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These two conditions are unrelated although they may occur in the same person.

Aspiration of the joint to remove some of the fluid which lubricates it shows no diagnostic features of arthrosis. The joint may be thickened but there is usually no associated soft tissue swelling around it.

Treatment is effective in relieving the symptoms but cure of this condition is not possible. Simple analgesic drugs which relieve pain are all that are necessary.

The painful joint should be rested but exercised without weight bearing to prevent stiffness and to retain strength in the surrounding muscles.

Local heat whether from a hot water bottle, an infra red lamp or micro or short wave diathermy is effective.

Many people complain their arthritic joints flare up with weather changes.

Physiotherapy may be necessary to mobilise stiff joints and to prevent muscle wasting. Some simple physical means can bring considerable relief. It may be necessary to wear a supporting brace over the joint or to use a walking stick or even to raise a shoe so as to remove abnormal strain.

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Collagen diseases are a group of disorders where widespread inflammation of the connective tissue of various organs leads to generalised disease of many organs.

Some of these conditions are common, some rare. Most respond to non-specific treatment with cortisone, which relieves the inflammation rather than curing the disease.

Systemic (Lupus) Erythematosus is a long and difficult-to-say diagnosis and so it is usually abbreviated to SLE. Few people have heard of it, yet it is now recognised to be as common as rheumatoid arthritis.

The cause is unknown although the theory most commonly accepted is that it is an auto-immune disease. In these disorders, the body, as it were, develops an allergy to its own tissues and antibodies to those tissues are formed in the immune system.

These antibodies “lock on to” the tissues in an attempt to destroy them and this results in inflammation. Rheumatoid arthritis and several other diseases are thought to be auto-immune in nature.

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