Does Osteoarthritis Cause Swelling?

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Other types of arthritis

Osteoarthritis is only one of arthritis’s types that can cause joint swelling.

  1. Rheumatoid arthritis, a joint disease related with the abnormality of immune system.
  2. Psoriatic arthritis, an arthritis that usually occurs together with psoriasis (a chronic skin condition) – see this section for more detailed information!
  3. Reactive arthritis, a condition related to infection. It is more common in men at the ages of 40 or younger.
  4. Septic arthritis, another joint inflammation condition. It is often caused by a fungal /bacterial infection.
  5. Gout, an arthritis that occurs due to the buildups of uric acid in the bloodstream which then can cause joint inflammation.
  6. Ankylosing spondylitis, typically affects the joints or bones at the base of the spine that links to the pelvis. It is a long-term type of arthritis. The cause of this joint disease is not known yet. And it affects more men than women.

Pseudogout

It is also another form of arthritis. Knee joints are the most commonly affected in pseudogout or sometime called as calcium pyrophosphate deposition.

It is thought as a consequence of the presence of crystal deposits (calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate) within the joint. Your chance of getting more deposits of these crystals in your joints increases as you age.

But not all people with these crystal deposits experience the symptoms of pseudogout. It’s not fully understood yet why some experience the symptoms and others don’t.

SLE (Systemic lupus erythematosus)

Many times, it causes chronic (lifelong) inflammation. It is thought as an autoimmune disease. In SLE, the immune system without known reason attacks the wrong targets such as joints, brain, kidneys, skin, or other organs in the body.

Many times, people with SLE also have other conditions particularly such as arthritis and joint pain. It still has no cure, however some treatments can help control the symptoms and improve the quality of patient’s life.

How is osteoarthritis (OA) diagnosed?

Unfortunately, there is still no specific procedure /lab test to help diagnose OA clearly.

But some tests are available to help rule out other possible conditions such as blood test, imaging tests (like MRIs and X-rays), and joint fluid analysis.

A physical exam is usually the most common procedure to start diagnosing the problem. Your doctor will check the affected joint, especially its appearances (whether it appears different), the symptoms you feel on your joint (whether you feel stiffness and pain), and the joint’s range of motion.

Citations /references:

  1. http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/condition/osteoarthritis
  2. http://healthcare.utah.edu/healthlibrary/related/doc.php?type=88&id=p10715
  3. http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Pagets-disease/Pages/Introduction.aspx
  4. http://umm.edu/health/medical/ency/articles/joint-swelling
  5. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pseudogout/basics/definition/con-20028152

Last accessed on September 2014

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One Comment
  1. Reg
    July 19, 2021 | Reply

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