, and to deal with joint pain and carditis. No joint deformation was left after Rheumatologic arthritis treatment.
    RA is a type of chronic, progressive, and inflammatory autoimmune disease. The affected parts are mostly small joints of the hands, wrists and feet. The early symptoms often manifest as joint migratory pain, swelling and dysfunction. Symptoms such as joint stiffness and deformity, skeletal muscle atrophy, etc. may appear in the late stage, and may even develop into disability. This leads to complications in the cardiovascular system, nervous system and metabolic system. This shows that it is autoimmune. RA often invades small joints (especially metacarpophalangeal joints, proximal interphalangeal joints, and wrist joints), as well as other large and small joints, and often causes joint deformities in the late stage. Rheumatoid nodules and visceral diseases of the heart, lungs, kidneys, peripheral nerves and eyes may also appear. The treatment of RA aims to prevent joint destruction, protect joint function, and maximize the quality of life of patients. Use slow-acting anti-rheumatic drugs as early as possible on medication. During the period of joint pain and swelling, apply external Chinese medicine to control pain and other symptoms. When visceral complications occur, relevant treatment is given. Joint deformities will appear in the late stage of RA, and the joint deformities will not recover after treatment.
  • Gouty arthritis
    Arthritis caused by the crystallization and deposition of urate. The onset is mostly acute unilateral arthritis. The main symptoms are sudden redness, swelling and pain in the big toe of the foot. When it is painful, it is "painful". The course of the disease lasts about a week and can be relieved. The prevention method is effective anti-oxidation to prevent nucleic acid from being oxidized and decomposed, thereby reducing the production of endogenous purines (80%), and then reducing the production of uric acid. At the same time, change the lifestyle and eating habits, eat less exogenous purines such as animal offal, seafood, beer and liquor, thereby reducing the production of uric acid.
  • Ankylosing spondylitis
    Mostly manifested as spine, sacroiliac joints and other axial joint diseases. The cause of the disease is unclear, and it is generally considered to be caused by the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. The disease is more common in men, and the age of onset is usually before 40 years old. In severe cases, it can cause spine and joint deformities and affect daily life.
  • Reactive arthritis
    Inflammatory joint disease triggered by extra-articular infections such as the intestinal system and urinary system. It has a certain preventive effect to reduce infection rate and improve immunity.

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