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What is inflammation?

Inflammation results from the organism reaction process against an aggressive agent. This agent, responsible of the inflammation, can be of infectious origin (a bacteria or a virus), a chemical reaction (contact with toxic substances), related to an immune imbalance (allergies, cellular antigens (tissue graft), foreign antigens (autoimmune process) or resulting from a physical trauma (radiations, frictions).

Inflammation appears by a group of specific clinical signs including redness, heat, swelling, pain and, depending the inflammation process extent, fever and an heart rate acceleration. Also, a general discomfort may appear. By the time, it is possible to observe a deterioration of the organ affected by the inflammation process leading to incapacitating. By example, difficulty to move in presence of joint inflammation.
Acute inflammation has short duration. It disappears when the aggressive agent is rapidly controlled or eliminated, allowing the healing of affected tissues. Inflammation will become chronic when the aggressive agent is present during a very long period. It will still be going on as long as the aggressive agent is not removed and remains present.

What does occur exactly?

Initially the affected part of the body reacts in contact with the aggressive agent. The inflammatory reaction includes complex physiological and metabolic events, modulated and orchestrated by inflammation mediators (histamine, prostaglandins, cytokines, etc.). These mediators come from cells or plasma.

Redness and heat are caused by blood vessels dilatation and by the increased blood flow in the affected area. The release of a liquid (inflammatory exudate) in the intercellular space will generate tumefaction (swelling). The pain which appears, results from the compression of nerve terminations by the tumefaction and by the action of chemical factors released in the affected area.

Lastly, a general discomfort, associated to tiredness and light depression, appears according to the important energy request during the inflammatory process.

The term “arthritis” is the generic term regrouping more than one hundred of acute and chronic joint inflammatory affections. Majority of arthritis affections are chronic, which means that their development occurs on several months or years, and makes life invalidating.

Specific touched joints, pain and ankylosis levels vary from an individual to another and according to the type of the joint disease. The inflammation may be present at the level of one, several or the whole structures which compose the joint (the joint capsule, the synovial membrane, the cartilage, ligaments and tendons).

Clinical symptoms of joint inflammation

Inflammation may be present only on one or on several joints in the same time. All joints of the musculoskeletal system can be touched by arthritis. This disease affects the hips, the knees, the ankles, the feet, the fingers, the wrists, the elbows, the shoulders and the vertebral column. Here are some current clinical symptoms:

• The skin can be red and warm.
• Swelling: joint volume is increased
• Joint sensitivity to touch contact
• Joint pain which can appear in a brutal way and which is usually very intense
• Joint stiffness also named ankylosis
• Small bumps or nodules, especially on the fingers and the toes
• Joint deformation
• Tiredness can be present
• Presence of fever
• General discomfort

Symptoms intensity will vary according to the type of the disease. They can also vary from one person to another. Certain people will have remission period, during which symptoms attenuate, or can even disappear completely. In long term, the overproduction of inflammation will have bad consequences on joint health, since it will generate a loss of joint mobility.