Arthritis can refer to any medical condition that leads to joint inflammation.
54 million Americans deal with arthritis of some kind. Many of them aren’t necessarily aware they have arthritis, in part because its degenerative effects are progressive, and also because there’s so many different kinds of arthritis to watch out for. In this list we aim to catalog all of the different kinds of arthritis, and give a brief writeups for some of the well over 100 types of this incredibly common, complex, and perplexing family of disorders.
Let’s get to it!
A
- Achilles Tendinitis
- Achondroplasia
- Acromegalic Arthritis
- Adhesive Capsulitis
- Adult-onset Still’s disease: Rare, unknown cause.
- Ankylosing Spondylitis: Chronic pain in lower back, butt, and hips.
- Anserine Bursititis
- Avascular Necrosis
B
- Back Pain: Can have many causes, including various types of arthritis.
- Behçet’s Disease: Autoimmune disorder leading to sores, and joint pain.
- Bicipital Tendinitis
- Blount’s Disease
- Brucellar Spondylitis
- Bursitis: Inflammation of fluid-filled sacs that abut bones and muscles.
C
- Calcaneal Bursitis
- Calcium Pyrophosphate Deposition Disease (CPPD): Crystals form in joints and tissues, causing breakdowns and sometimes pain.
- Caplan’s Syndrome
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: When the nerve between the forearm to the palm of your hand is squeezed or pinched over time.
- Childhood Arthritis: Onset during childhood or adolescence.
- Chondromalacia Patella: Also known as runner’s knee.
- Chondrocalcinosis
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Many different potential causes, very mysterious syndrome.
- Chronic Synovitis
- Chronic Recurrent Multifocal Osteomyelitis
- Churg-Strauss Syndrome
- Cogan’s Syndrome
- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: Disturbances to the sympathetic nervous system.
- Corticosteroid-Induced Osteoporosis
- Costosternal Syndrome
- CREST Syndrome
- Cryoglobulinemia
- Cryopyrin-Associated Periodic Syndromes (CAPS): Gene mutation leading to a defect in the cryoprin protein.
D
- Degenerative Disc Disease
- Degenerative Joint Disease
- Dermatomyositis
- Diabetic Finger Sclerosis
- Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis (DISH)
- Discitis
- Discoid Lupus Erythematosus
- Drug-Induced Lupus
- Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy: Genetic degenerative diseases which often impact voluntary muscles and cause pain.
- Dupuytren’s Contracture
E
- Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome: Disorders in the skin, walls, joints, and connective tissues of blood vessels.
- Enteropathic arthritis
- Epicondylitis
- Erosive Inflammatory Osteoarthritis
- Exercise-Induced Compartment Syndrome
F
- Farby’s Disease: Recessive lysosomal storage disease that can lead to many systemic problems.
- Familial Mediterranean Fever
- Farber’s Lipogranulomatosis
- Felty’s Syndrome
- Fibromyalgia: Syndrome leading to chronic widespread pain, fatigue, and memory issues, among other complications.
- Fifth’s Disease
- Flat Feet
- Foreign Body Synovitis
- Freiberg’s Disease
- Fungal Arthritis
G
- Gaucher’s Disease
- Giant Cell Arteritis
- Gonococcal Arthritis
- Goodpasture’s Syndrome
- Gout Granulomatous Arteritis
H
- Hemarthrosis
- Hemochromatosis
- Henoch-Schonlein Purpura
- Hepatitis B Surgace Antigen Disease: The acute phase of an inflamed liver, which can be caused by several sources.
- Hip Dysplasia: Congenital defect of a hip joint.
- Hurler Syndrome: Rare, inherited disease that prevents your metabolism from breaking down sugar molecules.
- Hypermobility Syndrome
- Hypersensitivity Vasculitis
- Hypertrophic Osteoarthropathy
I
- Immune Complex Disease
- Impingement Syndrome
J
- Jaccoud’s Arthropathy
- Juvenile Ankylosing Spondylitis
- Juvenile Dermatomyositis
- Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis
K
- Kawasaki Disease
- Kienbock’s Disease
L
- Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease
- Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome
- Linear Scleroderma
- Lipoid Dermatoarthritis
- Lofgren’s Syndrome
- Lyme Disease: Bacteria spread by ticks that can impact the heart, nervous system, and joints.
