People with the autoimmune disease psoriatic arthritis usually also have the skin condition psoriasis—but not always. Experts in the field of psoriatic arthritis have long faced a chicken-and-egg question: Can you have psoriatic arthritis without having psoriasis first? Some say yes. Some say no. Others say yes and no.
Read more: Is It Possible to Have Psoriatic Arthritis Without Psoriasis?
Along with joint pain and swelling, about four out of 10 people with RA have related problems in other body parts, says Eric Matteson, MD, professor of medicine and chair of the department of rheumatology at Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn. RA can decrease life expectancy, but “with modern therapies, we are seeing less rheumatoid disease outside of the joints, and patients are living longer,” he says.
Here, 10 different body parts, how they're affected by RA, and what helps the symptoms.
"Pain is a signal that your arthritis is active, and we don't want to just treat the pain, we want to treat the problem." Psoriatic arthritis is a type of inflammatory arthritis that can occur in people who have psoriasis. It can include anything from arthritis of the small joints of the hands to inflammatory arthritis of the spine to Achilles tendinitis.
Read more: A Doctor Answers Your Questions About Psoriatic Arthritis
Sciatica is leg pain caused by a pinched nerve in the lower back. Although the pangs begin in nerve roots located on either side of the lower spine, they then course through the sciatic nerve, which runs the length of each leg from the buttock down to the foot. The leg agony, called radiculopathy, “is often worse than the back pain,” says William A. Abdu, MD, medical director of the Spine Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Usually felt in one leg, the sensation “can be intolerable,” says Birgit Ruppert, a physical therapist at the Spine Center. “Some people liken it to the nerve pain you experience if you have a toothache.”
Regular exercise can help aging adults avoid becoming more physically frail as they age, according to a study published in the Journal of Physiology.
Researchers from King’s College London and the University of Birmingham recruited 95 cycling enthusiasts aged 55 to 79 years in order to assess how the aging process affects the human body. The researchers subsequently tried to determine which physiological markers can be used to determine age.
Due to overlapping clinical and immunologic features between Chikungunya virus and rheumatoid arthritis’ (RA) symptoms, Washington University in St. Louis researchers warn rheumatologists to be alert for potential misdiagnoses.
Spreading from Caribbean and Central and South America to FL, the mosquito-borne virus’ infection results in joint pain and swelling similar to RA that can last anywhere from days to over a year, according to a WUSTL press release.
Read more: Misdiagnosis Likely Due to Virus, Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptom Overlap
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