UNDERSTANDING BACK TROUBLE OTHER BACK PROBLEMS-RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS
Although this disease predominantly affects the joints of the limbs, the spine may also be affected. It is a crippling disease of the synovial joints in any part of the body, affecting the synovium, the membrane which lines the joints. Its cause is not completely understood, but it is now believed that it may involve an auto-immune reaction – the body, turning against itself, producing antibodies against some of its own tissues. But the evidence that it is an auto-immune disease is controversial.
Attacks of rheumatoid arthritis take the form of inflammation of the joints, giving rise to aching and stiffness, especially in the mornings; in rare cases, it may be accompanied by fever. Attacks tend to recur and may finally leave the joints swollen and rigid.
Rheumatoid arthritis tends to start in the smaller joints, such as those of the fingers, and gradually spreads to the larger ones. In the spine, it tends first to affect the neck (sometimes the earliest symptom is neck pain) or the lumbar area. By the time the lumbar area is affected, the disease is considerably advanced, and the sufferer is probably already receiving treatment. So your first attack of back pain is highly unlikely to be rheumatoid arthritis: if it were, you would have had plenty of warning.
If you know that you have rheumatoid arthritis, avoid manipulative therapies such as those given by osteopaths and chiropractors. The ligaments between the first and second cervical vertebrae are often affected and sudden jerks of your head can provoke serious damage to the spinal cord.
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