yogabook / pathologie / arthritis

Arthritis

Definition of

Inflammation of one (monoarthritis) or several joints. If only a few joints are affected, it is referred to as oligoarthritis; if many joints are affected, it is called polyarthritis. Arthritis should not be confused with osteoarthritis, a non-inflammatory degenerative process of joint wear and tear, even if inflammatory phases („activated osteoarthritis“) can occur as part of osteoarthritis. Be careful with English-language literature, where the term arthritis is used more unspecifically, for example for joint complaints of various causes, including osteoarthritis.

Cause

infectious/post-infectious causes:

1. purulent, bacterial arthritis (also: joint empyema, pyarthrosis): (post-)traumatic, hematogenous or iatrogenic
2. Post-infectious arthritis, often of the hip (coxitis fugax)
3. Osteoarthritis (mostly osteoarthritis)
4. Osteomyelitis spreading to the joint
5. Joint tuberculosis
6. Tabic arthropathy (stage 3 of syphilis)
7. Lyme arthritis (Lyme disease)
8. Reiter’s disease
9. rheumatic fever (streptococcal infection)

autoimmunological causes „rheumatoform“:

1. Goutyarthritis
2. rheumatoid arthritis(chronic polyarthritis(CP, or primary chronic polyarthritis, pcP, „true rheumatism“)
3. Psoriaticarthritis
4. Bechterew’s disease (ankylosing spondylitis)
5. Concomitant arthritis, e.g. in Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and Whipple’s disease

Symptoms

1. Joint pain