Beyond Wear-and-Tear: Signs Your Joint Pain Might Be an Autoimmune Condition

The intersection of bones, ligaments, tendons, and other musculoskeletal tissue, your joints play a key role in basic movement and function. These essential parts of the body help to give your body its shape, and you need them for a wide range of movements like talking, bending over, writing, walking, and sitting down.

A variety of injuries and diseases often lead to inhibited movement of your joints, but problems with your immune system can also cause damage to these parts of the body. Let’s find out if your joint problems are due to autoimmune conditions by exploring the different conditions you can have, what causes them to harm joints, and how they can be treated.

Cincinnati-area residents in Norwood, Anderson, and Westside, Ohio, and Crestview Hills, Kentucky, dealing with autoimmune problems that damage joints can find help with the rheumatology team at Riverhills Neuroscience.

Common autoimmune conditions

Your immune system consists of a range of organs, cells, and tissues that work to prevent foreign substances like viruses, germs, and other harmful things from posing a threat to your body. However, this system can also pose a threat to the body when it misinterprets threats and attacks harmless or even useful substances, creating a number of problems.

Several autoimmune conditions can lead to medical issues, including:

• Psoriasis: abnormal immune system function affects your skin, causing a variety of symptoms

• Scleroderma: when the immune system causes your body to make too much collagen

• Vasculitis: inflammation of blood vessels that can lead to organ and tissue damage

• Sjögren’s syndrome: when immune system dysfunction affects the glands that produce moisture

• Vitiligo: an illness where your skin loses pigment, causing patches of lighter skin

• Crohn’s disease: a condition that causes inflammation of your digestive tract

• Celiac disease: a disease that affects your ability to eat foods with gluten in them

Overall, over 100 different types of autoimmune illnesses can affect nearly every part of the body. These issues are often chronic and will require lifelong management.

How they lead to joint pain

In addition to the diseases mentioned, there are several autoimmune diseases in which the immune system mistakenly attacks parts of the musculoskeletal system. This often comes in the form of inflamed joints and related tissue, and consists of conditions like:

• Lupus: damages joints, muscles, skin, and organs

• Dermatomyositis: affects muscles and skin

• Ankylosing spondylitis: a form of spinal arthritis

• Mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD): also damages joints, organs, skin, and muscles

• Polymyalgia rheumatica: harms major muscle groups

• Rheumatoid arthritis: a common condition that mainly affects joints

• Psoriatic arthritis: people with psoriasis can develop this joint condition

While the symptoms of these illnesses can seem similar to other joint problems like muscle stiffness and joint pain, they also come with a range of other signs, like trouble concentrating or sleeping, and skin rashes.

The chances of developing this type of joint disease increase with factors like family history, previous medical history, and having other autoimmune diseases. Women are also at a higher risk of having autoimmune diseases.

Treatment options

We can manage your issues with autoimmune joint problems in several ways, including physical and occupational therapy, pain management, infusion therapy, stress management, and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Finding the solution for your needs can be done by getting information about your medical history, family history, and symptoms.

While joint problems due to injury and those from autoimmune disease can look similar, there are important differences, and whatever the cause, we’re here to help. Make an appointment with the rheumatology team at Riverhills Neuroscience today by calling 513-612-1111 or clicking the online contact form to find a solution for alleviating joint pain from autoimmune conditions.