Arthritis and Osteoarthritis: What Are the Differences?

Arthritis and Osteoarthritis: What They Are

What is Arthritis?

Arthritis is a disease affecting the joints and can cause pain, swelling, and stiffness in the affected joints. Several types of arthritis exist, but the two most common forms are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease that occurs when the cartilage covering the ends of bones in the joints breaks down, causing pain and discomfort. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation in the joints, which can also cause pain and swelling. People with arthritis may also experience fatigue, loss of appetite, and fever. Treatment for arthritis depends on the type and severity of the disease but may include medication, exercise, and lifestyle changes to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life.

What is Osteoarthritis?

Osteoarthritis is a chronic joint disease that occurs when the cartilage covering the ends of bones in the joints gradually breaks down, leading to joint pain and stiffness. This disease mainly affects weight-bearing joints, such as the knees, hips, and spine, but can also affect other joints, such as the hands and feet. Symptoms of osteoarthritis include pain, stiffness, decreased flexibility, swelling, and crackling or grinding sounds when moving the affected joint. Osteoarthritis is common in older people but can also develop in younger people due to factors such as obesity, previous joint injuries, or genetics. Although osteoarthritis cannot be cured, treatments include medication, applying heat or cold, exercise, and physiotherapy to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life.

Causes of Arthritis and Osteoarthritis

What are the causes of arthritis?

The definitive cause of arthritis is unknown, but various genetic and environmental factors can influence it. In about 80% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, for example, rheumatoid factor is present, and more recently, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies have been identified that seem to play a role in the chronicity and erosive aggressiveness of arthritis.

Besides rheumatoid arthritis, several forms of arthritis can be distinguished based on their underlying cause, including gouty arthritis associated with the accumulation of uric acid crystals in the joints, septic arthritis due to a joint infection, or arthritis associated with diseases such as psoriasis or systemic lupus erythematosus.

What are the causes of osteoarthritis?

Osteoarthritis is a disease related to aging and wear and tear of joint cartilage, which can be favored by factors such as:

• Family history.
• Overweight and obesity, as in the long term, excess weight mainly damages the hip, knee, and foot joints.
• Fractures and joint injuries.
• Certain jobs require forced postures (e.g., kneeling for long periods) or continuous use of certain joints (e.g., finger joints).
• Sports such as football, which lead to premature wear and tear of the foot and knee cartilages.
• Circulatory diseases cause bleeding and lesions in the joints (e.g., hemophilia, avascular osteonecrosis).
• Certain forms of arthritis (e.g., gout, pseudogout, or rheumatoid arthritis) that damage the joint and make it more susceptible to cartilage damage.

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Symptoms of Arthritis and Osteoarthritis

What are the symptoms of arthritis?

The main symptoms of arthritis are pain, swelling, redness, and stiffness in the joints, indicating joint inflammation. Depending on the type of arthritis you have, you may also experience other symptoms such as fever and chills in the case of septic arthritis or swelling in the case of gout. Rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic disease, meaning it can affect various organs and systems, leading to serious complications and worsening the prognosis.

What are the symptoms of osteoarthritis?

The most common symptoms of osteoarthritis are pain, stiffness, and limited use of the joint.

Pain is mechanical, meaning it is stronger after exercise or when weight is placed on the affected joint. Generally, pain is more intense in the evening and lessens with rest. Often, at the beginning of movements, you may feel the joint give way, and you may also hear noises called "clicks" of the joint. Not all patients with osteoarthritis experience these symptoms; often, osteoarthritis is only apparent on an X-ray.

Particular aspects of osteoarthritis are those affecting the hands. Deformities of the small finger joints are often observed. These deformities include, for example, "Heberden's nodes" which affect the distal (end) joints of the fingers, while "Bouchard's nodes" develop in the proximal finger joints. Both types of nodules can be painful when they form and can also lead to limited movement.

Osteoarthritis of the spine, on the other hand, can lead to the formation of osteophytes that protrude from the vertebrae, causing irritation of certain nerves and therefore pain, tingling, and numbness in certain areas of the body.

Treatments for Arthritis and Osteoarthritis

Treatment of Arthritis

The most appropriate treatment depends on the type of arthritis you have, but the main goal is always to reduce your symptoms and improve your quality of life. You may also need to combine several different treatments before identifying the most suitable therapy. Possible treatment options include:

• Analgesic medications, which reduce pain but do not provide any benefits in terms of reducing inflammation.
• Corticosteroids, which reduce inflammation and, at the same time, the activity of the immune system, can be taken orally or injected into the joint.
• DMARDs (Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs), which are useful in rheumatoid arthritis because they reduce the autoimmune response.
• Biological medications, genetically engineered molecules that target factors involved in the immune response; their use is generally associated with that of DMARDs.
• Physiotherapy, which can improve residual movement capabilities;
• In the most advanced cases, surgery is necessary to replace the damaged joint or to fix the ends of the joint bones to prevent further joint damage.

Treatment of Osteoarthritis

There is no radical treatment for osteoarthritis once it has started. The main treatment is analgesic, with analgesics administered as needed to limit pain and allow joint movement.

In the case of osteoarthritis localized to a specific joint (e.g., hips, knees, hands), it is possible to perform infiltrations with hyaluronic acid, while the use of corticosteroids is limited to the rare cases of inflammation associated with osteoarthritis.

In the most severe cases of osteoarthritis, when these treatments are ineffective, orthopedic treatment with the placement of joint prostheses becomes necessary.

Conclusion

Arthritis and osteoarthritis are part of the broader category of rheumatic diseases. Both pathologies affect the joints and both are characterized by pain accompanied by stiffness and limited movement of the affected joints. It is precisely these similarities that sometimes lead to confusion between osteoarthritis and arthritis, which are sometimes confused with each other. However, these are two distinct diseases that differ on several points. First, the nature of the pathology and the age of the affected subjects: arthritis is a chronic inflammatory pathology of autoimmune origin that can develop in subjects of all ages, even in children, whereas osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease that mainly occurs after 50 years of age.

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