Rheumatoid Arthritis Define the disorder/disease: Rheumatoid Arthritis is a chronic autoimmune disorder that affects your joints. It is one of the most immobilizing types of arthritis, causing deformity and disability. It can affect any joint in our body but usually first affects the wrists and small joints in your hands, including the knuckles and the middle joints of your hand. As the disease progresses, it will affect other joints, including your knees, ankles, elbows, hips, and shoulders on both sides of the body. Rheumatoid arthritis can also affect non-joint structures, including the eyes, skin, heart, lungs, kidneys, salivary glands, nerve tissue, blood vessels, and bone marrow. Rheumatoid arthritis affects women three times more than Joint fusion- when the damaged joint cannot be replaced, the joints are fused together and realigned. Tendon repair – doctors can repair the tendons that were damaged by inflammation; this will strengthen your joints. Prognosis: The prognosis for patients diagnosed with Rheumatoid arthritis is very good. Today’s technology and treatments help some patients live a healthy, normal life; they are able to work, enjoy social functions, exercise, and have a very physical life. But for others, RA can be very debilitating, and the progression of the disease gets worse even while maintaining all treatments prescribed by the doctor. Rheumatoid patients who maintain healthy lifestyles can manage their symptoms better. For some, these common risks for rheumatoid arthritis patients will include: Joint inflammation that continues to last over time Joint deterioration that affects more than one joint A continual degeneration in mobility and range of motion General pain and stiffness that does not improve with treatments There are other possible complications that patients could experience depending on how the disease progresses over
... It is not completely clear how it is that a tendon becomes a ligament, although Dr. Akizuki thinks that range of motion exercises help the tendon learn that it is being used as a ligament now and that it needs to adopt. Surgeons don't go back in to biopsy the repaired elbow to see how the tissue has changed, but follow-up MRIs show that the new tissue is acting as a ligament should.
Achilles tendinopathy and its contributing pathologies has been a heavily researched topic throughout multiple professions. Although a unified consensus and classification on the underlying pathology is yet to be reached, a shift from the term tendinitis to tendinosis has slowly been adopted, and is now believed to follow a continuum. Previous incorrect belief of an inflammatory pathophysiology has lead to the development of treatment options that are inappropriate and unsuccessful, leaving the tendon unable to adequately heal or strengthen increasing its risk of repetitive re-injury and the development of chronic Achilles tendinopathy. As a result an understanding of the pathophysiology, its effect on lower limb function and biomechanical risk factors contributing to the development of Achilles tendinopathy need to be considered when developing a rehabilitation program to coincide with new research and to address the underlying degeneration and failed healing of the tendon.
Black D. 2010. Treatment of knee arthrofibrosis and quadriceps insufficiency after patellar tendon repair: a case report including use of the graston technique. International journal of therapeutic massage and bodywork. Volume 3, Issue 2:14-21
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory and an autoimmune disease that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s tissue (Rheumatoid arthritis, 2017). This disease affects the entire body, which is called a systemic (means entire body) disease. Arthritis is derived from the word part arthr-, which means “joint,” and -itis, which means “inflammation,” so altogether it means “inflammation of the joints.” It creates inflammation that causes the tissue that lines the inside of joints (synovium) to thicken. About 1.5 million people in the U.S. are affected. It affects all races, but it affects three times as many women than men (What is Rheumatoid Arthritis, n.d.). Overtime, rheumatoid arthritis causes painful swelling that can potentially result in bone erosion or joint deformity, which leads up to physical disabilities. RA can affect more than just your joints, but can spread to body systems, skin, eyes, lungs, heart, blood vessels, e.t.c (Rheumatoid arthritis, 2017).
Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis, it affects millions of people around the world. It is also known as Degenerative Joint Disease or Degenerative Arthritis or Wear & Tear Arthritis. Osteoarthritis occurs when the protective cartilage in the joints wear down over time. While osteoarthritis can affect any joint in your body, it more often is seen in the knees, hips, hands, neck, and lower back it worsens as you grow older and has no known cure.
Lupus is more common in women than men, and although it can affect people of all ages, it is most commonly developed between 15 and 40. Lupus is also more common in African Americans, Hispanics and Asians.
Fibromyalgia seems to affect mostly women, although men and children can also get it. It is estimated by the that about three to six percent of the U.S. population has fibromyalgia.(Source 4) Yet another source states that it is three to six million people in the U.S. or as many as one in fifty Americans. (Source 1) All of these sources agree that women make up to eighty or ninety percent of fibromyalgic patients.
