Before discussing the common rheumatic disorders, it is important to understand what rheumatology is. Rheumatology is the branch of science which specializes in eliciting information on different health conditions that adversely affect the human musculoskeletal tissue. Joints, cartilages, ligaments, bones, tendons, and muscles contribute to the human musculoskeletal tissue. What are the most observed symptoms rheumatic disorders? Joint pain, inflammation, and loss of motion in the musculoskeletal tissue are the commonly observed symptoms.
Commonly Seen Rheumatic Disorders
A couple of years ago, conditions listed below were broadly categorized under a single heading – rheumatism. However, with the advancement in the field of medicine, there are more than 200 different classifications of rheumatic disorders now. Listed below are a few.
Osteoarthritis
This is a medical condition that occurs due to the damage of the cartilage tissue. Cartilages are the cushion-like material found at the tip of the bones. It plays a key role in helping you move around quickly. When a person develops osteoarthritis, he/she struggles to move. It adversely affects the knees, lower back, fingers, hips, neck, and feet of the person. Pain, warmth, swelling, and stiffness are the commonly observed symptom of this medical condition.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
This is a medical condition wherein the patient’s immune system attacks his tissues and he develops joint pains, stiffness, and swelling. The important fact about this condition is that this is not a phenomenon related to aging in humans. The most commonly observed symptoms in the case of rheumatoid arthritis are fatigue, problems with other organs like lungs and eyes, joint stiffness, pain and swelling in more than one joint, and lumps. These lumps are also referred to as rheumatoid nodules.
Lupus
It is also known as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, in short SLE. It is an autoimmune disease that can potentially affect multiple human organs, all at once. The commonly observed symptoms of lupus or SLE are joint pain, joint stiffness, strokes, sun sensitivity, seizures, kidney trouble, fatigue, rashes, and hair loss, etc.
Infectious Arthritis
When an infection in one of the joints become uncontrollable and causes arthritis, it is called as infectious arthritis. This medical condition has a speedy way of commencing. Commonly observed symptom in case of infectious arthritis is intense joint swelling followed by intense pain. Unlike most of the rheumatic disorders, this medical condition usually affects only one particular joint. This one joint is most likely to be the knee of the person.
