A comprehensive guide to Arthritis, exploring its symptoms, types, causes, and effective treatment options to manage joint pain and improve mobility.
The connection between arthritis and jaw pain might not be immediately apparent because we often associate arthritis with pain and stiffness in the hands, elbows, or knees. But if you’ve been noticing pain on the sides of your face, arthritis could be the reason. “By jaw pain, we mean pain in front of the ear, up as far as the top of the ear, as low as the back part of the jaw and even…
When you think of arthritis, you might think of creaky knees or painful, swollen fingers. But if your neck is feeling stiff or you have pain when you turn your head, this neck pain may be caused by arthritis too. Like the rest of the body, the disks and joints in the neck degenerate due wear and tear. Osteoarthritis of the neck includes these changes that happen over time or because of an injury. Most…
When you think of arthritis, you tend to think of creaky knees, swollen fingers, or a stiff hip. Arthritis in the ankle doesn’t get as much attention. While arthritis doesn’t affect the ankle as commonly as other joints, it can take a significant toll on your mobility and quality of life. “Ankle arthritis can cause significant disability and affect daily living,” says Saira Bilal, MD, assistant professor of medicine at the George Washington University in…
You haven’t intentionally changed your diet or started a new exercise routine, yet your pants are getting looser and the number on the scale keeps going down. Should you celebrate — or start to worry? While unexplained weight loss might seem like a welcome surprise (especially if you’re among the two out of three Americans who are overweight or obese), it’s often a red flag. Any number of conditions could turn out to be responsible…
How well you can make a fist or squeeze someone else’s hands could reveal a lot about your own health. If the joints in your hand have recently started aching, it’s natural to worry about why. Are they just over-taxed, or could you be developing progressive autoimmune condition like rheumatoid arthritis (RA)? In 2017, the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) stated that seven factors can help doctors determine which patients with arthralgia — joint pain…
You’ve been experiencing pain in your wrists. At first you might chalk it up sleeping funny, or an overuse injury from your yoga class. But if the pain endures, and depending on the specific mix of your symptoms, you may be wondering whether it could it be carpal tunnel, a form of arthritis, or something else. For some people, however, it’s often not an either-or situation. Having arthritis raises your risk of developing carpal tunnel,…
When you have arthritis, buttoning a shirt or fastening a clasp can be a pain in the butt. So is folding laundry with achy joints, blow drying your hair, or even signing paperwork. But then there’s actual pain that can occur in your buttocks — and it may actually be caused by arthritis. The buttock is a large area, with many different structures within it, explains Claudette Lajam, MD, orthopedic surgeon with NYU Langone in…
Most types of arthritis cause swelling, but the swelling of dactylitis is something else all together. “My fingers feel like they are going to burst,” psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patient Emily Terbrock told us on Facebook. This incredibly painful, red, and hot swelling can cause fingers to look like sausages, giving dactylitis the nickname “sausage fingers.” Dactylitis, though, can be distinguished from regular joint swelling. “Dactylitis is the swelling of an entire digit — finger or…
Learn about how functional disability is often one of the early signs that you can have rheumatoid arthritis. As rheumatoid arthritis (RA) progresses, it can take quite a toll on your quality of life. Joint pain, stiffness, and inflammation worsen, and, in turn, make the normal activities of everyday life — walking around your house, taking a shower, getting dressed in the morning — a lot more challenging. While that might come as no surprise…
When the average person hears the word arthritis, chances are they think of osteoarthritis. Although there are over 100 different kinds of arthritis, osteoarthritis is the most common and well-known. It is largely a mechanical disorder that’s often caused by overuse or normal wear and tear on the joints as people get older. (However, osteoarthritis can occur at any age — the idea that osteoarthritis only affects older adults is a common myth.) Click Here…