Repair after a muscle is damaged happens through the division of certain cells who then fuse to existing, undamaged muscle fibers to correct the damage. Different muscle types take different amounts of time to heal and regenerate after it has been damaged. Smooth muscle cells can regenerate with the greatest capacity due to their ability to divide and create many more cells to help out. While cardiac muscle cells hardly regenerate at all due to the lack of specialized cells that aid in repair and regeneration. In skeletal muscle, satellite cells aid in helping restoration after injury. Along with muscles, tendons are very important structures within the human body, and they to can be damaged. However, tendon repair involves fibroblast cells cross-linking collagen fibers that aid in not only reinforcing structural support, but also mechanical support as well (“Understanding Tendon Injury,” 2005). While quite different from muscle repair, tendon repair involves the similarity of reestablishing d...
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis, affecting more than 27 million Americans (LeMone, Burke, Bauldoff, 2011). It is caused when the cartilage in the joints breaks down, causing the bones of the joint to rub against one another. This causes pain, stiffness, and loss of motion in the joint. Osteoarthritis is most prevalent in those 65 and older, but can affect those of any age. In addition, African Americans and Hispanics report a higher incidence of arthritis than Caucasians (LeMone, Burke, Bauldoff, 2011). Although the cause is unknown, it is believed that the increasing age of the population, prevalence of obesity and injuries add to the progression of the condition. Osteoarthritis can affect any joint in the body; however, those of the hand, hip, and knee are often the most common. This condition may be asymptomatic, or may present symptoms including soreness, stiffness and pain. The symptoms are more common in the older population, those with limited activity levels, and those who are obese. Joint cartilage thins over time, causing an increased risk for symptoms in the elderly, and obesity puts extra pressure on the joints during activity. Osteoarthritis is commonly diagnosed with the use of a physical assessment along with results of radiology testing such as X-Ray and MRI.
Rheumatoid Arthritis is when the joints are chronically inflamed, which happens because it is an autoimmune disease which means that the immune system attacks the body tissues. Although Rheumatoid Arthritis mainly affects the joints, it can also affect other organs.
Arthritis is a general term for approximately 100 diseases that produce either INFLAMMATION of connective tissues, particularly in joints, or noninflammatory degeneration of these tissues. The word means "joint inflammation," but because other structures are also affected, the diseases are often called connective tissue diseases. The terms rheumatism and rheumatic diseases are also used. Besides conditions so named, the diseases include gout, lupus erythematosus, ankylosing spondylitis, degenerative joint disease, and many others, among them the more recently identified LYME DISEASE.
The solution to this problem is located in the lab. Researchers across the country are working day in and day out to come up with a solution to accelerate the healing of soft tissues. They have come up with many solutions, from vibration therapy, to personalized rehab plans, but none of these are yielding truly significant results. I believe the solution lies at the molecular level. I believe that we can observe the healing of these soft connective tissues and learn from it. Then we can design a method from the observations to accelerate the production of the fibrils and collagen that will go on to make up the soft connective tissue. I have begun to take the beginning steps in solving this problem through my mentorship with Dr. Weinhold. Our research goals go hand in hand, which has led us to beginning research on the release of an angiogenic growth factor through a gelatin that will coat sutures. In theory, this angiogenic growth factor, once released from the crosslinking with the gelatin will stimulate the development of blood vessels around the recently repaired collagenous tissue. This, in turn, will allow the tendon/ligament to have a better oxygen supply and allow for quicker
Tendonitis- Repetitive strain on a tendon can aggravate the tendon causing pain, inflammation, and complications with movement involving the muscle. Unfortunately, tendons have an insufficient blood supply; consequently, it takes an extensive time to heal, usually six weeks or more.
Arthritis occurs when the body incorrectly identifies its own tissue as foreign matter and attacks it. Arthritis includes a set of more than eighty autoimmune diseases. Arthritis attacks connective tissues and joints. It causes stiffness, pain, inflammation, and swelling of the joints. Some kinds are crippling, but rarely leads to death. There are many different kinds of arthritis, the main ones being Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid arthritis; others include gout and ankylosing spodylitis.
Orthopedic surgeons are responsible for mending and operating on the musculoskeletal system. “Orthopedics is a medical specialty that focuses on the diagnosis, care, and treatment of patients with disorders of the bones, joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons, nerves, and skin” (Career in Orthopaedics). Depending on the damage the patient has sustained determines how the orthopedic surgeon is able to correct the patient’s injury. In many cases there are multiple ways of correcting the patient’s injury such as; using medical, physical, and rehabilitative techniques to using complex surgical methods. “Typically, as much as 50 percent of the orthopedic surgeon’s practice is devoted to no surgical or medical management of injuries or disease and 50 percent to surgical management” (Career in Orthopaedics). The majority of surgeons, including orthopedic surgeons, prefer to choose the least invasive procedures such as; arthroscopy which is a technological advancement allowing orthopedic surgeons to use special cameras in order to diagnose and treat a joint with minimal cutting and trauma to...