What is Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

Rheumatoid Arthritis is a disease of the autoimmune system affecting the joints and tissue surrounding the joints and affects at least two million Americans.

While the disease can affect all genders, ages, and races it is more common in women and usually starts after the age of forty. For some families the gene for Rheumatoid Arthritis is hereditary; however it may not affect all generations.

The actual cause of the disease is still unknown and it is a topic that is currently being researched with great fervor. Rheumatoid Arthritis is a chronic illness where the body’s immune system has turned on itself; the antibodies that are supposed to protect the body from infections, illness, and diseases, instead attack the tissues and cause painful inflammation of the tissue around the joints.

The chronic inflammation of the tissue surrounding the joints can lead to the destruction of the cushion of cartilage, the ligaments, and the bone itself, which can ultimately cause deformation of the joints.