Some patients complain of joint pain and are diagnosed with “osteoarthritis”, others with the diagnosis of “arthritis”.When they meet and exchange descriptions of their symptoms in a conversation, they suddenly come to the conclusion that it is just one disease, since it manifests itself almost identically in both cases!The question arises: What are the differences between arthritis and osteoarthritis?In fact, many people confuse these diseases, but despite the similarity of symptoms, arthritis and arthrosis are different diseases with significant differences in clinical course.Namely, understanding the cause of the disease, the mechanism of its occurrence and development leads to effective therapy.
Arthritis and osteoarthritis: What they have in common
The occurrence of arthritis and osteoarthritis can be caused either by a single factor or by a combination of several causes.Both diseases can arise, for example, under the influence of injuries or diabetes.In both cases, patients experience degenerative-dystrophic changes in the articular cartilage, which lead to severe pain and sometimes limited mobility.Diseases target the joints and periarticular tissues of the body, particularly the knee joint.Patients, sometimes overcoming their pain, take care of themselves, and without effective therapy, all their efforts are in vain.The patient loses the ability to work and instead acquires a disability.
According to the recognized ICD-10 classification, arthritis and osteoarthritis are grouped into a subgroup “arthropathy” - diseases that mainly affect peripheral joints (extremities).
Arthritis and arthrosis: differences
Sometimes it is impossible to accurately determine the trigger of one of these two diseases, but the consequences are the same: pain and stiffness appear in the joint, swelling, edema, redness, hyperemia of the skin over the affected area, etc. In reality, only a person without medical training can confuse these two completely different pathologies, but a doctor can easily separate them.
The main difference is that when the direct cause of arthrosis is mechanical damage, excessive or disproportionate load on the articular apparatus, or age-related changes, arthritis manifests itself as an inflammatory process in the joint and periarticular tissue.With osteoarthritis, the blood count is normal and there is no damage to other organs and systems.In arthritis, the opposite picture can be observed: specific proteins, increased ESR and leukocytes are detected in the blood.The pathological process affects the heart, kidneys and genitourinary system.
Another difference is that osteoarthritis primarily affects the knee and hip joints, which bear a large supporting and stabilizing load.Arthritis affects small joints of the hands, feet and wrist and less commonly affects the elbow, knee and hip.
What causes osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis is defined by experts as a non-inflammatory joint disease that is chronic and progressive.Degenerative-dystrophic changes lead to the destruction of the articular cartilage.Osteoarthritis is often accompanied by inflammation of the lining of the joints or ligaments (synovitis), which also contributes to increasing destruction of the joint structures.
It is precisely because of the synovitis that osteoarthritis is referred to in the English-language medical literature as osteoarthritis, where the ending “-itis” indicates the presence of an inflammatory process.Although synovitis is not an integral part of osteoarthritis, it can certainly occur without it.
Osteoarthritis is believed to be the fate of older people.Although the risk of joint damage increases steadily with age, athletes are also at high risk of becoming infected due to excessive physical exertion or poor technique, such as during strength exercises.In addition, the destruction of the articular-ligamentous apparatus can lead to:
- hereditary predisposition,
- congenital or acquired pathologies of joint development (dysplasia, detachment of the bone epiphysis, joint hypermobility, etc.),
- the presence of metabolic and hormonal disorders such as diabetes mellitus,
- Overweight and obesity.
Danish scientists conducted a study on risk factors for primary osteoarthritis of the hip and knee joints.The results showed that genetic factors and the environment have different effects on large weight-bearing joints.In the case of the hip joint, genetic (47%) and environmental (22%) factors are the most important factors in the development of pathology.Meanwhile, for the development of the same pathology in the knee joint, age and gender differences, especially after 50 years, as well as various environmental factors are of utmost importance.
Inflammatory diseases of the bones and joints (gout, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.) can also cause destruction of the cartilage tissue.
What is Arthritis?
The entire spectrum of inflammatory joint diseases is generally referred to as arthritis.If the disease affects one joint, it is called monoarthritis;More than one is polyarthritis.Arthritis is distinguished as an independent disease and as a manifestation of other pathologies.In the first case we are talking about rheumatoid, septic arthritis and gout.The second is about psoriasis and reactive arthritis.The inflammatory process in the joints can also be a consequence of hepatitis, Lyme disease (tick-borne borreliosis) or granulomatosis.
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease in which a person's immune system mistakenly attacks tissues in their own body.In this case, in addition to inflammatory reactions in other organs, inflammation of the synovial membrane of the joints occurs without a microbial pathogen penetrating it.The joint swells, pain occurs and mobility is impaired.
Another form of arthritis is gout, a systemic disease resulting from impaired metabolism.Excess uric acid builds up on the joint surface and causes inflammation.Heredity, hormonal factors (in most cases men get sick) and poor nutrition are of great importance in the development of the disease.Gout is often confused with osteoarthritis lesions in the big toe area.
The development of some types of arthritis is caused by the penetration of pathogenic microorganisms into the joint space, mostly bacteria.