Good afternoon, today I am going to talk about a very frequent rheumatological disease: Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, immunological-based pathology that mainly affects the joints; and that in turn is accompanied by a certain degree of systemic involvement. The joint damage observed in this disease is characterized by being symmetrical, erosive and deforming, and mainly affects small joints, especially those of the hands.

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It is a disease of both young people and contemporary adults; it has two peaks of greater frequency: between 15-20 years and after 40 years, associating the earliest appearance with greater deformity and functional disability. It is more frequent in women than in men.

Clinically it is characterized by presenting as a symmetric polyarthritis (more than 3 joints), mainly affects the joints of the hands (proximal interphalangeal and metacarpophalangeal) but often affects the wrists, feet, ankles, knees, elbows, shoulders and even the hip ; accompanied by general manifestations such as morning stiffness that lasts more than 1 hour, which improves with activity and worsens with rest, fatigability, asthenia.

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According to functional capacity, it is classified into four grades:

I- There is no limitation of physical activity.

II- Slight limitation of physical activity, can still perform daily activities.

III- Great limitation of physical activity, can not perform most of their daily activities.

IV- Total disability, patient confined to a wheelchair or bedridden.

It is very common to observe deformity in multiple joints, but the most frequent are in the hands and feet. Among them are: swan neck deformity, boutoniere deformity (eyelet), burst deformity, hammer toes.

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Burst Deformity
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The treatment basically consists of the use of analgesics to improve pain, steroids and antirheumatic drugs, which are those that are responsible for slowing the autoimmune inflammatory response and prevent the progression of the disease (Methotrexate, sulfazalacin, leflunomide, hydroxychloroquine.)

In case of any type of pain and multiple joint inflammation, of insidious appearance, associated with stiffness, consult your doctor to corroborate or rule out the diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis.

I hope the post has been instructive enough and can help you recognize the symptoms of this disease that often goes unnoticed and the patient comes in later stages.

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