Complaining of joint pain, some patients are faced with a diagnosis of “osteoarthritis”, others of “arthritis”.When they meet, after exchanging the description of their symptoms during a conversation, they suddenly come to the conclusion that there is only one disease, since it manifests itself almost the same way in both cases!The question arises: what then are the differences between arthritis and osteoarthritis?Indeed, many people confuse these diseases, but despite the similarity of symptoms, arthritis and osteoarthritis are different diseases with significant differences in their 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 develop under the influence of, for example, injury or diabetes.In both cases, patients experience degenerative-dystrophic changes in the articular cartilage, which lead to severe pain and, in some cases, limited mobility.The target of diseases are the joints and periarticular tissues of the body, especially the knee joint.Patients, sometimes overcoming pain, take care of themselves and without effective therapy, all their efforts fail.The patient loses his ability to work and acquires a disability.
According to the accepted ICD-10 classification, arthritis and osteoarthritis are grouped into a single subgroup "Arthropathy" - disorders that mainly affect the peripheral joints (extremities).
Arthritis and osteoarthritis: differences
Sometimes it is impossible to accurately determine the trigger that triggered one of these two diseases, but the consequences develop the same: pain and stiffness are felt in the joint, swelling, edema, redness, hyperemia of the skin in the affected area, etc.In reality, only a person without medical training can confuse these two completely different pathologies, but a doctor can easily distinguish one from the other.
The main difference is that if the direct cause of osteoarthritis is mechanical damage, too large or disproportionate load on the joint apparatus, age-related changes, then arthritis manifests itself as an inflammatory process in the joint and in periarticular tissues.With osteoarthritis, blood counts are normal and no damage to other organs and systems occurs.With arthritis, the opposite picture is observed: specific proteins, an increase in ESR and leukocytes will be detected in the blood.The disease process involves the heart, kidneys and genitourinary system.
Another difference is that osteoarthritis primarily affects the knee and hip joints, which bear a significant stabilizing load.Arthritis prefers the small joints of the hands, feet, wrist and less commonly affects the elbow, knee and hip.
What are the causes of osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis is defined by experts as a non-inflammatory joint disease with a chronic and progressive course.As a result of degenerative-dystrophic changes, articular cartilage is destroyed.Osteoarthritis is often accompanied by inflammation of the synovial membrane of joints or ligaments (synovitis), which also contributes by increasing the destruction of joint structures.
It is precisely because of synovitis that in English-speaking medical literature osteoarthritis is called osteoarthritis, using the suffix “-itis” to indicate the presence of an inflammatory process.Although synovitis is not an integral part of osteoarthritis, it may well occur without it.
Osteoarthritis is believed to be the lot of older people.Indeed, with age, the risk of joint damage steadily increases, but athletes are also at high risk of contracting the disease due to excessive physical exertion or poor technique, such as weight training exercises.In addition, the destruction of the joint-ligamentous apparatus can lead to:
- hereditary predisposition,
- congenital or acquired pathologies of joint development (dysplasia, separation of the epiphysis from the bone, joint hypermobility, etc.),
- the presence of metabolic and hormonal disorders such as diabetes mellitus,
- overweight and obesity.
Danish scientists conducted a study on the risk factors for primary osteoarthritis of the hip and knee joints.The results revealed that genetic factors and environment have different effects on large weight-bearing joints.Regarding the hip joint, the most important factors for the development of pathology are genetic (47%) and environmental (22%) components.Meanwhile, for the development of the same pathology of the knee joint, age and gender differences, especially after 50 years, as well as various environmental factors are of the greatest importance.
Destruction of cartilage tissue can also result from inflammatory diseases of the bones and joints (gout, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.).
What is arthritis?
Arthritis commonly refers to all inflammatory joint diseases.If the disease affects a joint, it is monoarthritis;more than one has polyarthritis.Arthritis stands out as an independent disease and as a manifestation of other pathologies.In the first case, we are talking about rheumatoid arthritis, septic arthritis, gout.In the second - on psoriatic 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 the penetration of a microbial pathogen.The joint swells, pain appears and mobility is impaired.
Another form of arthritis is gout, a systemic disease caused by improper metabolism.Excess uric acid is deposited on the joint surface, causing inflammation.Of great importance for the development of the disease are heredity, hormonal factors (men get sick in most cases) and poor nutrition.Gout is often confused with arthritic lesions in the big toe.
The development of certain types of arthritis is caused by the penetration of pathogenic microorganisms into the joint space, most often bacteria.