Complaining of pain in the joints, some patients face a diagnosis of “arthrosis”, others – “arthritis”.When they meet, after exchanging descriptions of their symptoms in a conversation, they suddenly come to the conclusion that there is only one disease, since it manifests itself in both cases almost identically!The question arises spontaneously: what then are the differences between arthritis and arthrosis?Indeed, many people confuse these diseases, but despite the similarity of symptoms, arthritis and arthrosis are different diseases with significant differences in the clinical course.Namely, understanding the cause of the disease, the mechanism of its occurrence and development leads to effective therapy.
Arthritis and arthrosis: what they have in common
The onset of arthritis and arthrosis can be caused by a single factor or a combination of numerous causes.Both diseases can develop under the influence, for example, of injury or diabetes.In both cases, patients experience degenerative-dystrophic changes in the articular cartilage, leading to severe pain and, in some cases, limited mobility.The target of the diseases are the joints and periarticular tissues of the body, especially the knee joint.Patients, sometimes overcoming the pain, take care of themselves and without effective therapy all their efforts are wasted.The patient loses the ability to work and instead acquires a disability.
According to the accepted ICD-10 classification, arthritis and arthrosis are combined into a subgroup "Arthropathy" - disorders that mainly affect the peripheral joints (extremities).
Arthritis and arthrosis: differences
Sometimes it is impossible to precisely determine the cause that triggered one of these two diseases, but the consequences are the same: pain and stiffness are felt in the joint, swelling, edema, redness, hyperemia of the skin on the affected area, etc.In fact, only a person without medical training can confuse these two completely different pathologies, but a doctor can easily separate one from the other.
The main difference is that if the direct cause of arthrosis is mechanical damage, excessive or disproportionate load on the joint apparatus, age-related changes, then arthritis manifests itself as an inflammatory process in the joint and periarticular tissues.With arthrosis, blood count is normal, damage to other organs and systems does not occur.With arthritis, the opposite picture is observed: specific proteins, increased ESR and leukocytes will be detected in the blood.The pathological process involves the heart, kidneys and genitourinary system.
Another difference is that osteoarthritis mainly affects the knee and hip joints, which bear a large stabilizing load.Arthritis prefers the small joints of the hands, feet, wrist, and less often affects the elbow, knee and hip.
What causes osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis is defined by experts as a non-inflammatory joint disease that has 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 the joints or ligaments (synovitis), which also contributes to increased destruction of joint structures.
It is precisely because of synovitis that in Anglo-Saxon medical literature arthrosis 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 occur without it.
Osteoarthritis is believed to be the lot of older people.In fact, with age, the risk of joint damage constantly increases, but athletes also run a high risk of contracting the disease due to excessive physical effort or inadequate technique, such as strength exercises.Furthermore, the destruction of the articular-ligament system 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 arthrosis of the hip and knee joints.The findings revealed that genetic factors and the environment have different effects on large weight-bearing joints.When it comes to the hip joint, the most significant factors for the development of the pathology are genetic (47%) and environmental (22%) components.Meanwhile, for the development of the same pathology in the knee joint, differences in age and sex, especially after 50 years, as well as various environmental factors are of great importance.
Destruction of cartilage tissue can also develop due to inflammatory diseases of the bones and joints (gout, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.).
What is arthritis?
Arthritis is commonly defined as the entire spectrum of inflammatory joint diseases.If the disease affects one joint it is monoarthritis;more than one is polyarthritis.Arthritis is distinguished as independent diseases and as a manifestation of other pathologies.In the first case we are talking about rheumatoid arthritis, septic arthritis, gout.In the second - about psoriatic and reactive arthritis.The inflammatory process of 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 the body's own tissues.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 into it.The joint swells, pain appears and mobility is impaired.
Another form of arthritis is gout, a systemic disease due to improper metabolism.Excess uric acid is deposited on the joint surface, causing inflammation.Heredity, hormonal factors (in most cases men get sick) and poor nutrition are of great importance for the development of the disease.Gout is often confused with arthritic 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, most often bacteria.