What is Rheumatoid Arthritis?

According to the US-based Arthritis Foundation, arthritis affects more than 50 million people in the United States alone, which means that one in five American adults have some form of doctor-diagnosed arthritis today.

But while osteoarthritis is the most common form of the disease and, therefore, the one that most people have heard of, rheumatoid arthritis should definitely not be overlooked or underestimated.

Estimated to affect around 1.5 million Americans, rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease of the joints, which usually strikes after the age of 40 and affects three times more women than men.

It’s classified as an autoimmune condition and people with the disease experience pain and inflammation as their bodies mistake the lining of their joints as foreign objects and attack them.

While research has shown that smokers and people with a family history of the disease are more prone to developing it, the exact cause remains unknown, as is the case with many autoimmune conditions.

The small joints in a person’s hands and feet are usually the first to be hit and the linings become inflamed and eventually the joint is eroded away. This is in contrast to osteoarthritis where the cartilage that covers the end of a bone is worn away due to wear and tear.

Common rheumatoid arthritis symptoms include deformed joints and loss of function; numbness and tingling in hands and feet caused by nerve pain and a low red blood cell count.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is also one of the complications that can arise from rheumatoid arthritis and surgery is often the only way to cure it.