While arthrosis is a so-called mechanical disease, related to aging, arthritis is characterized by inflammation of one or more joints, which can affect people of all ages.
The number of affected joints and their location varies from one person to another and depending on the type of disease.
Often, the inflammation specific to arthritis is related to an autoimmune disease. Genetic and environmental factors are also involved, as well as various infections.
There are several forms of arthritis, among the most common are rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, gout, and infectious arthritis.
The particularities of arthritic pain
Arthritis joint pains are more intense at night. Sometimes the pain is so strong that it can wake the person from sleep.
Other symptoms of arthritis are:
- redness,
- heat and swelling of the joints,
- limitation of movements at the level of the affected joints.
Children can also have the disease
Around 2,000 children in our country have juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Limitation of movement, pain, and swelling of the joints are typical symptoms of the disease.
The treatment, which includes drugs that inhibit inflammation, aims to improve the symptoms, with the objectives of preserving the function of the joints and preventing deformations.
“Arthritis is an acute or chronic disease of a joint, of an infectious nature, which affects the synovium (the internal lining of the joint).
It is characterized by swelling, pain, redness, warming of the joint, and often by a collection of fluid. This fluid can be yellowish or purulent if it contains microbes. In some cases, arthritis is accompanied by fever. Arthritis can also have non-infectious causes: allergy, gout, or trauma.” (Excerpt from the book “Medical diseases and analyzes for everyone”, by Dr. Ioan Năstoiu, ed. Niculescu, 2015)
