What is Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease, which means that that your body attacks healthy tissue. It is a systemic inflammatory disease, which shows up in multiple joints. RA affects joint lining, and occasionally organs. Inflamed joint linings erode cartilage and bone, and can cause deformity in your joints.
The classifications of RA, from most common to least, are:

What is Paroxysmal Supraventricular Tachycardia (PSVT)?

Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) is episodes of rapid heart rate that start in a part of the heart above the ventricles. The term paroxysmal means from time to time.

What is Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA)?

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a condition that combines the swollen, sore joints of arthritis with psoriasis. Psoriasis causes itchy, scaly red patches to appear on your skin and scalp.

Why You Should Care:

About 7.5 million Americans have psoriasis and up to 30 percent of these people develop PsA.

What is Osteoarthritis?

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disease that shows up as a degeneration of cartilage in your joints. It can expose and cause wear in the bone that is underneath joints. OA typically manifests as pain and stiff joints, usually in a patient's 40's.

What is Obesity?

Obesity is defined as having abnormal/unhealthy levels of body fat. This is typically measured through the Body Mass Index, and can be used as a general measure of overall health. 

There are four possible weight categories when determining BMI:

What is Lupus?

Lupus is a disease in which the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues and organs leading to inflammation and damage. Sites of the body afflicted most commonly are the blood cells, skin, brain, joint, lungs, heart, kidneys. Thus, the disease is considered a systemic (throughout the body), autoimmune disease.

What is Low-Back Pain?

Lower Back Pain (LBP) is usually defined as a condition in which the patient feels pain in their lower back, buttocks, or legs. 

There are two types of back pain: chronic and acute

What is Influenza?

Influenza (also called the flu) is a viral infection that attacks your respiratory system — your nose, throat and lungs and is commonly called the flu.

What is Hypertension?

Hypertension, otherwise known as High Blood Pressure (HBP), occurs when your heart is pumping blood at an elevated rate for long periods of time. Your heart rate is supposed to rise and fall throughout the day, but having high pressure levels can increase your risk for heart disease and stroke.

What is Gout?

Gout is a subset of Arthritis that is caused by the needle-like crystals of uric acid in your joints, muscle, and/or skin. The crystals form because your body is either overproducing or under excreting uric acid, which can then group together to form structures that can cause large amounts of pain. Gout typically manifests in 'episodes', which can last from several days to a week. However, there may be as many as several years in between outbreaks in affected persons.