As a child, you must have noticed your grandfather walking slowly with a walking stick or your grandmother having difficulty in getting up from a sitting position. You must have had a curiosity that while you are running around and jumping, they are unable to do so. Finally, you ask your mother who tells you that they are old persons and their arthritis is preventing them from doing so. Hence, you conclude that arthritis is a disease confined to the elderly. But is it so? Doesn’t it affect the young also? Let’s see.
Arthritis is not a disease but a manifestation of diseases having different causes and affecting persons of various age groups. Arthritis causes pain and swelling in the joint often with signs of inflammation like heat, tenderness, and limitation of movements. Therefore, it is very important for the doctor to note the age of onset, the gender of the patient, whether it was acute or insidious in onset, the number of joints....
