Advanced arthritis can make mobility difficult, including the ability to perform everyday activities. Ideally, you would see your physician before your condition is in the advanced stages.
Your doctor will listen to your symptoms and evaluate your medical and family history. A doctor may order further testing, such as blood, urine, joint fluid tests, or imaging studies x-rays or ultrasound.
These tests can help determine what type of arthritis you have. Your doctor may also use imaging tests to identify areas of injury or joint breakdown. Imaging tests include X-rays, ultrasound, or magnetic resonance imaging scans. This can also help rule out other conditions.
Your doctor may prescribe medication, recommend surgery, and encourage you to do physical therapy. At home you can ease arthritis pain by taking a warm shower, doing gentle stretching exercises, and using an ice pack on the sore area. Your doctor may initially treat OA with conservative methods. These include topical or oral over-the-counter pain relievers, or icing or warming the affected joint.
You may also be encouraged to engage in physical therapy exercises to strengthen the muscles around the joint. If your osteoarthritis continues to advance, surgery may be recommended to repair or replace the joint. Joint replacement procedures are more common for large joints, such as the knees and hips.
How to treat OA ». Doctors treat rheumatoid arthritis with medications that stop your immune system from attacking the joints. Other goals of treatment include relieving symptoms, preventing further damage and improve your overall being. Examples of these medications include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids, and DMARDs. In serious cases of RA, your doctor may recommend surgery. Read more: The anti-inflammatory diet for RA ». Doctors treat gout by recommending a low sugar, purine, and alcohol-free diet.
Purines are a precursor to uric acid, a buildup of which can lead to joint pain. In some instances, your doctor may prescribe medications to treat gout, such as the following:. Read more: 9 ways to relieve arthritis pain naturally ». Talk to your doctor about your treatment options. Treatments for arthritis can be specific to the type of arthritis. Arthritis affects tens of millions of Americans. Learn about some of the conditions and injuries that can cause your joints to swell, from arthritis to bone fractures.
Arthrosis and arthritis are conditions that affect your bones, ligaments, and joints. Learn about the differences and how to treat them. There are more than different types of arthritis. Read about splinting and our roundup of options to help you find the best thumb brace for you. DISH disease is form of arthritis that primarily affects the spine. Rheumatoid arthritis RA , on the other hand, is an autoimmune disease where the body's own defenses attack the normal joint lining.
In this type of arthritis, inflammation in the joint lining and within the bones leads to joint damage, especially to the cartilage. Other relatively common causes of arthritis include injuries, abnormal limb alignment, infections, autoimmune conditions other than rheumatoid arthritis and abnormal deposits in the joints, such as in gout.
Some type of arthritis affects over 40 million people in the United States. More than half of those people have degenerative joint disease. Almost 60 percent of those affected by arthritis are women. While arthritis mainly occurs in adults, children can be at risk of certain types of arthritis such as those caused from injury and autoimmune diseases. Although any joint in the body can be affected, particular forms of arthritis have a tendency to occur in certain parts of the body.
For example, rheumatoid arthritis commonly affects the wrists and knuckles, feet, neck, and larger joints in the limbs while degenerative joint disease may affect the thumb bases, finger joints, knees, hips, shoulders, and lower spine. Other forms of arthritis target mostly the joints in the spine. When diagnosing arthritis, your doctor will likely do a complete physical examination of your entire body, including your spine, joints, skin and eyes.
You may undergo blood tests to detect markers of inflammation. In cases where an infection or gout is suspected, it may be useful to draw some fluid from a joint with a needle in order to analyze the contents of the material. In addition, your physician may order one or more of the following imaging tests:. Treatment for arthritis depends on the type, severity and location of the disorder.
Common treatments include:. Please type your comment or suggestion into the text box below. Note: we are unable to answer specific questions or offer individual medical advice or opinions. Some imaging tests and treatments have special pediatric considerations. The teddy bear denotes child-specific content.
Please contact your physician with specific medical questions or for a referral to a radiologist or other physician. To locate a medical imaging or radiation oncology provider in your community, you can search the ACR-accredited facilities database. JIA causes pain and inflammation in 1 or more joints for at least 6 weeks. Although the exact cause of JIA is unknown, the symptoms often improve as a child gets older, meaning they can lead a normal life.
It affects up to 4 joints in the body, most commonly in the knees, ankles and wrists. Oligo-articular JIA often goes away without causing long-term joint damage. But there's a risk that children with the condition may develop eye problems, so regular eye tests with an eyecare specialist called an ophthalmologist are recommended. It can affect a child of any age and may come on suddenly or develop gradually.
The symptoms of polyarticular JIA are similar to the symptoms of adult rheumatoid arthritis. A child with the condition may also feel unwell and may occasionally have a high temperature of 38C or above. Systemic onset JIA begins with symptoms such as a fever, rash, a lack of energy and enlarged glands.
Later on, joints can become swollen and inflamed. Enthesitis-related arthritis is a type of juvenile arthritis that often affects the joints of the leg and spine, causing inflammation where the tendons attach to the bone.
It's also linked to a painful eye condition called acute uveitis. Versus Arthritis has more information about the different types of juvenile idiopathic arthritis. There's no cure for arthritis, but there are many treatments that can help slow it down. Osteoarthritis treatments include lifestyle changes, medicines and surgery. Treatment for rheumatoid arthritis aims to slow the condition's progress and minimise joint inflammation. This helps prevent joint damage.
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