What are the goals and principles in arthritis therapy?

What arthritis?: For rheumatoid arthritis the goal, is to stop the progression of the disease with medicines like methotrexate, plaquanil, sulfalazines and others. For osteoarthritis the goal is to aliviate pain, improve function. Only preventing repetitive or occupational injuries to joints may prevent some of the disease, but otherwise there is no proven medicine to stop the progression of oa.

Prevent damage: 100 kinds of arthritis all inflame and may damage, some cripple if not the joint, the other organs. Early treatment with correct diagnosis essential to prevent damage and crippling and disability, particularly in RA ( rheumatoid arthritis) the most common destructive arthritis.