Question
What does the term inflammatory arthritis mean?
Answer
The term inflammatory arthritis encompasses several different diseases, one of which is rheumatoid arthritis. Inflammatory arthritis is describing the mechanism of the arthritis (or joint symptoms) and is distinguishing the process from ‘degenerative arthritis’, another term for osteoarthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and spondyloarthritis are all types of ‘inflammatory arthritis’. ‘Inflammatory arthritis’ infers that an autoimmune process is the cause of the joint symptoms.
