Patients suffering from arthritis generally have pain and swelling of the joints. There may be stiffness and deformity with mobility impairment caused by the inflammation at the joints.
There are two types of Arthritis, which includes:
- Osteoarthritis, the most common form
- Rheumatoid Arthritis or Gout, or Inflammatory Arthritis
There are signs and symptoms that might show among patients suffering from Osteoarthritis that may experience dull aches at affected joints. Other symptoms will include:
- Crepitation, where it's a sensation of grating or grinding of the affected joint by rubbing damaged cartilage surfaces.
- Changes in surrounding joints
- Cysts in your hand that may cause ridging or dents in the nail plate of the affected finger
- Pain
- Stiffness of affected joints
- Swelling of affected joints
- Warmth; where the joints might be warm upon touching
Here at Gleneagles Hospital, we offer treatments for Arthritis that include:
- Exercise, in order to keep up with muscle strength and ligaments to stabilise your joints.
- Medicines such as Disease-Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs for Rheumatoid Arthritis.
- Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs to reduce pain, swelling and stiffness in Osteoarthritis.
- Steroids can sometimes be injected directly into a joint so that it can alleviate pain and swelling.
- Physiotherapy to exercise the joints in order to stabilize it
- Surgery to correct deformity in joints or new replacement for severely damaged joint