Inflammatory Arthritis Compared With Wear and Tear

Cleveland Clinic defines inflammatory arthritis as arthritis that happens when inflammation in your joints damages them. That definition is the first step in this guide, and the comparison with wear and tear is what the rest of it is built around.

One reference point is Cleveland Clinic's page on rheumatoid arthritis, which covers symptoms, stages and treatment and gives a reader in Hawthorne a fixed point to compare against.

Inflammatory arthritis articles in reading order

Each article below takes one form of inflammatory arthritis and asks the same question: where does it sit, and what has to be true before the next step is considered.

1. Reactive Arthritis After an Infection starts from the question of what came before the joint symptoms.
2. Ankylosing Spondylitis and Spine Stiffness starts from stiffness in the spine.
3. Psoriatic Arthritis and Skin Linked Joint Pain starts from the link between the skin and the joints.

The next rung to read

Pick the article that fits what you notice and read it through to its closing question. Cleveland Clinic also has a page on ankylosing spondylitis that is worth reading next to the matching article here.

Keep a short record of which joints are affected, when the symptoms started and what changed them. That record gives you something concrete to bring when you talk through the comparison with wear and tear.