28/07/2025
Do you have Rheumatoid Arthritis or Osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis (OA) is caused by aging joints, injury, and obesity. OA symptoms include joint pain and stiffness. Treatment depends on the affected joint, including the hand, wrist, neck, back, knee, and hip, and involves medication and exercise. If you are overweight, weight loss may improve OA symptoms.
Causes
Primary osteoarthritis is mostly related to aging. With aging, the water content of the cartilage increases and the protein makeup of cartilage degenerates. Repetitive use of the joints over the years causes damage to the cartilage that leads to joint pain and swelling. Eventually, cartilage begins to degenerate by flaking or forming tiny crevasses. In advanced cases, there is a total loss of the cartilage cushion between the bones of the joints. Loss of cartilage cushion causes friction between the bones, leading to pain and limitation of joint mobility.
Secondary osteoarthritis is caused by another disease or condition. Conditions that can lead to secondary osteoarthritis include obesity, repeated trauma or surgery to the joint structures, abnormal joints at birth (congenital abnormalities), gout, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and other hormone disorders.
Symptoms
Osteoarthritis is a disease of the joints. Unlike many other forms of arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus, osteoarthritis does not affect other organs of the body.
The most common symptom of osteoarthritis is pain in the affected joints after repetitive use. Joint pain is usually worse later in the day. There can be swelling, warmth, and creaking of the affected joints. Pain and stiffness of the joints can also occur after long periods of inactivity, for example, sitting in a theater. In severe osteoarthritis, complete loss of cartilage causes friction between bones, causing pain at rest or pain with limited motion.
Diagnosis
Blood tests, X-rays, MRIs: there are many ways of diagnosing osteoarthritis.
Treatment
Maintaining a healthy weight, exercising, and using special devices to help you get around can also have a big impact on your symptoms. Medications such as pain relievers and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs can help slow the joint damage and improve symptoms.
If joint pain or damage is so severe that medication isn’t working, your doctor may talk to you about having surgery. Although RA and OA both affect your joints, they’re very different forms of the same broader condition. RA is an autoimmune condition, while OA is primarily a degenerative joint condition.
RA is an autoimmune disorder, which means your body attacks itself. If you have RA, your body interprets the soft lining around your joints as a threat, like a virus or bacteria, and attacks it. This attack causes fluid to accumulate within your joint.
In addition to swelling, this fluid buildup also causes:
• pain
• stiffness
• inflammation around your joints
OA, the most common form of arthritis, is a degenerative joint disorder. People with OA experience a breakdown of the cartilage that cushions their joints. The wearing down of cartilage causes the bones to rub against each other. This exposes small nerves, causing pain. OA doesn’t involve an autoimmune process like RA does, but mild inflammation also occur.
Risk factors
Both types of arthritis are more common in women than in men. RA and OA are more prevalent in older adults, but RA can develop at any age. RA can run in families. You have a higher chance of developing the condition if a parent, child, or sibling has it.
You’re more likely to develop OA if you:
• are overweight
• have joint deformities
• have diabetes
• have gout
• have experienced traumatic injuries to your joints
Symptom similarities and differences
Many of the basic symptoms of RA and OA are the same, including:
• painful, stiff joints
• limited range of motion
• warmth or tenderness in the affected area
• increased intensity of symptoms first thing in the morning
Characteristics of RA
Each kind of arthritis also has its own unique set of symptoms. RA is a systemic disease, which means it can affect your entire body — lungs, heart, eyes — and not just your joints. Early signs of RA can include:
• low-grade fever, especially in children
• muscle aches
• excessive fatigue
People in advanced stages of RA may notice hard lumps underneath the skin near joints. The lumps, called rheumatoid nodules, can be tender.
Characteristics of OA
People with OA are unlikely to experience overall symptoms. The degenerative nature of OA is limited solely to the joints. You might develop lumps under the skin around joints, but these lumps are different from rheumatoid nodules.
People with OA tend to develop bone spurs, or excess bone growth at the edges of the affected joints.
Affected joints in RA
RA usually begins in the smaller joints. You’re likely to have pain, stiffness, and swelling in the finger joints. As RA progresses, symptoms can develop in larger joints such as knees, shoulders, and ankles. RA is a symmetrical disease. That means you’ll experience symptoms on both sides of your body at the same time.
Affected joints in OA
OA is less symmetrical. You might have pain in both your left and right knee, for example, but one side or one joint is worse. OA, like RA, is common in the hand and fingers. OA often affects the spine and hips in addition to the knees. There’s no cure for RA or OA. However, treatments are available to manage the symptoms of both conditions.
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