M
- Malignant Synovioma
- Marfan’s Syndrome: Inherited condition that hurts connective tissues.
- Medial Plica Syndrome
- Metastatic Carcinomatous Arthritis
- Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (MCTD)
- Mixed Cryoglobulinemia
- Mucopolysaccharidosis
- Multicentric Reticulohistiocytosis
- Multiple Epiphyseal Dysplasia
- Mycoplasmal Arthritis
- Myofascial Pain Syndrome
N
- Neonatal Lupus
- Neuropathic Arthropathy
- Nodular Panniculitis
O
- Ochronosis
- Olecranon Bursitis
- Osgood-Schlatter’s Disease: Often impacts athletes, includes swelling, pain, and inflammation.
- Osteoarthritis: The most common form of arthritis, it involves mechanical abnormalities leading to degrading joints.
- Osteochondromatosis: Benign tumors that grow from bones and make joint movement difficult.
- Osteogenesis Imperfecta: Genetic disorders that impact bones, literally means imperfect bone formation.
- Osteomalacia
- Osteomyelitis
- Osteonecrosis
- Osteoporosis
- Overlap Syndrome
P
- Pachydermoperiostosis Paget’s Disease of Bone
- Palindromic Rheumatism
- Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome
- Pellegrini-Stieda Syndrome
- Pigmented Villondular Synovitis
- Piriformis Syndrome
- Plantar Fascitis: Inflammation, scarring, and other structural problems with the heel and bottom of feet.
- Polyarteritis Nodos
- Polymyalgia Rheumatica
- Polymyositis
- Popliteal Cysts
- Posterior Tibial Tendinitis
- Pott’s Disease
- Prepatellar Bursitis
- Prosthetic Joint Infection
- Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum
- Psoriatic Arthritis: Joint problems can develop before the telltale red patches and silvery scaled skin patches.
- Raynaud’s Phenomenon
Q
R
- Reactive Arthritis/Reiter’s Syndrome
- Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome
- Relapsing Polychondritis
- Retrocalcaneal Bursitis
- Rheumatic Fever
- Rheumatoid Arthritis: Chronic inflammation of the joints in your hands and feet due to attacks from your own immune system.
- Rheumatoid Vasculitis
- Rotator Cuff Tendinitis: Pain and inflammation in the tendons and muscles of shoulders.
S
- Sacroilitis
- Salmonella Osteomyelitis
- Sarcoidosis: Inflammation that creates small lumps of cells in organs throughout the body called “Granulomas.”
- Saturnine Gout
- Scheuermann’s Osteochondritis
- Scleroderma: Skin stiffening that can lead to life threatening complications in the kidneys, lungs, gastrointestinal system and other organs.
- Septic Arthritis
- Seronegative Arthritis
- Shigella Arthritis: Intestinal disease that can lead to bloody diarrhea, joint inflammation, and other complications.
- Shoulder-Hand Syndrome
- Sickle Cell Arthropathy
- Sjogren’s Syndrome: Chronic autoimmune disease that dries out glands throughout the body including eyes, salivary glands, bowels, lungs, and more.
- Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis
- Spinal Stenosis
- Spondylosis
- Staphylococcus Arthritis
- Stickler Syndrome
- Subacute Cutaneous Lupus
- Sweet’s Syndrome
- Sydenham’s Chorea
- Syphilitic Arthritis
- Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)
T
- Takayasu’s Arteritis
- Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome: Entrapment of the tibial nerve which connects the leg to the foot.
- Tennis Elbow: Tears, swelling, and inflammation in the elbow built up over years.
- Tietse’s Syndrome
- Transient Osteoporosis
- Traumatic Arthritis
- Trochanteric Bursitis
- Tuberculosis Arthritis
U
- Arthritis of Ulcerative Colitis: Chronic inflammation of the large intestine or colon, leading to joint problems.
- Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Syndrome (UCTS)
- Urticarial Vasculitis
V
- Viral Arthritis
W
- Wegener’s Granulomatosis
- Whipple’s Disease: Bacterial infection in the small intestine, heart, brain, eyes, lungs, joints, and more. It is fatal.
- Wilson’s Disease
X
Y
- Yersinial Arthritis
