If you just look at the human hand, you will notice that there are many joints in the human hand, and all of these joints can be a source of pain. But joint pain can happen pretty much anywhere in the human body.
So here we have the knee joint, vertebral column, then the joints of the foot. Over here we see the femur, a bone that helps build the hip joint. And here is the shoulder joint. Those are all common locations for joint pain.
But what could cause joint pain to begin with?
Well, if you look over here, we have a list of diseases that are common causes of joint pain.
Let’s talk about these diseases. And then at the end, let’s talk about dangerous signs and symptoms that should never be ignored when it comes to joint pain. In this video of our joint pain, we will explain how to recognize these conditions.
But this video with all of these illustrations and drawings, was created using Anatomsky.com.
So if you’re a medical student or a doctor and you want to make a similar video, then you can use that Web site.
The first group of conditions I want to talk about are inflammatory in their nature. It means that inflammation in these conditions is the source of joint pain.
Before we explain how to recognize each one of these conditions, it’s important to say that psoriatic arthritis, reactive arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis can be distinguished from rheumatoid arthritis by negative rheumatoid factor results.
The first condition in this list is psoriatic arthritis. And it’s in this list because psoriatic arthritis can sometimes be hard to recognize. It can cause arthritis without other symptoms of psoriasis. So patients with joint pain might not be aware that they also suffer from psoriasis.
On the other hand, patients who know that they have psoriasis and they know that psoriasis is causing their arthritis, that is inflammation of the joints are sometimes not aware of the fact that they can also develop other joint conditions, just like all the other humans. For example, osteoarthritis, right, is the most common cause of pain in the joints. So psoriatic arthritis might come with joint swelling.
Just like rheumatoid arthritis, but it has negative rheumatoid factor. And also it usually doesn’t cause morning stiffness.
So how do we recognize psoriatic arthritis?
Well, we have to examine the skin of the patient.
Normally in psoriatic arthritis we can find scaly red patches called erythema on the patient’s skin.
Sometimes they are not spread all over the skin, but, but on minor portions of the patient’s skin.
So psoriatic arthritis besides scaly erythema, can also be recognized by the pattern of inflammation it causes.
It usually affects small joints of the hand, and it does so in a very interesting way. It causes inflammation in one joint on one finger.
Then it affects no joints in another finger. And then all the interphalangeal joints of the third finger.
Psoriatic arthritis should not be easily dismissed. If the patient experiences severe pain and inflammation, it can cause joints surfaces that in an X-ray scan, we don’t see joints surfaces anymore and we see something that appears and looks like a sharp pencil that is put against a cup. This can be extremely painful.
Reactive arthritis can be recognized in patients who suffer from it because besides joint pain in the joints, it causes inflammation in such as the knee joint. It also causes the inflammation of the front protective layer of the eye. This inflammation is referred to as conjunctivitis. It also causes inflammation of the urethra. That is urethritis. This combination of symptoms is very indicative of reactive arthritis. And patients often report a prior infection. That’s why it’s called reactive arthritis, because it is assumed that all the inflammation is a reaction to the prior infection.
This what you can see over here, the vertebral column of the human body. As you can see, it has many joints. It allows us to stand straight, flex and extend our back. But very often, patients report pain right over here in the lower back.
Lower back pain will usually go away on its own. However, it should not always be easily dismissed, especially if it’s caused by inflammation. That is a result of a condition called ankylosing spondylitis.
Inflammation caused by ankylosing spondylitis can be so severe that it causes vertebrae in the vertebral column to fuse with one another and create one large giant bone, instead of being many separate bones. This comes with limited range of motion and back pain.
So those were some inflammatory conditions that could explain joint pain and other symptoms that patients experience.
But they all had one thing in common, negative rheumatoid factor.
But you know what has positive rheumatoid factor?
Rheumatoid arthritis.
Joint pain caused by a rheumatoid arthritis is basically pain caused by an autoimmune disease in rheumatoid arthritis.
Our own immune system attacks our own joints, and it does that in a particular way.
Unlike psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis attacks, all of the metacarpophalangeal joints equally, and it also attacks the proximal interphalangeal joints equally. We refer to that as a symmetric inflammation caused by rheumatoid arthritis.
Rheumatoid arthritis can also cause nodules to appear in those joints, and these nodules can also appear on different places in the human body, such as the elbow.
One thing that can always be done about joint pain is this. And you can also share this video so that people with joint pain learn about these conditions and how to recognize them.
Patients who experience joint pain in their feet or in their knees could be suffering from Crystalloid conditions.
Crystalloid Conditions are basically conditions that are caused by deposits of different crystals in the joints.
We refer to Crystalloid conditions when we talk about gout and pseudo gout. In pseudo gout, Calcium crystals are deposited in joints in a process called chondrocalcinosis. This destroys the surface of the cartilage tissue in the joint, and therefore this can be extremely painful.
The cartilage is neither elastic nor smooth as it used to be.
In gout, there is an increase of uric acid in the blood. This can be caused by chronic kidney disease or some other conditions, and this results in deposits of urate crystals in the big toe. This can be extremely painful as well.
And last but not least, osteoarthritis, the most common cause of joint pain and dangerous signs to recognize with the joint pain.
Unlike all the other causes of joint pain I just explained, Osteoarthritis does not have inflammation as its cause, but rather as it’s consequence.
You see, osteoarthritis is usually caused by wear and tear in the joints that have to bear a lot of weight.
So for example, the hip joint has to transfer all the force from the upper body down to the knee joint and those two joints, the hip joint and the knee joint are the most commonly affected joints by osteoarthritis.
Dangerous signs to recognize with joint pain are fever and also redness in the joint that is spreading. This can also happen with swelling that is spreading and following the redness.
The most important thing about joint pain is to recognize what is causing the joint pain and whether it’s something dangerous.
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