Yes, there are many arthritis signs and symptoms, but the most common and well known in the tell-tell inflammation of the joints. Arthritis,classified as a rheumatic disease, gets a lot of attention in today’s health care community and is the most common disease in the United States.

Arthritis impacts everyone’s body differently. Each case of arthritis leaves each person facing differing presenting factors, treatment plans, complications and prognosis. The commonality occurs because arthritis attacks the joints, muscles, ligaments, and cartilage. In many cases, arthritis even attacks the internal body areas.

Arthritis signs and symptoms include pain and limited functions of joints, joint swelling, joint stiffness, tenderness or pain when touching a joint and warmth and redness in the joint. Arthritis can attack joints in almost any part of the body.

Different forms of arthritis such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis can cause changes that you can see and feel. With Osteoarthritis the symptoms can range from stiffness and mild pain that comes and goes with activities like walking, bending or stooping to severe joint pain. Rheumatoid arthritis can attack almost any joint in the body. Most of the time with rheumatoid arthritis if you have arthritis in a joint on one side of the body the same joint on the other side of the body will be affected.

If you are facing some of the arthritis signs and symptoms, it is critically important that you make plans to see your health care provider. Diagnosing arthritis early, regardless of the type, can help to prevent irreversible damage and disability. Do not delay making that appointment.

Once you get a chance to see your physician plan to have a discussion with your doctor about your arthritis signs and symptoms. A complete examination of your joints for inflammation and deformity should also be expected. Your physician may also order specific blood, urine, joint fluid and x-ray tests that can help to lead to an accurate diagnosis of arthritis. Don’t worry, some times it may take several visits before your doctor can be absolutely certain of the diagnosis. In most cases, your primary physician will refer you on to a rheumatologist who is better able to offer you more specialized care for arthritis.

There are several arthritis signs and symptoms and they must be taken seriously. There is no known cure for arthritis. Therefore, the treatment goal for this disease is to minimize the symptoms and on-going destruction of arthritis. With the proper treatment you can continue to live a happy and active lifestyle.

Brought to you by www.TreatYourArthritis.com

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 at 11:02 pm and is filed under Arthritis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.