Osteoarthritis or arthritis?Why is it important to know your differences?

Joint pain in the elderlyMeanwhile, these diseases have a completely different nature and a different treatment.Knowing these differences means not giving a disease the opportunity to prevail over you.

Difference 1. Problem source

Arthrosis is a degenerative process, accompanied by deformation and abrasion of the articular capsule, which allows the joints to move easily and freely.In addition to the elderly, osteoarthritis often suffers from athletes that, due to constant overloads, cartilage, that cover the surface of the joints, cracks, thinning.

Arthritis is an inflammatory disease associated with a failure in the immune system (rheumatoid arthritis), or with an intestinal genitourinary infection (reactive arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis).

Difference 2. Symptoms

Arthosis is not always declared with pain that occurs during movement or morning rigidity, which disappears after several movements.The joints affected by the first click and crunch, to which the potential victims of the disease do not pay attention, continue loading the worn joint.

Arthritis begins with acute pain, swelling, skin redness around the sick joint, fever.But at first it can occur in a hidden way.The impetus for the development of the disease can give stress, excess work, hypothermia, an infection: a cold, cystitis.

Difference 3. The nature of joint damage

Arthrosis most frequently affects leg joints (hip, knee, ankle), which represent the maximum load.

With rheumatoid arthritis, the joints of a brush or feet, the dolls suffer.Then, the elbow and knee joints are affected (usually symmetrically), and sometimes the disease affects internal organs (liver, kidneys).

With reactive arthritis, the inflammation of the joints is more often of an asymmetric nature: not both joints suffer, but one.The pain runs, as in the steps, standing on foot.

Difference 4. Treatment

Arthosis, especially in a careless state, is impossible to finally cure.But with a competent and constant intake of oral medications that stimulate cartilage regeneration, it is possible to significantly slow down its development and improve the quality of the patient's life.Anti -inflammatory medications with osteoarthritis play an auxiliary role due to their negative effect on the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract.

The arthritis of the infectious origin is completely cured if the treatment begins in time with medications that affect immunity, antibiotics.In specially severe advanced cases, the treatment course is repeated several times.

It will be necessary to treat rheumatoid arthritis for the doses of life corticosteroids, anti -inflammatory drugs, cytostatic.But other medications appear.Then, in the mid -90s, the era of genetically engineering biological medications began, which allowed the prolonged remission of the disease, as well as reducing the dose of hormonal agents.