What Is Arthritis: Arthritis
Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School
What is arthritis?
The word arthritis is derived from the Greek word arthron (joint) and suffix -itis (inflammation). For people who have arthritis, the word variously signifies pain, swelling, redness, and heat that may be caused by tissue injury or disease in the joint.
Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis. It is called a degenerative joint disease because it results from the deterioration of the bones and cartilage that make up the joints. The second most common type of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, is an inflammatory disease that affects the lining of multiple joints, especially in the hands and feet. Although it affects only one-tenth as many people as osteoarthritis, it can be far more debilitating. The other rheumatic diseases discussed in this report — gout, pseudogout, ankylosing spondylitis, reactive arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, enteropathic arthritis, and infectious arthritis — are also characterized by inflammation.
| Last updated: | September 05, 2008 |
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Medical content reviewed by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School. Harvard Health Publications, Copyright © 2007 by President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Used with permission of StayWell.
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