Arthritis and its types

Arthritis is the inflammation of the joints. There are more than 100 different types of disorders. They primarily affect the skeletal muscles, bones, ligaments, tendons and the joints in both males and females of all ages. Some disorders are more likely to occur at a particular time of life or to affect one gender more than the other. These disorders not only limit mobility and affect the activities of daily living but also result in subtle systemic effects that lead to organ failure and death.

The different types of arthritis are grouped under different classifications:

1. Diffuse connective tissue diseases
a. Rheumatoid arthritis: Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder that causes the immune system to attack the joints, skin and vital organs of the body.
b. Juvenile arthritis: Rheumatoid arthritis in children is called Juvenile arthritis. There are more than 300,000 children diagnosed with juvenile arthritis in the United States.
c. Scleroderma: Scleroderma is a localized, systemic sclerosis affecting the connective tissue of the skin, blood vessels, muscles and internal organs.
d. Lupus erythematosus: Lupus erythematosus is also a chronic autoimmune disease. Discoid, systemic and drug related are their types.
e. Polymyositis: Polymyositis is a rare connective tissue disease that affects the muscles closest to the body, that is the shoulders and the hips.
f. Sjogren's syndrome: Sjogren's syndrome is an autoimmune disease affecting certain glands in our body. Eg: lacrymal gland, salivary gland.
g. Overlap syndromes: Overlap syndrome is a combination of two or more autoimmune diseases described above.
Polymyalgia, rheumatica and erythema nodosum are a few other minor autoimmune connective tissue diseases.

2. Arthritis associated with spondylitis (Spondyloarthropathies)
a. Alkylosing spondylitis: Alkylosing spondylitis is also called as rheumatoid spondylitis. It is the inflammation of the joints in the spine.
b. Reiter's syndrome: Reiter's syndrome is one form of reactive arthritis, which involves the inflammation within and around the joints, and particularly where ligaments and tendons attach to bones.
c. Psoriatic arthritis: Psoriatic arthritis is associated with psoriasis, the skin and the joints are inflammed.
d. Arthritis associated with inflammatory bowel disease.

3. Osteoarthritis: Osteoarthritis is also known as osteoarthrosis, or degenerative joint disease. They are of two types, they are primary and secondary.

4. Rheumatic syndromes associated with infectious agents:
a. Direct: They are inflammation of joints caused directly after a bacterial, viral, fungal or a parasitic infection.
b. Reactive: They are inflammation of joints that occurs after immunization or after bacterial or viral infections.

5. Metabolic and endocrine diseases associated with rheumatic states
a. Crystal associated conditions (gout, pseudogout)
b. Biochemical abnormalities (amyloidosis, hemophilia)
c. Endocrine diseases (diabetes, acromegaly)
d. Immunodeficiency diseases (AIDS)
e. Hereditary diseases (hypermobility syndromes)

6. Neoplasms: They are of two types;
a. Primary
b. secondary (metastatic, multiple myeloma, leukemia)

7. Neurovascular disorders
a. Charcot joints: Charcot's joints is a progressive degenerative disease of the joints. It is caused by nerve damage resulting in the loss of ability to feel pain in the joint and instability of the joint.
b. Compression syndrome: Carpal tunnel syndrome, rediculopathy, spinal stenosis are compression syndromes which involves the inflammation of joints.
c. Reflex sympathetic dystrophy: Reflex sympathetic dystrophy is also known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), which is associated with extreme pain in the joints.
d. Raynaud's phenomenon: Raynaud's phenomenon involves discolorations of the fingers and/or the toes after exposure to changes in temperature (cold or hot) or emotional events.

8. Bone, periosteal, and cartilage disorders
a. Osteoporosis: Osteoporosis, mainly a disease of the bone that leads to an increased risk of fracture.
b. Osteomalacia: Osteomalacia is softening of bones due to bone mineralization. This is commonly found in children.
c. Hypertropic osteoarthropathy: Hypertrophic osteoarthropathy is caused by increased blood flow to the ends of the legs, causing overgrowth of connective tissue, and then new bone formation surrounding the joints and bones.
d. Diffuse ideopathic skeletal hyperostosis : Diffuse ideopathic skeletal hyperostosis is a form of degenerative arthritis that affects the joints and bones of the vertebral column.
e. Paget's disease of bone: Paget's disease is a metabolic bone disease that affects the pelvis, collar bone, legs, spine and arm.

9. Extra-articular disorders:
a. Juxtaarticular lesions(bursitis).
b. Epicondylitis, popliteal cyst.
c. Low back pain.
d. Intervertebral disc disorders.
e. Regional pain syndrome (metatarsalgia, cervical pain).

10. Miscellanous disorders associated with articular manifestations:
a. Palindromic rheumatism
b. Intermittent hydrathrosis
c. Sarcoidosis
d. Chronic active hepatitis.

Arthritis is a generic term which is used for over 100 different diseases which affect the musculoskeletal system especially the joints. Based on the part of the body affected and the type of the disorder, arthritis can be classified into different subtypes as mentioned above.