Dr. Tomiko Katsumoto

So osteoarthritis is unfortunately one of the most common types of arthritis.

And we used to call it kind of a wear and tear degenerative arthritis, less inflammatory.

These are the types of arthritis that can occur in joints that have previously had, for example, an injury.

A lot of athletes that have messed up their knees or their hips, whatever, that can happen.

However, I think we're learning osteoarthritis actually might have a more inflammatory component than we previously realized.

It's more common in people that are overweight.

It's possibly related in some ways to the fact that they're bearing more weight on those joints.

So there may be a mechanical component, but there are other components for osteoarthritis we don't fully understand.

For example, the hands can be affected in osteoarthritis.

And so clearly we're not bearing weight in our hands.

Osteoarthritis is sort of one of the classic most common types, which is less, it's not considered to be truly inflammatory.

Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common inflammatory arthritis.

And again, I think that we are starting to understand that there are genetic contributions, but more and more as we move forward, we're learning the environmental components are substantial.

Osteoarthritis, I'll call it OA, osteoarthritis, tends to be less inflammatory.

People tend to get more and more pain with motion, with using their joints.

In contrast, rheumatoid arthritis is considered inflammatory, meaning that people tend to wake up feeling incredibly stiff, takes a while for them to get up and going.

They often feel like they need to get their joints moving.

A hot shower might really help get them moving.

They experience what's called gelling, where you sit down for a prolonged period of time and your joints kind of gel.

And then as you start to move them, that starts to get them feeling better.