CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS

RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease of the immune system in which one's own immune cells mistakenly attack the body's joint tissue, causing inflammation and joint damage, as well as numerous other issues throughout the body. This type of arthritis differs from the condition that is commonly called arthritis, which is technically known as osteoarthritis. In osteoarthritis, one joint is damaged due to wear and tear of the joint tissue from natural causes or an injury. With rheumatoid arthritis, numerous joints on both sides of the body are involved in a chronic inflammatory process, rather than just one or two isolated joints. The disease causes inflammation of synovial tissue, which is found within the joint itself. General symptoms include a sudden onset of joint pain, swelling, and stiffness, as well as general morning stiffness. This condition can be preceeded months before by poor general health, fatigue, and weight loss. When rheumatoid arthritis flares up, it can be as an episode lasting several months on average a few times every couple years, or it can be persistent with alternating partial improvement and flaring. Rheumatoid arthritis can also affect other areas of the body, causing symptoms such as leg wounds, tight skin, heart inflammation, anemia, eye issues, and nodules under the skin.

Specific foot pain from this condition is often felt under the base of the toes, at a region called the metatarsalphalangeal joints. It can also cause pain behind the heel, and can contribute to spurs on the bottom of the heel that are painful, unlike typical heel spurs which are painless and mistakenly blamed for heel pain caused by soft tissue inflammation called plantar fasciitis. Large rheumatoid nodules can develop under the skin, causing pain when walked on. Eventually, the destructive changes caused by the joint disease will cause severe deformities to occur in the feet, particularly at the toes and ball of the feet. These include severe bunions, hammertoes, and other crooked toe deformities.

Rheumatoid arthritis is diagnosed by evaluating the joint pain and other symptoms, and assessing certain chemicals in the blood. If several criteria are met, then a confident diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis can be made. Gerneral treatment is performed by one's family doctor, internist, or a rheumatologist, who specializes in joint and immune cell diseases. The treatment options available include medications to control the inflammation or modify the immune response, as well as rest, joint injections, and therapy. Specific foot problems are controlled by the use of prescription shoe inserts to stabilize the joint destruction and deformity development, as well as surgery to reconstruct the deformed toes and foot joints.