What is arthritis?

Cartilage damage: Arthritis is a progressive damage to the cartilage in your joints. It can be cause by several things including wear and tear, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis among others. When the cartilage is damaged, there is increasing pressure on the bone that leads to bone spurs. There is also an increase in the chemicals that trigger inflammation, which causes pain.

Inflammed joint : Arthritis means inflammation of your joints. Many types like RA, OA,Spondyloarthropaty group which includes: psoriatic arthritis, reactive arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, arthritis associated to inflammatory bowel diseases. Others: crystalline arthritis: gout and pseudogout. Inflammatory arthritis due to lupus, Sjogrens and MCTD. Arthritis due to infections like septic arthritis or due to Lyme.

Cartilage damage: The are multiple types of arthritis, but they all share the common theme of damage of the cartilage cushion in the joint leading to varying degrees of pain and disability.

Inflammation: or deterioration of joint cartilage. The deterioration can occur because of inflammation (rheumatoid arthritis and many others) or previous injury, trauma, and obesity. If you have joint pain, see your PCP or a doctor in rheumatology!