What joints are affected by RA first?

Early rheumatoid arthritis tends to affect your smaller joints first — particularly the joints that attach your fingers to your hands and your toes to your feet. As the disease progresses, symptoms often spread to the wrists, knees, ankles, elbows, hips and shoulders.

How does RA affect balance?

In patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), balance can be impaired because of impaired joint proprioception secondary to foot deformities and arthritis seen in lower extremities (LEs), muscle weakness and limitation of joint movements, or central nervous system impairment.

Can RA make it hard to walk?

Stiffness in the joints In addition to pain, this disease causes stiffness in the affected joints. You may have difficulty getting out of bed or walking in the morning because of stiff and painful ankles, knees, or feet. This stiffness is usually worse in the mornings and can last for 45 minutes or more.

Does RA cause peripheral neuropathy?

Peripheral neuropathy is known extra-articular manifestation of RA with the incidence of around 39.19% as per previous studies. Early diagnosis and treatment of peripheral neuropathy has been shown to improve both physical and functional disabilities of patients with RA.

What is arthritis Mutilans?

Arthritis mutilans is a rare, severe, deforming, and destructive form of psoriatic arthritis that primarily affects the small joints in the fingers and toes closest to the nail. This leads to lost function of those joints. It also is frequently associated with lower back and neck pain.

Does RA cause leg weakness?

Abstract. In addition to the primary symptoms arising from inflammatory processes in the joints, muscle weakness is commonly reported by patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

What is rheumatoid arthritis neuropathy?

A rare form of nerve disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis that causes numbness and/or tingling is neuropathy. Neuropathy is nerve damage that in people with rheumatoid arthritis can result from inflammation of blood vessels (vasculitis). Vasculitis is not common, but it is very dangerous.