Arthritis Glossary of Medical Terms

A List of health and medical terms that relate to Arthritis conditions.

Arthritis

Inflammation of a bone joint. When bone joints are inflamed they become stiff, warm, increase in swelling and redness and also pain. There are over 100 types of arthritis. The main types are
osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, lupus, gout, pseudogout.

Arthroscopic Surgery

Arthroscopic surgery uses fiber optic technology to enable the surgeon to get inside the joint and repair torn joint cartilage or clear away loose peices of broken cartlage that can cause pain.

Autoimmune

A Situation when the bodies own immune response system departs from normal operation and attacks the body itself.

Cartilage

Firm, rubbery tissue that cushion bones at joints. Other more flexible tissue that connects muscles with bones and makes up other parts of the body, such as the larynx and the outside parts of the ears is also cartilage.

Chronic

From the Greek word chronos, meaning lasting a long time.

Cartilage Grafting

Cartilage grafting may be possible for some knees with limited cartlage or with cartilage loss from accidental damage or arthritis conditions.

Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome predominately characterized by muscular pains and fatigue.

Gland

A gland is either a cluster of cells that secrete a substance for use in the body, like the thyroid gland or cells that remove materials from the circulation system such as the lymph gland.

Gout

Gout is an arthritic condition characterized by abnormally elevated levels of uric acid in the blood stream. Symptoms include recurring attacks of joint inflammation, deposits of lumps of uric acid in and around the joints, decreased kidney function and kidney stones. Gout is often inherited and can be promoted by obesity or alcohol and drug abuse.

Immune

a term taken from the Latin word immunis meaning free or exempt, in Medical term refers to protection from infection.

Immune system

A complex body system that protects us against infections and foreign substances. Our immune system seeks and kill invading microbes.

Inflammation

The way in which the human body reacts to infection, irritation or injury. indications are redness, warmth, swelling and pain .

Joint

A joint, or arthrosis, is the area in the body where two bones are joined. Joints is mostly formed of fibrous connective tissue and cartilage.

Knee Arthroplasty

A knee arthroplasty replaces the artritis damaged knee joint cartilage with metal and plastic. It can be a total or partial replacment.

Lupus (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus )

A chronic inflammatory condition caused by an autoimmune disease.

Osteoarthritis (OA)

Osteoarthritis is a disease characterized by degeneration of cartilage and its underlying bone within a joint as well as bony overgrowth.

Osteotomy

An osteotomy cuts the thighbone ( the femur) shinbone ( the tibia) and rejoins them at a differnt alignment to correct the movement of the knee joint sometimes as a result of artritis damage.

Psoriatic Arthritis

Arthritis in which the synovial membrane becomes inflamed. It's associated with psoriasis, a skin disease. It can also affect the tendons where they attach to the bone.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease characterized by inflammation which affects the entire body and gets into a number of bone joints of the body concurrently.

Rheumatologist

A medical specialist in non-surgical treatment of rheumatic illnesses, especially arthritis

Rheumatology

A subspecialty of internal medicine that involves the non-surgical evaluation and treatment of the rheumatic diseases and conditions involving the musculoskeletal system and the study of the immune system.

Systemic

A systemic disease is one that is affecting the entire body.