What are the differences between synovitis and rheumatism

Many people cannot distinguish between synovitis and rheumatism and refer to them as one arthritis disease. In fact, although the two have some similarities, they are quite different in essence, especially in clinical manifestations. Synovitis and rheumatism have completely different causes. For those who are unable to judge their own condition, they can distinguish them based on the cause.

There are great differences between rheumatism and synovitis in terms of causes and symptoms. For example, rheumatism is caused by poor blood circulation in the meridians, which causes coldness and pain; synovitis is caused by foreign objects outside the meridians compressing the meridians, causing pain. Judging from the external symptoms, there is no swelling in the early stages of rheumatism, and the joints do not become deformed in the later stages. In the early stages of synovitis, the small joints of the fingers and toes become symmetrically swollen, and in the later stages the joints become deformed; the pulse of rheumatism is often slow and deep, while the pulse of synovitis is often fine and rapid.

In order to facilitate patients to understand, we will focus on the differences between rheumatism and synovitis in terms of symptoms. The main differences are as follows:

1. Symptoms of synovial arthritis:

Director Shen pointed out that synovitis is an autoimmune disease with chronic, symmetrical polyarthritis as its main clinical manifestation. Early symptoms are mostly joint pain, swelling, stiffness, and difficulty in movement, which may be mild or severe, recur repeatedly, and are difficult to heal, often leaving behind bone and joint ankylosis and deformity. Synovitis factor was positive. The main symptoms are as follows:

1. Early symptoms: It starts with pain in a few joints and morning stiffness, especially when getting up in the early morning. After waking up, the patient feels stiffness in both hands, difficulty in movement, and difficulty in dressing and holding objects. It lasts for several weeks to several months, and the first symptoms are often the finger, wrist, shoulder, knee and toe joints. Patients may experience general discomfort, fatigue, and occasionally low fever or muscle aches in the limbs.

2. Late symptoms: As the disease progresses, the number of affected joints gradually increases, and the affected joints may show obvious swelling, pain, and slight redness of the local skin. The knee, wrist, and ankle joints may swell due to synovitis and inflammatory exudation, and a doctor's examination may reveal joint effusion. Subsequently, local joint ankylosis, deformity or dislocation occurs, leading to further impairment of joint function. At this time, the patient may experience various types of joint deformities. Similarly, the corrosion and fibrosis of the joint surfaces of the wrist, elbow, and knee may cause the joints to become ankylosed, greatly limiting their extension and flexion, and eventually keeping them in a fixed state, causing the patient to become disabled and unable to take care of themselves, and having to rely on the care of others.

2. Symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis:

Rheumatoid arthritis can invade the heart, causing rheumatic heart disease, with symptoms such as fever, subcutaneous nodules and rash, and the synovitis factor is negative. Rheumatoid arthritis has two characteristics: one is that the joints are obviously red, swollen, hot, and painful and cannot move. The site of the disease is often the large joints of the lower limbs such as the knees, hips, and ankles, followed by the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The small joints of the hands and feet are rare. Blood tests showed that the erythrocyte sedimentation rate was accelerated and the anti-O titer was increased. The main symptoms are as follows:

1. Early symptoms: swollen and painful joints. The appearance of this symptom brings serious pain and suffering to the patient, and requires timely diagnosis and treatment, otherwise the consequences will become more serious. Its characteristic manifestation is that the degree of joint pain is often related to the severity of joint swelling. The more obvious the swelling, the more severe the pain. Migratory nature and symmetry are the main manifestations of joint pain symptoms in patients with rheumatism. The migratory nature of the joints is more obvious in the early stages of rheumatism. The migratory intervals are relatively short, and except for early migratory pain, the migratory course of arthritis is often symmetrical.

2. Late symptoms: joint deformity or ankylosis. Once this symptom occurs, rheumatic patients will gradually lose their joint function, causing them to suffer excruciating pain. Normally, the joints of rheumatic patients will have symptoms of limited movement as the disease progresses. When the disease worsens further, the muscles, ligaments and joint capsules around the joints will be damaged due to inflammation, and the joints will show some special deformation, such as swan neck deformity.

For those who cannot tell whether their symptoms are due to rheumatism or synovitis, necessary examinations can confirm the diagnosis. Such as synovitis factor, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein and other examination items. If the various symptoms and signs, predilection sites, laboratory tests and X-ray findings are combined together, a fairly reliable diagnosis can be made.