THE ENEMY WITHIN

UNCONTROLLED INFLAMMATION UNDERLIES MANY CONDITIONS COMMON IN PEOPLE WITH ARTHRITIS. LEARN HOW TO TAMP IT DOWN.

- EMILY DELZELL

Inflammation is part of a healthy immune response to protect and heal the body. But in recent years, scientists working in a host of different specialties have pinpointed it as a root cause of multiple diseases.

The signs of inflammation – redness, swelling, heat and pain among them – are all too familiar when you have arthritis. In inflammatory types of arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and in related conditions such as gout and lupus, ongoing, chronic inflammation underlies most of the symptoms and damage.

Even in osteoarthritis (OA), traditionally considered the result of wear and tear, evidence suggests low-grade inflammation spurs joint damage, pain and other symptoms. As OA progresses, ongoing tissue damage and the cellular stress it causes likely feed inflammation in joints, says Carla R. Scanzello, MD, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. “This sustained inflammation may further promote progression of disease, creating a vicious cycle,” she says. (See “Surprising OA Trigger,” page 33.)

The Two Sides of Inflammation

Short-term, acute inflammation is the body’s main protection against infection or injury. When either of these happen, the immune system surges inflammatory defenders into the bloodstream, which carries specialized cells and proteins to parts of the body that need them, killing invading bacteria or viruses, clearing away debris and delivering nutrients that repair injured tissue.